OpSail 2012: Sea and Air Parade

Wanting to be sure and get a close parking spot and good view I arrived for the parade quite early.

I decided I wanted a shot of the Anzio as it first entered the Waterside Park area so I chose this spot which was pretty empty at first. This grandmother and her cute little granddaughter and I spent about an hour visiting and watching the boats on the waterway.

We could just barely see the lead ships in the parade when a couple of tug boats decided to park right in front of us. Fortunately the captain of this boat realized they were blocking the view and decided to move.

 We were very thankful as once they moved this is the sight that met our eyes.

 In the lead was a US Coast Guard vessel followed by a couple of Fire Boats.

 Next came my son-in-law's ship the USS Anzio.

After the Anzio passed I decided to hurry down the boardwalk and capture a few shots from further down. There were quite a few people out to see the parade.

Above the USS Anzio passes the RFA Argus as it heads back to dock at Norfok Naval base.
Here the RFA Argus which was the largest vessel in the parade to come all the way into Norfolk  is getting ready to be turned with the aid of the tug boats.

 It was an amazing sight, watching as they spun this huge ship. I have to admit I was a bit worried they wouldn't have enough room it was so big. But they got her turned around without any problems.

Knowing I could not stay for the entire parade I headed back to the spot where I started to capture a couple more shots of the next ship coming in. It wasn't until I was going through the photos that I realized how good my timing had been. The ship coming in is the Brazilian BNS Independencia and the couple in the right corner are wearing shirts with Brazil on the sleeve.

I moved to another spot so I could get a clearer shot of the Brazilian ship before going in search of the docks where some of these ships would be docking for the duration of the festival.

I was finally rewarded when I found this spot just as the BNS Independencia was anchoring to the dock.

Tomorrow I will be heading back to the OpSail festival for the Tall Ship Parade and get shots of both the tall ships and more of the military vessels.