South Padre Island

This morning I had the great pleasure of watching the Starship launch in person. This is the shot from my drone at about 100' AGL over South Padre Island, TX, at Children's Beach. I only had my drone filming and no other camera, and it would only tilt up so far, so I couldn't get the entire flight sequence. But I will say, that after the booster separation, the explosion of the booster with the translucent neon blue ripples and the blue coronas made it the most magnificent explosion I've ever seen... And that's saying a lot, because the biggest pyro-tech in the movie industry, Thaine Morris, is who hired me to work for one of the two biggest visual effects companies in the movie industry, Boss Film Corp. They were the original crew for Lucas and Spielberg, and when they broke off from ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) they started Boss. So I've seen some great explosions in my life, but I think this one might just be one even Thaine could envy. - I'll have to ask him.

Ashley takes a beautiful, but hazy, sunrise walk on the beach of South Padre Island, on May 19, 2022.

I was late getting to the party because I did my morning jog and didn't realize the time. When the signal canon start fired, my controller was just connecting to the drone, then while I was in the air I could see on my screen that I forgot to take the lens cap off, so I had to land, take it off, and then fly again. -- But that's okay, because Tommy Saenz had his drone in the air and got the launch from several blocks north of me. -- I then did two rotation pans to get the Island pre-sunrise. The 2nd pan is slower and smoother. Sorry for the bad planning for the shot.

Danica does a Sweet Transvestite - gig. --- Danica Rae Bird throws a Rocky Horror Picture Show party at Jake's on South Padre Island, Texas for her moving away party. Thanks to Jake for hosting the party and putting up with us all.

Nathan Hammond has modified his sky writing airplane (called Ghost Writer) to project nighttime fireworks, while at the same time the fuselage is covered with LEDs for a digital light-show. This is one of the coolest things I've ever seen. Filmed from the infamous Lobo Del Mar Cafe' on South Padre Island, Tx. - If you've not been there before, you will fall in love with the owners - the Buntin family. They're a large family that work together in harmony like a colony of ants, and they're some of the most patriotic people you will ever meet. They even play the bagpipe every evening at sunset - rain or shine. So come visit and experience Lobo Del Mar for yourself and feel the Island hospitality for all it's worth. Please support our local CAF - they keep these birds flying to teach our youth the history of our nation and instill the honor and sacrifices our military personnel have given for our freedoms. https://rgvcaf.org/

This beautiful sunset was filmed on 06-05-2021 at Lobo Del Mar Cafe' on South Padre Island, Texas. With the fabulous bagpipe band playing Amazing Grace then our National Anthem in the background, as they do every night. -- Then they graciously played the birthday song for a patron. -- If you've never been to Lobo's, you're missing out. They're owned and operated by a very friendly and great Patriotic family, -- and they have great food and music! I have no idea what the pontoon boat was doing, but he finally got out of the way of the sunset. -- He might have been drunk - I don't know.

The calm between the storms.

Friends making friends with the dolphins. I grew up on South Padre Island as a commercial scuba diver and surfer, but watching the dolphins never gets old.

Local SPI singer/songwriter, Danica Rae Bird, piloting the boat like a boss.

This was the first start of my newly installed Stroker 383 (stroked Chevy 350). It's rated at 345 hp and 445 torque.

This was the initial sea trial of my 2005 Bayliner 265 after installing a new Chevy 350 (Stroker 383) with 345 hp and 445 Ft Lbs of Torque. Fine tuning is yet to be done.

I was watching the sunset on SPI on 03-20-2021 and Stairway to Heaven came on the radio as I was video recording the sunset. Music credit: Led Zeppelin, Swan Song Records, Atlantic Records, Warner/Chappell Music.