San Diego: Day 3 - exploring the Midway

With Hilary attending her conference all day, this was my first chance to explore San Diego. So what did I do. First priorty - hit the pool, and finish, at long last, my book "The Winter Vault" by Anne Michaels. In the process, I managed to get a beautiful sunburn - the book was so good that I just had to read it instead of returning to the hotel room to get that suntan lotion I neglected to bring.

<-- tourist 'village' just outside of the hotel - lots of restaraunts and gift shops here

After lunch, it was time to get out and do some sight seeing. I picked the perfect place to go - one that I knew would not be on the "A-list" of Hilary's sights to see while in San Diego: the Midway. I guess it's sort of a 'guy' thing to do.

The size of this aircraft carrier is so imposing that it basically takes over part of the harbour skyline from the Hyatt hotel, where we were staying. When it was commissioned in 1945, the ship was the largest in the world, and kept that record for ten years. The size of the ship was breathtaking.
- the ship, which is 972 feet in length and 136 feet wide, carried over 4,500 men and could launch over 100 aircraft from its decks.
- the anchors alone weigh 20 tons.
- over 100,000 gallons of fuel was consumed daily, at a rate of about 260 gallons per mile.
- My brother Mark would love this - it was a steamship! Steam boilers, fueled by diesel fuel, powered this massive vessel. The ship could have been powered by throwing wood chips into the furnace, if you could get enough of them. These days, modern carriers are powered by nuclear energy.

I could go on and on. Having never been on-board such a ship, everything was impressive.

Though the Midway was never used during WWII (it was commissioned a week after Japan surrendered), it saw action in the Vietnam War through the 1960's and 70's, and in the battle of Kuwait (aka "Desert Storm") in 1991. When I walked through its decks, there were scores of volunteer ex-servicemen to tell me about details of the ship.

<-- an ex fighter pilot, telling what it was like to land on the carrier. Watching him speak basically redefined my concept of "Type A" personality. Pretty impressive guy.


One of them, on the deck, was a fighter pilot who had successfully landed 260 times on the deck of the ship, over a dozen of them at night - the scariest form of landing you can have on a carrier. He called them 'catches', for that's basically what they are.

When a jet fighter jet lands, it has to hit the runway within a space about the size of two tennis courts at a perfect angle in order to catch one of three cables that literally grab the plane, bringing it from 160 mph to zero in just over three hundred feet. The entire landing process consists of about ten to twelve seconds of lightning quick, white-knuckle decisions on a deck that is pitching up and down on open ocean.

When landing the jet, the pilot told us how he would ease back on the throttle to decrease airspeed in order to make the landing strip and follow a visual cue called a "ball" that was lit on the side of the deck as if his life depended on it - which in fact, is correct. For without this visual cue, it is impossible to know if the approach is correct. If it's wrong, he could hit the ship or fall off into the ocean.

Lights used to guide jets in on the landing-->

Then, just as soon as the wheels touch the deck, the engines must roar back to full throttle.

The reason? If the hooks failed to catch the plane, the jet must become airborne again or it will fall off the deck and into the ocean. The engines have to be running at full throttle to do this. The pilot just has to trust that the hooks and cable are strong enough to stop the plane's engine running at full speed, hitting the flight deck. You can imagine what that felt like, as you were strapped into one of those planes and the cable grabbed the plane. Once stopped, fast action is still necessary. The pilot has just 45 seconds to get his plane out of the way before another jet comes in for a landing behind him.




 For the record, I think I'll stick to riding a bicycle for my thrills.

<--F-14 Tomcat, the type of plane used in the movie "Top Gun"

Pots for making soup for 4,500 service men-->

To feed what was basically an army of Navy servicemen, 10 tons of food were consumed - 13,500 meals - each day. To do this, 1000 loaves of bread had to be baked, and 3,000 potatoes peeled. You can imagine the work involved!

<-- The admiral's "war room" - the central command for the Midway, serving as the flagship for battle operations

Entering the 'war room', where the rear Admiral Dan March directed the Navy's attack during the Battle of Kuwait in 1991 felt like you were really there. All of the original maps and equipment were there, together with a volunteer who described what it was like to be in the room at that time.

View of our hotel, the Hyatt, from the deck of the Midway-->

On deck, and inside the massive hanger, there were 25 restored navy planes and helicopters on display. The exhibit was excellent - well worth seeing, even if you are just a peace-loving Canadian like me.

I made it back to the hotel just in time to meet Hilary and go to the conference's evening event, a "Zoofari" - dinner at the San Diego Zoo. We didn't know quite what to expect - do they pass out beers on an open bus while we check out the zebras? Actually, it was pretty nice. By the time we arrived, the sun was just setting, and the air was cool. A lovely time to walk about to visit the flamingos and koala bears.

Dinner was outdoors and surprisingly relaxed, given there were over a thousand convention attendees here. We found (somehow, out of the crowd) some of Hilary's colleagues and sat down to enjoy a dinner of prime rib, grilled chicken and some great Margaritas. This time, we did avoid most technical chatter. Despite the fact that I can't pretend to keep up with Hilary on this, I actually do find learning about extremely rare auto recessive genetic disorders rather interesting. Just don't test me on the details afterward!

Koala bear, having a snooze. Koalas sleep 18-20 hours per day-->

<--- "Ah, darn, you woke me up!"

tropical tree flowers in the "Hawaiian Garden" at the San Diego Zoo-->

Tomorrow is another full day for Hilary at the conference, although she's going to try to escape for a get-away at lunch. So far, it's been a most enjoyable holiday.