Fleet Week is over. Here are the best Blue Angels photos.
The annual Fleet Week event brings shiploads of United States Navy sailors, Marines and Coast Guard members, who dock their vessels in the City by the Bay and offer tours of their boats, and give the public a chance to interact with military members as they stroll the streets of San Francisco.
The highlight of Fleet Week is when the Navy Blue Angels perform their flight demonstrations in F/A-18E/F Super Hornets fighter jets on the final weekend. Often, the jets fly in tight diamond formations that almost defy the eyes with their precision. Then they break out to perform solo displays as well as buzzing the Golden Gate Bridge or the tallest skyscrapers of downtown San Francisco, sometimes at speeds up to 700 mph.
Along the Bay Area coastline, mixed with the crowds taking in the aeronautical display, many Bay Area photographers bring cameras and long telephoto lenses to capture and share the display over social media. Many posted their images on Instagram. SFGATE reached out to a number of them asking if they would share their photographs, and here is a selection of our favorite images from the Blue Angels performance this past weekend.