It seems to me that how You See SB depends on your perspective. In looking through aerial photos from our Friday flight around town, I realized we hadn’t shared this one of UCSB.
0848 UCSB Gate & Engineering
Then I remembered my first flight lesson at SBA. I’d toured the campus many times on a bike and the bus, and even more times by car and of course on foot. Never had I seen it from the air, except a brief glimpse from an airliner during landing or takeoff. As the instructor lifted off from one of the two “15” runways that the small planes mostly use, we passed very close to the East side of the campus and the view just after liftoff was very much like this. I found it very difficult to concentrate fully on the instructor’s running commentary as I kept glancing and even sometimes staring at the magnificent setting of this place I knew so well from the ground. If you like UCSB and have never seen it from the air in a small plane, I sure hope you find a way because as usual photos can’t convey how magnificent it is.
0884 Floater
Another fun thing to look at when flying over UCSB is the surf lineup at Campus Point, so we often check that out. Friday there was what looked very much like an abandoned air mattress floating near the kelp beds not far from the surfers, and I imagined someone idly paddling around there catching some rays. I hope the environmentalists on campus or at nearby Isla Vista eventually towed it back to shore.
0886 Campus Point Surfers
To really watch the surfers you’re much better off on one of the bluffs of course. But I also enjoy looking down into the water, and though we’re moving relatively fast even during takeoff it’s fun to glimpse someone actually catching a wave. I’ve wondered whether sometime I might spot a dolphin, seal or even shark swimming near the surfers possibly without them even knowing it was there.
I guess you already know how much we love flying around Santa Barbara, even after having flown in so many other beautiful places. We already loved this area long before we had flown over it in a small plane. Doing that increased our enjoyment of SB by orders of magnitude. So just like viewing UCSB from the air, it seems to me that flying can change how You See SB. 🙂
John & Anne Wiley 
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