It’s not every day you get to see a power plant implode, so I rolled out of bed at o’dark thirty and joined a few hundred people on the banks of south bay in Chula Vista, CA.  The older gentleman who sat next to me works for the the environmental services company that has spent the last two years disassembling and preparing the facility, and he reminisced about this plant being here since he was a kid.

We watched the moon fade as the sun rose over the hill painting the clouds crimson, orange and pink.  Winds were calm.  Boaters and kayakers lined up as close as they could.  “It’s a good day for an explosion,” my seatmate noted. Then at 7:03 a.m. PST BOOM – BOOM – BOOM about a second apart and my jaw dropped as I watched this massive steel structure fall. It was a strange sensation to actually feel the explosion in the air and resonate in my chest with each BOOM.

What an incredible experience. Visit this site  for more photos, details and video.  The video was captured from my vantage point, and I heard the guy yell, “You missed a spot” at the end. LOL.  The power plant now looks like a disabled ship, laying on its side. What took two years to build came down in less than two minutes!

NOTE: My photographer is on a diving trip this weekend.  These photos are credited to Kerri Nikole Photography.