Check out this fantastic capture of a plane towing a banner message past a packed beach in Italy.

Here’s another plane towing a message off the coast of South Carolina (where there’s also a great shot of someone parasailing too).

I don’t know what messages these planes were flying, but at North Perry Airport in Florida someone’s left one of these plane-banners lying out, and you can clearly read the message “CAT I LOVE, YO!“…

Thanks to mlc1us, nicolor and Mark Ralston.

Congregating by this water outlet in West Palm Beach is a whole herd of Florida Manatees, a highly intelligent species of aquatic mammals, also known as Sea Cows.

The water outlet is actually from an adjacent power plant, and Manatees commonly gather in places like this, as the water is artificially heated. This has meant that the Manatess no longer migrate to warmer waters, and have actually become reliant on the heat from the power plants.

You’d think hanging around power plants might not be the safest practice, but actually these manatees are much more threatened by potential collisions with boats – and you can see why, given these ones proximity to the passing traffic.

Thanks: Jim Schomberg.

It seems that more than one person has had the idea of theming their swimming pool around aeroplanes…

Here’s a small private plane-shaped pool in Miami.

This is the Flying W Airport in New Jersey, where they have a cool plane-shaped pool with “W”s on the wings. Flying W is described as a “flying airport resort“, and whilst I’m not sure exactly what that is, there’s definitely real planes parked right next to the pool. Very odd.

Over in Cairo, Egypt, they’ve taken a quite different approach and illustrated a fighter jet on the bottom of this circular pool, which also features a very large bird of prey. Do these insignia hold some sort of significance I wonder?

Finally, in China, they’ve dispensed with swimming pools, a built an entire lake in the shape of a plane! This is right next to a decent sized airport, so maybe this is a hotel.

Whilst swimming here might not be very pleasant, if you look closely you’ll see that instead, you might be able to take a boat trip in this plane!

Thanks to 93f2, Felippo, Majoska and kjfitz.

Most driveways around the world are reserved for parking the family car, but 58 year old ex-coal miner Francois Zanella uses his driveway to park his personal home-made cruise ship.

The ship is a 1/8th reproduction of the Royal Caribbean International cruise-liner, Majesty of the Seas. Mr. Zanella spent 11 years constructing it, by hand, in his hometown of Morsbach, Moselle, France. With sponsorship from various local companies he built the hull, installed two 100 hp engines, decorated the 160m² internal living space and eventually launched the vessel on 23 June 2005.

At 33.5m long, 4.75m wide and 90 tons the mini-Majesty of the Seas is a fully functional canal boat and is now driven around the canals of Europe. This photo of Mr. Zanella gives a good idea of the ship’s scale.

The real Majesty of the Seas is also available on Google Earth, seen here docked in the Port of Miami. However, this version certainly won’t fit in the canals of Europe – it weighs 73,941 gross tons and accommodates up to 2,744 passengers whilst cruising around Nassau, Coco Cay and Key West.

The whole story of Francois’ model, and Wikipedia for Majesty of the Seas and Majesty of the Seas (mini).

Thanks: Mathieu Mangeot & Aurelien_F & OGO50

Jumbolair Aviation Estates near Ocala in Florida is probably the most famous of the U.S.’s near 500 fly-in communities, a few of which we’ve previously featured.

It first gained media attention thanks to the efforts of the eccentric Arthur Jones who populated the place with his Jumbo jets, elephants, gorilla and the world’s largest crocodile in captivity.

However the animals are no longer there, instead replaced by flying nut (and all-round nut) John Travolta, after he was thrown out of his previous abode at Spruce Creek Fly-In Community (which incidentally features in The Google Sightseeing Book).

It’s claimed that the reason the residents of Spruce Creek wanted rid of Travolta was the excess noise produced by his Boeing 707, called Jett Clipper Ella. The 1964 former Qantas airliner was previously owned by Frank Sinatra, and was painted in the classic V-Jet colours in return for Travolta lending it to Qantas for a round-the-world tour.

Travolta’s residence is obvious, being the largest and right next to the runway. The 707 is parked under the southern canopy but the disco king himself must be out and about, as the smaller Gulfstream II Jet which resides in the northern canopy is missing.

More info on Jumbolair, Travolta’s 707 and his house.