Indiana Harbor and Friends

I was thinking about heading up to Silver Bay, MN in order to catch a ship but after some thought and seeing a couple pictures from there, I decided that I would just stick in the area.  After a nice dinner at a local restaurant, I checked AIS and saw that the Indiana Harbor was starting to leave the harbor.  So I ended up back down at the Canal for another ship.

 A closeup shot of the North Pier Lighthouse.

 I think this is a merganser duck.  I kind of like the plume on top of his head.

 The Apollon is still waiting to dock.  I'm not sure if she's waiting for space or a pilot though.

 The Apollon was joined by the Federal Mattawa.  I think both ships are going to the grain docks but again I'm not sure.

 The Vista Star managed to emerge from behind the bridge.  She is one of the harbor tour boats and I am going to ride on one of them tomorrow morning.

 A group of people on the boat waving as they pass by.

 I can't pass up a shot of this lighthouse.

 The North Pier Light.

 And the giant 1000 footer comes into view.  Even at a distance she looks huge.

 The massive ship starts to make her turn towards the channel.  This is a maneuver I've seen several times back in my normal stomping grounds.

 The headshot.  I didn't think I would get one of these here.

 The ship starts to head towards the channel.  She gives the bridge a salute which the bridge returns.

 She starts to enter the channel.

 A shot of her bow as she passes under the bridge.

 A shot of her full length.

 These ships are massive and you don't realize just how big they are until you are right next to one.

 Another shot of her bow.

 And her pilothouse.

 And she passes by.  It is almost like a moving skyscraper.

 She passes both lighthouses.

 A shot as she moves into Lake Superior.

 She moves a little farther out.

 A shot of the pair of salties.

 Looking up at the lighthouse.

 Looking back towards the lift bridge.

 The giant ship passes her smaller cousins.

One more shot as she sails out to Lake Superior.   In 24 hours, she will be passing through the Poe Lock.  Roughly 25 hours after that, she will be passing the Blue Water Bridge and another hour past that, she will arrive at her destination of the St. Clair Power Plant.