Waking Up to the Wilfred Sykes

I was looking at facebook on Saturday night and there is a group that is dedicated to Ships that Visit Western Michigan.  I saw a post on there that the Sykes would be paying a visit to Grand Haven at 10:00A.M. yesterday morning.  Since the Sykes is a pretty nice looking ship, I decided to get up and go over there to catch her.

 She was moving a little faster than expected, so she was already on the River by the time I got there.  I was really hoping to catch her at the lighthouse but I'm actually fine with this because I think I like these pictures better.

 The last time I caught her, she was swarmed with pleasure boats and I wasn't happy with my pictures because I tend to like my ship pictures undistracted.  So this was nice.

 The water was calm enough that I was getting some fairly nice reflections.  And since this is a spot where I can get a headshot, I will have to remember it next time.

 I will have to say that the Sykes is one of the nicer looking boats out there.  It certainly looks like she is well taken care of.  I don't see too many dock rashes on her.  But then again, she pretty much stays on Lake Michigan and doesn't go through the Soo Locks much.

 I really like her paint scheme, I will have to say it is probably the nicest on the Lakes.

 A shot of her pilothouse.  For some reason, it kind of reminds me of the Herbert Jackson.

 And her deckhouse.

 The crew starting to prepare the hatches for unloading.

 Another shot of her deckhouse.

 She is one of the last steamers on the Lakes.  I have a feeling that she may end up being the last one.

 Old Glory flying in the breeze.

 Another shot of her rear.

 She continues down the river.

And one more shot of her.  First I tried to catch her going into the dock where I caught her last time, but it turned out she went into a different dock.  Then someone said it would take roughly 5 hours to unload, so I putzed around elsewhere and I missed her leaving Grand Haven.  Oh, things to learn for next time.