The Return of the Oberstar

Like I said in my first post from tonight, it was a pretty busy day.  I didn't realize how busy it was until I checked AIS again.  For the next series of ships, I decided to head up to Port Huron.

 First in that series is the Honorable James L. Oberstar.  She is named after a Wisconsin Congressman who was a friend to the Great Lakes shipping industry.

 She was heading down to Toledo but I don't remember what she was loaded with.  I thought that she was heading to the steel mill in Detroit, but I guess I was wrong.

 I think she was the first ship on the Great Lakes to be installed with a diesel scrubber.  I believe this is an attempt to remove pollutants from her exhaust and it's a pretty noble gesture.

 I kind of like it because with the white plume coming from her stack, she looks like a steamship.  They are in the process of adding this system to the Lee A. Tregurtha and James R. Barker.  Both of those ships should be coming back on line soon.

 Like I said, I think it looks pretty cool.

 A shot of her pilothouse.

 And her deckhouse.

She continues on her way down the River.

The American Spirit on the St. Clair River

Next up was the thousand footer, the American Spirit.  She's appeared on this blog a few times.  Normally, I would split a post like this into a few other posts but I'm going to keep it all in one.

 The large boat as she passes the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse.

 She starts to prepare for her turn for entering the river.

 She completes her turn and starts to move towards the Bluewater Bridge.

 I think it's a little trickier for her because it didn't seem like she stayed straight as long as the Leitch.

 She passes by the Bridge.

 Nothing says long ship like this shot, I think.  For some reason these still remind me of the opening scene of Star Wars.

 Another shot of her full thousand feet.  Actually, she's a little longer than that.

 A shot of her pilothouse.

 Slowly she works her way towards the Black River.

 Next I headed over to St. Clair to catch some shots of her there.  I like shooting boats from St. Clair about as much as I do Port Huron.

 Another frontal shot.

 Another shot of her full length.

 Nothing gives you a better idea of her size than having a shot of a crewman on her deck.

 A closer shot of her pilothouse.

 One of her lifeboats.  I believe these can be used in stormy seas and are difficult to sink.

 Just in case you forgot her name.

 A shot of her smokestack. 

 A closer shot of her pilothouse.

 Another angle of her lifeboat.

 Slowly she starts to pull away.

 She greats her fellow fleetmate and my next subject, the Buffalo.

 The two ships pass each other and give each other a greeting.  It is pretty neat when boats speak.

 I headed to Algonac State Park for my next set of shots.  This is another nice spot for boatwatching.

 She passes a group of swans.

 The lighting was even nicer here.

 I really like the way the light was shining on her.

 A shot of her bow.

 One more shot before moving to the next spot.

 Then I decided to catch her in Algonac proper.

Sadly, that spot is fairly fleeting.

Why the Long Face?

I decided to go boatwatching on Sunday because it's been a while since I've done some pretty serious boatwatching.  It was kind of relaxing.

 The first ship we ran across was the John D. Leitch which is owned by Algoma Central.  At one time, she known as the Canadian Century but that was when she was owned by the Upper Lakes Group.

 Many boatnerds do not like her looks.  They consider her as ugly.  I wont call her uglybut I will say she is pretty unique looking.  She does have kind of an elongated pilothouse look.  Evidently that is so she can carry more cargo.

 It was actually a pretty nice looking day but a little on the cold side.  I kind of liked the way the clouds were looking but I was liking the fact that it was sunny more.

 One of the nice things about catching ships downbound at the Bluewater Bridge is that you have a chance for a frontal viewl.

 The Leitch framed by the Bluewater Bridge.

 You can get a frontal shot for a while.

 Then finally she makes her turn for the St. Clair River.

 I kind of like this shot with the Bluewater Bridge in the background.

 She starts to pass by.

 A shot of her pilothouse.

 She slowly makes her way downriver.

 A shot of her rear.

One more shot before seeing the next ship.