Catching the Harvest Spirit on Christmas Eve

 Yesterday found me at Belanger Park because I wanted to catch the Kaye Barker.  She was heading to the mouth of the Rouge River and Belanger was where I could catch her.

One of the nice things about Belanger is that I can get a decent picture of ships that are loading or unloading at the grain elevator in Windsor.

I believe the Harvest Spirit was unloading here.  Today she is on her way up to Thunder Bay.

I presume she is going up there for grain.  So I suspect I might see her again.

McKeil Spirit Docked in Windsor

 This ship was docked in Windsor.

I saw her coming up the river on AIS, so I didn't think I would get a chance to catch her.  Little did I know, she would stop.

I'm not sure what she was unloading though.

Windsor in the Sunset

 As I was taking pictures of one of the ships, I looked over towards Windsor.

I loved the way the light was hitting it, so I had to get a picture.

The Frontenac Pays a Visit

 I wanted to do something today but it didn't look like things were going to cooperate.  And then I saw that the Frontenac was coming down but it was going to be later.  

After some waffling, I ended up heading down to Riverside tonight.  It was pretty busy but I was able to get a parking spot.

I went to my normal spot to take pictures, the park can absorb a few people.  It was actually fairly relaxing except for the people peeling out of the parking lot.

I wasn't sure if I would get her before it turned dark, but I was able to bump up the film speed on my camera to get her.

It was a little on the windy side, so I was able to get some wave action.

She makes a turn for the channel, she was actually heading to the stone dock across the river in Windsor.

But I'm not sure where she was coming from.

I just know that she is one of the ships I try to catch when I can.

I was surprised to see that she was getting a visit from the M.S. Westcott.  Like I said, she was just going across the river.  Maybe they were making a pizza delivery.

I like this shot.

She approaches Windsor.

Carrying a load of Windsor.

The Westcott at her side.

She passes under the Ambassador Bridge and the Westcott peeling away.

She continues down the river.

A sort of stern shot.

the Gordie Howe Bridge.

I like this shot, especially with the flags above her.

She makes the turn for her dock.

She continues her turn.

She's almost pulled into her dock.

One more picture of her before the next ship.

A Pair of Airplanes

 I went down to Detroit because I saw that a favorite of mine was going to be passing and I wanted to catch her.  While I was waiting for the first ship, I saw a couple of planes in the sky.

I heard this one before I saw it.  It had a pretty cool sound.  It is known in the US as a T-6 Texan.  I believe it is called a Harvard in Canada and Great Britain.  It was used as an advanced trainer during World War II and well into the 70s.  It was used by many of the allies of the United States.  I think this one belongs to a group in Windsor.

This is a Cessna 172 that was flying out of Grosse Ile.

A Cessna Flies Overhead

As I was waiting for the next ship, I heard a plane flying by.

The plane is a Cessna 172 owed by the Windsor Flying Club and was flying out of Windsor Airport.

The Tug Stormont

 I think I've posted this one before.  In fact, I know I've posted it a couple of times.

This is the tug Stormont.  She is usually pushing a barge that is used to transport trucks over the Detroit River.  Those trucks are usually carrying hazardous materials because you can't transport those over the Ambassador Bridge.  I'm not what sure will happen to this after the Gordie Howe Bridge is built as you will be able to transport hazardous material over that.  I hope they keep it around because you never know.

The Beatrix Unloads in Windsor

One nice thing about Belanger Park is that you get a pretty good view of the grain elevator in Windsor.  

There is normally a ship or two nearby.  Most of the time they are foreign ships.

In this case, the ship was the Beatrix belonging to Wagenborg of the Netherlands.

I didn't realize grain was so dusty.
 

The Northern Venture Unloads in Windsor

 I decided to head down to Riverside Park yesterday.  There was a ship that I wanted to catch.  While I was waiting for that ship, I had a chance to take pictures of other ships on the river.

The Northern Venture was over in Windsor.

I think she was delivering stone.

I'm not sure where she was coming from.

As you can see, there was a bit of fog.

Watching the Cuyahoga Unload in Windsor

 So I was looking at Marine Traffic today.  I saw that the Arthur Anderson would be passing Detroit after I got out of work.  I also saw that the Cuyahoga would be passing around that time as well.  So after work, I decided to head down to Riverside Park in order to catch them.

The Anderson had stopped for fuel, which is one of the reasons I headed down.  She was still fueling when I got out of work, so I thought I had a chance to catch her.  Unfortunately, the traffic didn't cooperate with me, so I didn't make it on time.

Nor was I able to catch the Cuyahoga as she was heading down, but she was right across from where I was, so I decided to take some pictures.

We had a bit of a scare earlier this year as she had a fire in her engine room.  Fortunately, the crew was able to put it out quickly and there wasn't much damage.  Also, Lower Lakes uses her quite a bit, so it was very likely that she would be back in service.

Sure enough, she was.

I think she came down from Bruce Mines.

And I think she was delivering stone.  As I type this, she is heading down to Kingsville, where she will pick up her next load.

The Baie Comeau Unloading in Windsor

 Saturday was a pretty nice day and I saw that it would be a fairly busy river day.  At first I thought that I would head up to Bay City to catch a ship that would be passing there.  Unfortunately, the construction on US-23 wasn't going to cooperate with me, so I decided to turn around and head to Detroit instead.  It looked like it was going to be busy there too.

While I was waiting for my first ship, I decided to take some pictures of the Baie Comeau as she was unloading at one of the Windsor stone docks.

I figured that I would also get a picture of the Canadian side of the Gordie Howe Bridge because it looks like they are making some good progress on it.  I think when they say it will be ready next year, it will be ready next year.

Trying to get a picture of the full boom.  I think it was switching between holds at this point.

Another stream of stone coming out.

Just another picture as she unloads.

As I type up this post, she is on her way to Toronto.