Algorail Between the Raindrops

Yesterday I was up in Troy and just before I left, I decided to check out AIS to see what was coming around the River.  I saw that the Algorail would be passing upbound on the St. Clair River, so I decided to head up that way before heading home.

 The Algorail is sort of legendary in the boatnerd community as someone jokingly referred to her as the fiberglass eating boat.  I'm not sure how that rumor started but it's kind of funny so I will mention that here.  She is kind of a cool looking boat so I had to hunt her down.

  I ended up catching her just as she passed Marine City.  I was hoping to catch her a little sooner but traffic was what it was, so that's where I caught her.

 A shot of her stern.

 I caught her in St. Clair next.  This is one of my favorite spots on the river.  The ships come up fairly close and you have a chance for some headshots.

 The background is fairly uncluttered but there are still a few buildings.

 A closeup of her pilothouse.

 The three quarters shot which is rapidly becoming one of my favorite angles.

 A closer shot of her pilothouse.

 Just in case you forgot what ship I was talking about.

 These numbers indicate how deep she is running.  Since she's a Canadian boat, she has both English and Metric units.

 A shot of her pilothouse as she passes by.

 Her stack.

 The Canadian flag flying proudly in the breeze.

 She slowly passes by.

 A shot of her stern as she leaves the St. Clair area.

 Then I headed to Marysville to catch her there.  That's another fairly nice spot.

 You can't quite get a headshot but you can get the three-quarters shot.

 And the ships passes fairly close.

 And a shot as she passes by.

 Another stern shot.

 Then I headed to one of my normal spots near Port Huron.

 It's not a bad spot but the background is not as clean as other places.

 My last spot was the Blue Water Bridge.  This is probably my favorite spot.

 You get nice dramatic angles....

 And the all important headshot.

 This is probably in about the spot where she said hello to all the assembled boatwatchers.

 A shot of her under the bridge.

 My favorite angle from this spot.

And she heads out into Lake Huron.