My First Ship of the Season...the Kaye Barker

Technically, the season opens with the opening of the Welland Canal on March 21, but it doesn't kick into gear until the Soo Locks open at Midnight on March 25th.  I was hoping to head up there to catch the opening of the Locks but the weather didn't want to cooperate.  So instead I headed over to Norfolk to catch ships of a different sort.  Since I got back late Saturday Night/Early Sunday morning,  I could have gone shipwatching Sunday but I was kind of tired.  So today gave me the opportunity to go catch a ship.

The river wasn't particularly busy, so I didn't have too many opportunities but then I saw that the Kaye E. Barker was heading up the Rouge River.  So I decided to go for that.

 I decided to catch her at Belle Isle first but it was snowing.  However, I kind of like the effect of fog and heavy weather.

 She got less obscured.

And then she appeared about as clear as she would.

 I was actually hoping to catch her off the Rocky Beach but I dallied too much.

 This is just as well though.

 I was hoping that I could catch her at the Fort Street Bridge but they are still putting the finishing touches on that and the sign said no pedestrians.  So I waited at the Dix Avenue Bridge.  It's actually a pretty good view.  I've been wanting to get back to it ever since I caught the Lee A. Tregurtha here a few years ago.

 They had to move the other Boblo Boat from the Nicholson Dock to here.  I really hope that they can figure out what to do with her before she gets to a point where they can't do anything with her.

 I didn't remember getting a headshot before, but I don't think I was on this side of the Bridge.

 The water was almost calm enough for a reflection.

 As the boat moved closer, the reflection actually got better.

 Two beauties.

 And she gets closer to the bridge.

 There's a man on the deck, his family was standing next to me.  That was kind of cool to see.

 A shot of the pilothouse.

 Yup, she's pretty well loaded.

 She passes the bridge and starts to make the turn towards the dock.

 A shot of her stack.

 I kind of like the shots from here.

 An almost clean stern shot with the plant in the background.

One more shot before heading home.

It was cool to see my first laker of the season but I didn't particularly care for the snow going with it.  Oh well...soon we will be done with that for a while.