Once in Blue Moon

 A Blue Moon occurs when there are two full moons in a month.  The lunar cycle does not quite match the calendar cycle.  This means that approximately once every three years we will get a Blue Moon.  The last time it occurred in March of 2018.

The last time we had a Blue Moon on Halloween was in 2001.  So I guess that's pretty rare.

Stopping at the Airport

 I decided to stop at the airport on the way home from Detroit.

I only caught one plane though.

Of course it was a 757.

It was arriving from Atlanta.

It was a nice day to get plane pictures though.

Although, I prefer some clouds to no clouds.

One more.

And the Walter J. McCarthy

 So after catching the Saginaw, I saw that the Walter J. McCarthy was heading down.  I didn't to wait the half hour or so to catch her at Del Ray, so I decided to catch her at Milliken.

It was still pretty windy, so I didn't even bother with my drone.  I wasn't sure if I could use it from Milliken anyway.

The Walter J. McCarthy was heading down from the Duluth area with what I assume was a load of taconite.

She was heading down to Conneaut, Ohio.  That is probably another 17 hours from this point.

I saw that there were a few ships that were anchoring in Lake Erie.  I'm not sure if that means the Walter J. McCarthy will anchor.

Looking at Marine Traffic, that is not the case.

She continues past me.

Almost getting the beam shot.

A better beam shot.

And she passes me.  Unfortunately, I was shooting into the sun for this picture.

Catching the Saginaw on a Blustery Day

 So I decided to head down to Detroit today to get some boat pictures.  I heard that Joe Biden was going to be speaking at Belle Isle, so  I decided not to head over there.

I ended up at Del Ray but barely go there in time.  I started to shoot with my normal camera to get a just in case picture.

My drone protested as soon as I got it up in the air.  I could barely move it against the wind to get the angles that I normally like.

But I was glad to get some pictures of the Saginaw with my drone.

I'm not sure where she was heading though as I raised my drone up higher.  I couldn't go much higher than this though.

She continues on her way.

One more shot.

A Lazy Sunday Afternoon

 So after a pretty good boat day on Saturday, it wasn't as good of a boat day on Sunday.  Plus,  I didn't really feel like dealing with all the construction.  If I wanted a good boat day, I had to head up to Port Huron and it seems like every way I would want to take to get up there is being torn up.

So  I decided to head over to the airport.

The planes were landing from the south, so that meant a trip up to the top of the parking structure.

I kind of like getting a picture of the fall foliage in with my plane pictures.

There were really only two planes that I was interested in.

They were both 757s.

So this was a 757-200 flying in from Orlando.  It kicks off a little smoke as it touches down.

So it was kind of nice to see this.

Next up....

Another 757.

This one was a 757-300.

It was coming in from Atlanta.

I was thinking that it was just a repositioning flight but it turns out that it is a regularly scheduled flight.

Photobombed by the other 757.

This one also touched down with a bit of smoke.

Kind of a shot of the Renaissance Center in the background.

It makes a turn for the taxiway.

Almost gives me a head shot but it moved to fast.

And it turns for the other taxiway.

One more shot before going home.

And Then There was Ma Barker

 While I was waiting for the James R. Barker, I saw that the Kaye E. Barker was leaving the Rouge River.  She was delivering iron ore to the Rouge River Steel Mill.

When I checked AIS in the morning, I saw that the Patricia Hoey was alongside of her.  I knew that meant she was getting refueled while she was unloading her cargo.  So I knew that meant she wouldn't be stopping for fuel.

When I saw that she was moving, I knew that she would be leaving the Rouge River at some point.

I was getting a little anxious as I saw that she was stopped for a railroad bridge.

But she started moving again.

Typically, it takes about an hour for a ship to go from the steel mill to the mouth of the Rouge River.

Then it takes about another hour to get from the mouth of the Rouge River to Belle Isle.

Then I took the drone up.  This time, I tried to get a picture from the other side of the ship.  This was so I wasn't shooting into the sun.

I was a little concerned about the signal getting interference from the ship, so I moved it back.  You can see the difference.  Next time I use the drone, I'm gonna try to get pictures from the sun side.

I also wanted to get a beam shot and I wasn't sure how much room I would have on the other side.  I didn't want to crash my drone over Canadian air space and create an international incident.  I don't have an spies to exchange for my drone.

I moved with the ship for a little bit.  I really like the colors in this picture.

From this point, she was heading up to Calcite to pick up a load of stone and then she was off to Grand Haven.  I kind of wish I knew that before hand, I was thinking about trying to catch her there.