Some Shots From the Air

 After I finished with the ships, I wanted to get some shots from the air.

I think I might need to go to Del Ray some day to get a closer shot to the Bridge.  I would really like to get a picture of the approaches and I think it would be better to do that from the air.  There are quite a few wires around the approaches.  Anyway, I still like this shot.

So I turned the done the other way.  I really like this shot.  I think I might have to find a spot to get a closer shot of downtown Detroit.  I think that would look really cool.  I have some ideas of spots I can use.

Catching the Harvest Spirit as She Leaves

As I arrived at Riverside, I took a picture of the Harvest Spirit as she was docked.

I think she might have been fueling up.

Shortly after I finished the pictures of the Munson, I noticed that she was pulling out of the dock.

Zug Island kind of reminds me of Han Solo's home planet from the movie about him.  So I sometimes call it Corellia.

She looks a little rusty for a McKeil ship.  They seem like they take care of their ships.

the Gordie Howe Bridge in the background.

The center of the bridge.

One more shot with my regular camera.

And then I switched to my drone.

She is heading up to Thunder Bay.

I presume that means she is going to pick up grain, but I'm not sure.

The beam shot.

One more shot of her, I wanted to get a shot of the city in the picture too.

And the J.W. Westcott II

 The J.W. Westcott was following closely behind.

This is the mailboat and it sometimes serves as a pilot boat.

I think it is the cooler looking of the two.

She was also carrying passengers.

Looks like they've put up all sorts of flags for this.

The Westcott flag flying proudly.

Old Glory flying proudly too.

the Munson in the background.

Catching the M.S. Westcott

One of the reasons that I like Riverside Park is because I get a chance to get pictures of the Westcott.

I caught a glimpse of the M.S. Westcott as she was returning to the dock.

The Westcott people have been selling tours on both of their boats.  I'm not sure how many they sell or how much it cost per tour.

Anyway, they cover about the same ground as the other tours.

It is cool this is painted in the same scheme as the J.W. Westcott.

Catching Up With the Munson

The boat that really dragged me down was the Munson.  I was hoping to catch her last week but I was only to catch her stern as she was heading up Lake Huron.

She had an eventful time since that.  Apparently, she hit the wall while she was in Gary.  But the damage wasn't that serious as she was heading from Gary in the picture.

I thought it was odd that she was riding so high.  I didn't realize at the time I took these pictures why.

She was heading down to Toledo.  I thought she had a load of iron when I first saw her on Marine Traffic.  I thought she was delivering to the iron mill there.

Clearly that wasn't the case.  As I looked at AIS this morning, I saw she was at Ironhead Fabricating in Toledo.

They have a drydock, which I think means that the Munson is going to get some work.  I'm actually surprised that Gary doesn't have a dry dock.  I guess I'm also surprised she didn't go to Bay Shipbuilding.  It seems that is where most of the work gets done on the Great Lakes.

Anyway, she looks better than many other ships on the Lakes.

So I hope it is a quick repair.

One more shot with my normal camera.

Then I switched to my drone.

I kind of like this shot with Detroit in the back ground.

She makes her way past.

I like this shot too.

Trying to get a beam shot but I like this one a little better.

The beam shot.

She passes by with the Gordie Howe Bridge in the background.

The span is complete.  They have to finish the approaches.

 

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 Kaye E. Barker on the Rouge River

I had a doctor's appointment on Friday, so I decided to take the day off.  The appointment was in the morning, so I had an afternoon to kill.  I decided to see what was stirring in shipping.  I saw that there were two that I was interested in catching.

First up was the Kaye E. Barker on the Rouge River.  I like to catch ships on the Rouge when I can because I like the setting.  I also found out that I can get this shot from the Fort Street Bridge.

The Kaye Barker as she is about to pass through one of the railroad bridges on the Rouge River.

The railroad bridge is an ABT bascule bridge.  It is a fairly unique design as there is only one other in the state of Michigan and that one is in Saginaw.

There used to be one in Port Huron but the yacht club tore it down.  This one was built by the American Bridge Company of New York, New York in 1921.

Hopefully they keep it.

Now she approaches the Fort Street Bridge.

This one is a little easier to take pictures at but I have to pay attention to the trees.

I like to keep the drone low.

The Barker was moving slow enough that I was able to get a bow shot.

One more shot here.

Next I headed over to the Dix Avenue Bridge to get some pictures with my regular camera.

I have tried to use my drone here but there are a ton of wires in the area and I'm afraid that I might hit one.  It kind of same really because the pictures from the air here are pretty cool.

Of course, the pictures from the ground aren't too bad either.

As I was taking pictures of this, I thought how much this looked like a face.  So I had to get a close up of it.

Back to my normal pictures of her.

She was coming down from Marquette and had a load of taconite.

She was heading to the steel mill.

I went to get pictures of her as she was passing through the bridge.  I was trying a leading line shot with this one.  I kind of like it.

She passes by and a shot of the back of her pilot house.

Some of her hatches were open and that gave me chance to get some pictures of her cargo.  I'm kind of amazed that it still looks like a pile after the distance it has traveled.

Another shot of the back of her pilothouse.

Not sure what this is, but I figured I could get a picture of it.

A shot of her stack.  I actually like the look of the Interlake stacks.

The control area for her self unloader.

One of her boats.  I think this might be a lifeboat, but I'm not sure.

A pair of inflatable rafts.  I think these will inflate automatically when they hit the water.

A fishing boat.  I think these are used at certain docks for guidance into the dock.

Her lifering.

Old Glory flapping in the breeze.

One of her crew members on the fantail.

She passes by.  I like the reflection in the water.

Her stern.

She makes the turn for the dock.

My favorite shot on the Great Lakes.

As I type this, she is on her way to Stoneport.  I'm not sure where she is heading after that.