Michigan Exposures: October 2024

And Then There was the Alpena

A couple of these pictures are out of order relative to the other posts, but since I group the pictures together by subject, they will go in here.

I had a chance to catch Alpena in the golden light, which was a bonus. If you look to the left, you can see the Coast Guard Fast Response boat.

The Alpena was coming to Detroit after doing an unload in Essexville. It has been a while since I've seen her. If you look to the top of the picture, you will see the Dolphin.

I saw her earlier on Marine Traffic but I wasn't sure she would be passing in enough light.

Not only was she passing in enough light but she was passing the golden light which is the perfect time to take pictures.

The sun is at such an angle, it will make subjects pop.

The Dolphin still in picture.

I probably could have caught her sooner, but I wanted to do planes.

I like this shot.

She continues on her way, it looks like she has a little rust on her hull but that might be from a scraping.

A relatively unbusy background. As you can see, the colors in this area are pretty close to peak.

She starts to pass Windsor.

The Windsor skyline in the background.

Showing off her flags.

Again, another relatively uncluttered background.

the bow shining.

She approaches the Ambassador Bridge.

I think she was turning towards the Windsor shore so that she could make her docking turn.

She's about to pass the Ambassador Bridge.

She passes.

Showing off one of the towers of the Gordie Howe Bridge.

I like this shot.

And a nice stern shot.

All in all, I had a good weekend. Catching a train but sadly not a steam engine. A hawk. Some planes and I finish with the Alpena.

Catching the Dolphin

A little bit later, I was given another treat.

In this case, it was an MH-65 Dolphin belonging to the US Coast Guard.

As I said, I think the boat in the last post was looking for someone.

And this confirmed it for me.

She heads down river.

A Coast Guard Response Boat

As I was waiting for the Alpena, I saw this guy coming down.

It was a US Coast Guard Fast Response Boat heading somewhere downriver.

I think it was going to look for someone.

It was kind of interesting because 60 Minutes had an "article" about the Coast Guard surfmen tonight. They showed their training at the mouth of the Columbia River. They take their boats into nasty surf that is around some of our Coast Guard stations. It was cool.

The Federal Ruhr at Nicholson Dock

After catching my planes, I decided to check Marine Traffic. I knew the Alpena was coming down and I wanted to know if I could still catch her. I was happy to find that it was possible, so I headed down to Detroit.

I stopped at Riverside Park and looked down at Nicholson Dock and saw that the Federal Ruhr was loading there. I think she was loading steel coils. She will be heading to Veletta, Malta after this. It is starting to get towards the time of year when the salties leave and head for their overseas ports. I think the Welland closes at the end of December.

Sunday Afternoon Spotting

I was going to watch the Lions this afternoon but as it looked like they had things well in hand, I decided to head to the airport to take pictures. It looked like a nice day for planewatching with some cool planes coming in.

First up was an A321 that was coming in from Bean Town.

I'm not sure where this Cessna Citation was coming from, but it was pretty cool to catch.

A more straight on shot.

A 717 that was coming in from Savannah.

A more straight on shot.

One of the planes that got me out.

It of course was a 757-200.

This particular one was coming in from Atlanta.

A couple more pictures because I like the 757.

And one more.

The next plane that I was looking forward to.

This one is an A340 belonging to Lufthansa.

It was coming in from Frankfurt.

Another shot, because I like this plane.

An A321 coming in from Fort Myers.

An A330 that was coming in from Frankfurt. I bet it took right after the A340.

A Spirit Airlines A320 coming in from LaGuardia. I was happy to see this plane because I like this livery and I thought they painted over all of them.

An A320 coming in from Miami.

An American Eagle E175 coming in from LaGuardia.

Another Cessna Citation.

This one was coming in from Cleveland.

A 737 coming in from Tampa.

Another angle of that plane.

An American Eagle CRJ-900 coming in from Reagan National Airport in Washington DC.

Another angle of that plane.

An A321 coming in from LaGuardia. Seems likes lots of planes coming from there.

Another angle of that plane.

Another plane that I was looking forward to seeing.

This was a Royal Jordanian 787 coming in from Amman.

It has been a while since I've seen this plane.

A Sun Country 737 coming in from Minneapolis.

An A330 coming in from Paris.

An American Eagle 737 coming in from Charlotte.

This Delta 737 was bringing folks back from Cancun.

Apparently, it was A330 day.

This plane was coming back from London.

An A320 that was coming back from Palm Beach. If you look in the bottom right hand corner, you can see a 757 in the downwind leg of the approach pattern. I think that was the one coming in from Atlanta.