The Frontenac Makes a Brief Appearance

 I decided to head down to Detroit yesterday.  I wanted to do a little boatwatching.

The Frontenac was the main ship that I wanted to catch.  Unfortunately, she wasn't going where I thought she was going, so she stuck to this end of Belle Isle and then went to a dock on the other side of the Belle Isle Coast Guard station.

Fortunately, I've got a decent enough lens to catch her.  She's about to pass the Algoma Harvester which I wasn't able to catch as she passed Riverside Park.

It was a pretty nice day even though it was the day after changing the clocks.

She cuts a lovely profile and the light was just about perfect.

The bow shot.

She starts to make her turn.

She ended up turning around and heading back up past Belle Isle.

Memorial Day Boatwatching

 Since I had Memorial Day off and I saw that there were a couple of ships heading down, I figured I would head over to Belle Isle to get some pictures.  I don't think I've caught either this year.

First up is the Algoma Harvester.

She is one of a few of the Equinox boats that have been made as straight deckers.

A straight decker is a ship without the self-unloading boom but I think they have other unloading mechanisms.

Anyway, I think the grain trade is still up this year, so these ships have been fairly busy.

Sadly, I don't remember where this one was heading.

I'm gonna say it was Quebec City but it could also be Montreal.

Either one represents a pretty long journey.

Belle Isle was pretty busy but not as bad as it got later in the day.

One more shot with my normal camera.

I went with the drone.  The wind wasn't too bad, so I was able to use my drone with no issues.

I've also been trying to shot ships lower too.

I kind of like the angle here.  It shows some of the background.  Also gives a better clue of the scale of these beasts.

It starts to pass by.

Another shot as it is starting to pass by.

The almost beam shot.

It passes by.

The Detroit skyline in the background.

One more shot.

The Algoma Harvester Passes By

It didn't take too long for the next ship to appear.

 I'm not quite sure where the Algoma Harvester was coming up from.  For some reason, I want to say she was coming up from the grain dock in Windsor.

 She just passed the ship from the last post.

 The Algoma Harvester is one of six straight decker Equinox ships.  Straight decker are the ships that do not have self unloading equipment.  They are typically used for grain because the grain can be sucked out of the holds.

 The other advantage of straight deckers is that valuable cargo space is not being taken up by the self unloading equipment.

 On a personal note, I think they look nicer.  The self unloading equipment sometimes looks ungainly.

 While I am not sure where she was coming from, it is likely that she is heading up to Thunder Bay.

 The grain trade has had a pretty good year this year. 

 She continues her way up the river.

 As you can see the skies were pretty gray.

 But occasionally the sun would peak out.

One more shot before she disappeared behind the trees.

And a Surprise Visitor

Since I was paying more attention to the tall ships, I didn't catch any of the normal ships on Marine Traffic.

The Algoma Harvester was one of them.

Since I didn't look it up, I'm not sure where she was heading from.  I'm going to guess it was one of the ports on the other side of Lake Ontario.

Nor did I know where she was heading to but given her configuration, I would take a wild stab that it was Thunder Bay.

The bow shot.

She continues up the river.

Framed by the Blue Water Bridges.

And she continues out to Lake Huron (or Erie as some might say when they are trying to get their posts out).

And the Algoma Harvester

There was a pretty steady stream of ships for the day.  I realize that there used to be more ships but this will do.

 Next up was another ship that I don't get to see all that often.

 I believe that Algoma Harvester was on her way up to Thunder Bay to pick up a load of grain.

 After that, she will head to Quebec.  In Quebec, she will unload and that load of grain will be picked up by another ship that will take it to Europe (or other places).

 To give you an idea of the vastness of the Lakes, it will take her roughly 24 hours to get to Thunder Bay.  After she finishes loading, it is 24 hours back to the Locks.  From the Locks it is roughly 24 hours to Detroit.  After Detroit, it is roughly 24 hours to the other side of the Welland Canal.  Then is is probably another 48 hours or so to Quebec.

 A rusted bear.

 I kind of like this flag.

And she continues on to the Locks.