The Baie Comeau Unloading in Windsor

 Saturday was a pretty nice day and I saw that it would be a fairly busy river day.  At first I thought that I would head up to Bay City to catch a ship that would be passing there.  Unfortunately, the construction on US-23 wasn't going to cooperate with me, so I decided to turn around and head to Detroit instead.  It looked like it was going to be busy there too.

While I was waiting for my first ship, I decided to take some pictures of the Baie Comeau as she was unloading at one of the Windsor stone docks.

I figured that I would also get a picture of the Canadian side of the Gordie Howe Bridge because it looks like they are making some good progress on it.  I think when they say it will be ready next year, it will be ready next year.

Trying to get a picture of the full boom.  I think it was switching between holds at this point.

Another stream of stone coming out.

Just another picture as she unloads.

As I type up this post, she is on her way to Toronto.

The Baie Comeau Loading in Windsor

 One of the things I like about Belanger Park is that I get a good view of the ships that are loading or unloading at the grain elevator and salt docks in Windsor.  This is one of the ships that I saw heading up on Marine Traffic, so I wasn't sure if I would get her.

The Baie Comeau is loading at the salt docks in Windsor.  I think she was laid up in Hamilton.

I'm not sure where she is headed after this though.

The Baie Comeau Unloading

 As I looked across the river, I saw that the Baie Comeau was unloading.

There is a stone dock across the river from Riverside Park.  I see ships here fairly often.  I don't normally like catching ships unloading, but you take what you can get.

Catching the Baie Comeau in Charlevoix

 So when I saw that this ship was heading up to Charlevoix, I figured that I had to make my way over there.  That made for a bit of a whirlwind day because I probably took a longer route than necessary.

It is my goal to catch a ship heading into each of the Lake Michigan ports.  So far, I've caught ships going into St. Joseph, Grand Haven, Holland, Muskegon and Ludington.  Next on my list are Manistee and Charlevoix.

When I caught the Baie Comeau passing Marine City, I saw that she was heading to Charlevoix and since I had the day off, I figured I would head up there.

I thought that I would be catching her passing the lighthouse in Charlevoix.  I didn't think I would be seeing her back in.

She was headed to the cement plant there with a load of cement.

Another picture with my camera.

I'm not a fan of stern shots, so I had to get my drone out.  Unfortunately, that meant that I would be shooting into the sun.

With some work on the angles, I could get some decent shots though but I was at the limits of my drone.

Fortunately, it wasn't windy out.  As she was backing in, I was able to get some other angles.

The lighting in this shot makes it look like an old color photograph.

I'll have to say this was a pretty cool spot to catch her.  I liked getting the cement plant in the back ground.

I was able to get better angles as she backed further in.

I kind of like this shot.  This one was with my camera.

I really like this shot.

She's almost in her slip.

Another bow shot.

Another shot that I like.

One more before heading back home.

All in all, it was a pretty nice day for my birthday except that it was too much driving.  It made me pretty wiped for the next day.  Oh well, I don't get many opportunities like this, so I had to take it.

The Baie Comeau Passes Marine City

After catching the eagles, I decided to head up to Marine City where I could catch the ship that I missed.

This wasn't the one though.  The ship I wanted to catch was following her and wasn't too far behind.

I'm not sure where the Baie Comeau was coming from but I know she was heading to Charlevoix.  More about that later.

Someone online said that she was carrying bauxite for the cement plant in Charlevoix.  But I'm not sure where she would have picked that up.

Getting the almost beam shot.

I didn't take my drone up because it was raining.

And one more before I turned my sights to the next ship.
 

Catching the Baie Comeau

 After stopping at Shiawassee, I headed over to Port Huron.  I saw that there were a few ships that I could catch.

I was not expecting this one.  Usually when I check ships coming from one direction, I don't pay attention to the ones coming from another direction.

This was the Baie Comeau and she was heading to Milwaukee.

After seeing a couple of ships at rest there, I would love to catch a ship coming in there.

I might have to wait for that though.

I'm not sure what she was carrying though.

As she headed out to the lake.

My drone was giving me fits though.  So I didn't get as many drone shots as I wanted.

One more.

The Baie Comeau Passes By

So it wasn't long before my first ship appeared for me.  I shouldn't have waited this long to post because I'm not sure where she was coming from.  But I'm pretty sure she was heading up to Thunder Bay.

It almost looked like she was loaded but I'm not sure.  Usually upbound ships are not loaded.  The cargo typically comes from the northern ports of the lakes and flow down to the southern ports.

There are a few places in the south where they can pick up stone and other things.  So sometimes, they will deliver something from the north, head over to Sandusky or one of them where they will pick up stone.

They will then deliver that on the back trip.  I think the way their cost structure works, anytime they can make a delivery on the return trip, it's gravy.

Anyway, this is one of the ships that was built in China and it is now almost ten years old.

While many people don't like their looks, I do.  They aren't quite as nice a classic laker but they are still pretty nice looking.

This one seems to be in better shape than many of the other Canadian vessels.  There is still quite a bit of wharf scrapping though.

That is to be expected though.

One more shot with my regular camera.

Then I switched over to my drone.  I am really liking my drone shots but I don't think they will ever replace my regular camera shots.

I like the different angles that I can get.  I also like that I can move it so that I can get an angle where I am not looking into the sun.

I kind of like this shot.

I really like the fact that I can shot the top of a ship.

Almost a beam shot.

the beam shot.

And then she starts to pull away.

I like seeing the wake.

It was a nice day.

Kind of the view of the mouth of the Detroit River.