the Samuel Risley Hangs Out in Sarnia

As I was taking pictures of the Saginaw, I looked across the river and saw a vessel that I wouldn't mind having another picture of.

I think the Samuel Risley is busy doing aids to navigation work before the lakes start to freeze over.  Here she is  taking a break.  Soon, she will be breaking ice.

A Canadian Coast Guard Boat

 I just saw this guy traveling around.

I think it was a Canadian Coast Guard boat.

Looks like they were taking people out for rides.

It was pretty cool.

Looks like they had a couple of different groups.

One more.

A Pair of Boats

 As I was waiting for the next ship, I saw these two boats pass by.

I thought this one was pretty interesting as it had some gas bottles.  I will assume that it is a dive boat.

And this is a Canadian Coast Guard boat with some Canadian Coast Guard folks on it.

I wonder if someone took a spill on the Lake.

Canadian Coast Guard Boat

 After catching the planes, I saw that there was a ship coming down that I was interested in catching.  I was actually thinking of forgoing the planes to catch her up in Port Huron.  I'm glad I didn't.

First up was a Canadian Coast Guard boat.

Ot was moving at a pretty decent clip.  I wasn't sure where it was heading.

It was still pretty neat to catch.

One more shot.

Catching Up With the Samuel Risley

 The next ship was kind of a surprise.

I normally see the Samuel Risley doing icebreaking work.

She was doing her other job which is tending buoys.

I think she has the same capabilities as the US ships where she can place them within 10 feet.

That is important as the ships use them for navigation.

She continues down the river.

One more shot.

Catching the Limnos

On Thursday, I decided to go boatwatching.  There was at least one that I was interested in catching.  It wasn't too bad weather wise, so I headed up to Marine City to catch her.

As I was catching the first ship, this Canadian Coast Guard vessel was heading downbound.

The vessel in question was the Limnos.  She was performing buoy work.

Many of the Canadian buoy tenders are busy dealing with the ice up in Whitefish Bay.

She passes the ship I wanted to catch.

I'll have to admit she is a pretty cool looking ship.

I think she is normally based in Amherstburg.

She continues her trip down the river.

One more picture of her.

The Griffin Passes Belle Isle

I was thinking about going down to Cleveland today to get some pictures of the Alpena as she was in layup.  Before heading out, I checked out Marine Traffic and saw that there would be something passing by Belle Isle, so I decided to head there instead.

While there wasn't enough ice on the Detroit River to hinder the passage, I think there was some on the St. Clair River.  So the ship I was going to catch was being led by the Griffin.

The Griffin is considered as a light icebreaker.  I think she is roughly the equivalent of the new Mackinaw.

She was built in 1969 by Davie Shipbuilding in Lauzon, Quebec.

She is mainly deployed in the Great Lakes, she has gone out to Hudson Bay.

I think she is going to get a refit soon, she had one in 1995.  One of the nice things about the Great Lakes is that they aren't as corrosive as the ocean, so ships tend to last longer on them.

She had an incident a few years ago where she caused some flooding.

She also helped the Arthur M. Anderson get free once when she was stuck off Conneaut.

One more shot.
 

The Samuel Risley Makes an Appearance

 As we were getting ready to leave, I decided to show my dad the AIS they had there.  As I was looking at it, I saw that there was a ship at the tip of Belle Isle.  I was surprised as I checked AIS before heading out and I didn't see any ships stirring.  The ship must have started to stir as I was at other places.

The ship was being led by the Samuel Risley.  The Risley was sort of breaking ice but there wasn't much ice at this part of the river.

I haven't seen the Risley yet as she has been breaking ice on Lake St. Clair and this part of the Detroit River.  She hasn't ventured down to the part of the river by Belanger Park.

It was pretty cool to see her as I think she is a pretty neat looking ship.

It wasn't too long before she passed the pilot house.

All I can say is that I was glad I was inside because it was a little on the cold side.

I decided to take a picture that gave a sense of place.

And she started to pass.

The beam shot.

I'm not sure how far up she went but this was the last picture I took.

Catching Up With the Griffon

 I was kind of waffling if I wanted to go anywhere last Saturday.  That got quickly settled when I looked at Marine Traffic.

I saw that the Griffon and two other ships would be passing.

It has been a while since I've seen the Griffon.

I'll have to say that she is a pretty cool looking icebreaker.

If I remember correctly, she is roughly the same size as the current Mackinaw.

It seems like she always hangs around Lake Erie up to Lake St. Clair.

There are other icebreakers for the St. Clair River and Lake Huron.

However, they keep busy because there is still some shipping in the off season.

Not as much though.

Plus, I think the icebreakers relieve some of the pressure on the shore and help prevent some flooding.

As I was taking pictures of her, I got a treat.  If you see the little dot under her bow, that's an eagle.

And then I saw a trio of them.

And she headed up.  I think she ended up docking near Dieppe Park in Windsor.

A stern shot as I moved on to the next ship.