The Sam Laud Passes Riverside Park

So I got a bonus ship today.

I didn't think she was that close behind the Jackson, so I wasn't sure I would catch her.

She was coming over from Burns Harbor.

I think that means she was carrying iron fines because she was heading for the St. Marys Cement Plant on the Rouge River.

Iron fines are used in the cement process and they are mixed with the other materials to make a stronger cemement.

I do know that it is a long loading process.

 The trip is roughly 48 hours.

She passes Windsor.

A relatively clean shot.

She starts to pass under the Ambassador Bridge.

I love this shot.

She is approached by the M.S. Westcott.

She continues past the Bridge.

She starts to work her way towards the Rouge River.

If I had more time, I would have tried to catch this one at the Jefferson Bridge.

And she passes under the Gordie Howe Bridge.  Looks like it is getting closer.

The M.S. Westcott Makes an Appearance

 The other ship was going to be passing Riverside Park.  That gave me the opportunity to catch one of the Westcott boats.

It was the M.S. Westcott which also functions as a pilot boat.

Not sure what they were delivering, but it was pretty cool.

The Atlantic Huron Passes By

It has been a while since I have posted and I apologize for that.  I've been pretty busy at work and have only really wanted to relax during the weekend.  It didn't really help that the weather hasn't been particularly cooperative, so I really haven't felt like going out.  It was a nice day and I forced myself to go out.

I had hoped to get more ships but I got kind of a late start.  I had to get some paints for my models and it seemed like they were working on every street on my way to Belle Isle.

By the time I reached Belle Isle, the last ship in the string of ships I hoped to catch had passed.  I saw that this one was coming down and I hoped to catch her at Belle Isle but Belle Isle had other plans for me.

So off to Riverside I went.  Riverside was busy but I was able to get a parking spot.

The Atlantic Huron was heading down to Sandusky.  I assume that she is going to pick up coal there but I am not sure where she is going to take it.

The Atlantic Huron has a special place for me.  It was in one of my early pictures.  That picture made me realize I could do ship photos.

It seems like she is not long for this world though.

She approaches the Ambassador Bridge.

She starts to pass the Ambassador Bridge.

I like this shot.

She passes the Ambassador Bridge.

She continues down the Detroit River.  From this point, it about 7 hours for her to reach Sandusky (which means she is approaching as I type this).

She passes the American Century and approaches the Gordie Howe Bridge.

The American Century at Mistersky Fuel Docks

 I thought I would have a fuller day of boatwatching today but I got kind of a late start.  There was construction all over the place.  It looks like they are doing something along the shoreline of Belle Isle, so they had it blocked off with some kind of fencing.  Since it was a nice day, I found it hard to get a parking spot.  So I decided to head over to Riverside to catch the ship I was going to end up catching.

While I was at Riverside, I saw that the American Century was fueling at Mistersky.  She had just delivered coal to Monroe and was heading back up to Superior.

The docks are part of the property next to the Mistersky Power Plant.  The plant itself was built in 1927 and originally generated 60,000 kilowatts of power.  Over the year that was tripled.  It was closed down in 2010 when it was determined that it was cheaper to get power from Detroit Edison.  I'm not sure what they are going to do with the plant itself but the docks remain viable.

Catching the Kaye E. Barker

 I saw that the Kaye Barker was coming down.  I was actually hoping to catch her on the Rouge River but I knew that I wasn't going to have enough daylight for that, so I decided to catch her at Belle Isle.

It was a good thing because she ended up going to the anchorage before going up the Rouge River.

There was a ship on the Rouge River and I figured that was the reason why she didn't go up.

She was doing the same thing the Herbert C. Jackson was doing yesterday.

She was coming down from Marquette with a load of taconite.

She is taking it to the Rouge River steel mill.

I'm not sure if she is also going to Sandusky but at any rate it was nice to catch her.

It wasn't too windy, so I took my drone out with me.

With the golden light, it was a nice night for pictures (heat haze aside).

I love the profile that she casts.

The river was a nice shade of blue.

Shame it wasn't a little calmer.

The beam shot.

She continues on her way.

As I said, she ended up going to anchorage for a bit, so she was going fairly slow.

But that made more opportunities for pictures.  And then I headed home.

The Joys of Heat Haze

 This is one of the joys of ship photography.

I usually don't get heat haze in December.  It is usually cold enough out that it's not an issue but it was almost 60 degrees out today.  It is caused when the air temperature is either colder or warmer than the ground temperature.  It usually ruins the first few pictures I take on a day because it's less of a factor as the object gets closer.  Today, roughly half the pictures I took were like this or worse.

Oh well.  It was a nice day in December, so I wont complain too much.

Another New Ship

 This is the other ship that I was hoping to catch.  I ended up missing the CSL Tadoussac because she docked at the grain elevator in Windsor and I didn't feel like going to the other side of the river.  Well, I hope I will catch her some other day.

The BBC Michigan is a heavy lift ship.  Usually they are carrying turbine blades on the Great Lakes.

I think she is new to the Lakes but not new.  She was built in 2009 in Wuhu, China.

She was previously known as the Industrial Sabre, BBC Antigua and Michigan.  She is owned by BOCKSTIEGEL REEDEREI and is registered in Antigua.

She is 138 meters long and 21 meters wide.  She can carry almost 13,000 tons of cargo.

I'm not sure what she was doing on the Lakes, if I had to guess, she was probably delivering turbine blades.

Now she is headed to Montreal.

She'll probably pick something up there and head somewhere overseas.

Oh well, it was cool to see her.