Catching Up With the Joseph L. Block

 I thought it had been a while since I have seen the Block, but it turns out that I saw her in July.  At any rate, the Block coming down brought me out to catch her since she is one I don't see very often.

The Joseph L. Block was coming down to Toledo.  This is not a trip she takes very often but it seems like it is more often lately.

She was coming down from Duluth with a presume a load of taconite.

She is a nice enough looking ship.

Here she is passing Marysville.

I didn't get out soon enough to catch her in Port Huron.

Oh well, the pictures aren't too bad here.

Plus I can get the beam shot.

Rather, the beam shot.

And she continues on.

One more.

After catching the next ship, I was able to catch up with her again in Algonac.

An almost bow shot.

I couldn't get drone shots in Marysville, but I could get drone shots here.

But still getting shots with my regular camera.

The shots are pretty nice over here.

So I got a couple more pictures with my regular camera.

Just wish it wasn't so dreary.

One more with my regular camera.

And then I switched to my drone.

Other than the lack of light, it was a pretty good day for the drone.  It was calm out.

It didn't seem like it was too cold either.

The Block continues past.

I like this shot.

The beam shot.

She continues down the river.

One more shot.

A Rare Visitor to These Parts

 The next ship is one that I don't see all that often.

The Joseph L. Block was coming up from Toledo.

I'm not sure what she delivered there.  It could have been stone or iron ore.

Either way, it was pretty cool to see her because I don't usually see her even when I'm up at the Soo.

She is usually going between either Cedarville or Port Inland to Burns Harbor.

Anyway, she was heading up to Port Inland, I think.

That means she would be picking up a load of stone.

As I am typing this, she is on her way to Superior.

I imagine she will be delivering stone there and then probably picking up a load of iron.

I hope that I see her again in that case.

Shooting with my drone again.

Love the blue of the water.

The almost beam shot.

She passes the casino.

The beam shot.

I think it is roughly 24 hours to her destination.

I like this shot.

And I really like this shot.

The Block Stops for Fuel

And this is the ship that I was interested in catching.

The Block was returned from Lorain, Ohio.  It is very rare that she visits this area, so I had to catch her.  Sadly, I was shooting almost directly into the light, so my picture wasn't the greatest.

Waking Up to the Joseph L. Block

As I was tracking AIS on the way up to the Soo on Thursday,  I saw that the Joseph L. Block was heading to Cedarville.  So I basically dismissed her because I thought she would load there and head to somewhere on Lake Michigan.

 So in the morning I decided to check AIS to get a good idea of what ships would be in the Locks and when.  It turns out that the Joseph L. Block was making her way up the St. Marys River and would arrive at the Locks at roughly the same time they would open for Engineer's Day.

 It was kind of cool that it was the Joseph L. Block.  She's a ship that I don't see often enough.  She almost exclusively sticks to Lake Michigan and Lake Superior.  Although, she has made a couple of trips to Cleveland this year.

 Give that she is painted like her fleetmates and I love this scheme, I think she's a pretty neat looking boat.

 She passes by Mission Point.

 A shot of her pilot house.  I didn't stick around to get the stern shot because I wanted to make sure that I caught her in the locks.

 After getting through the line to get into the Locks, I made it in just enough time as she prepared to enter the Poe Lock.

 And this is what Engineer's Day is about.  It allows you an opportunity to get up closer to the ships than normal.

 There were quite a few people here.

 The captain peeking out of the pilot house.

 And there aren't too many places where you can get an angle like this.

 And a few as she is in the Locks.

 And she prepares to leave.

And she clears the Lock.  I'm not quite sure where she was headed.  I'm going to guess that it was either Duluth or Superior though.