I Said a Surgeon....

 Not a sturgeon....

It's a pretty cool looking fish.  Almost looks like something from dinosaur days.

Even More Suprised by the Alpena

Next I decided to stop at the Maritime Center to get my caffiene addiction and relieve my bladder.

 As I was walking to get my coffee, I looked out the window and saw the Alpena passing by.  So I headed back to my car and hurried down the pier.

 I didn't even see her on the AIS, so I was not expecting her.  Given that she is now one of the older ships on the Lakes, I had to catch her.  Plus she's a beauty.

 And slowly she moves away.

 Again, I wasn't sure where she was heading.

And one more parting shot.  Hopefully I will catch her some more this season.

And Frontenac Makes Three

So next up is a ship that I saw passing the Maritime Center.  This was one of the ones I was hoping to catch.  She is the Frontenac owned by the Canadian Steamship Lines.

 She is one of the few classic lakers that is operated by the Canadian Steamship Lines.  I am guessing that she is not long for this world as Canadian Steamship is also getting into the Chinese vessel act.

 I prefer the lines of these ships to the modern ships.

 Even with the ugly thing on the back of her self-unloading crane.

 For the most part, the sky was cooperating.  I prefer either a nice sunny day or a day with interesting looking clouds.

 Another closeup of her pilothouse.

 In case you forget who owns the ship we are looking at.

 And her deckhouse.

One more shot before she moves on.

A Fun Time at the Maritime Center

They had some musicians playing at the Maritime Center today.  I stuck around for a couple of acts because I needed to take of laundry and stuff.

 The first person I saw was a guy named Jimmy Zimmer.  He was pretty good and had a pretty good voice.

 Next was a group called the Barones.  They are a family act.  I just loved the looks of this hat.

 The trio.  The guy on the right played the ukelele for a couple of songs.

The last act I saw was a person named Larry James.  Apparently, he had a couple hits with a band in the 80's.  He's been on Sunday Mornings with Pam Rossi a couple of times.  He's pretty much doing acoustic stuff and sounded pretty good for what I heard.

A Few Other Shots from Today

After catching the Kuber, I decided to head down the St. Clair River because I wanted to catch the two other ships sooner than waiting for them to arrive in Port Huron.  Plus, I wanted different vantage points.

 I took this picture just to give you an idea of just how windy it was.  As you can see, the flags were flying almost straight out.

 A differnt angle of the flags.  These are flags of various ships that sail on the Great Lakes.

 Delivering grain in Sarnia was the CSL Assiniboine.  I'm not sure if you can tell, but almost is front of her is another tug/barge combination.  This one is the tug Defiance pushing the Ashtabula.  It was built this year, I think and is owned by the Lower Lakes Company.

 I also wanted to give you an idea of how rainy it was.  This is looking down from the Maritime Center towards the farmer's market.

 Another shot of the flags.

 This is the pilot boat the Huron Maid.  She was following the Isa.  I think that foreign vessels are required to have a Great Lakes pilot on board.

 A closeup of the pilot boat.

 This is the Saginaw.  I think she is on layup, which is kind of a shame because she's a lovely boat.

 A seagull that is not on layup.

One more shot of the Assiniboine.