The American Century Heading Upbound at Port Huron

 I wasn't sure what I wanted to do today.  Then I looked at Marine Traffic and saw that I could catch three thousand footers.

First up was the American Century.

I'm not sure where she was heading up from since Marine Traffic listed her origin as Detroit.

I'm pretty sure she stopped in Detroit for fuel, so I'm not sure where she was before that.

I'm going to guess that she was either at Conneaut or Cleveland.  Likely Conneaut since Cleveland had a thousand footer there.

Either case, she would have been carrying taconite.

The bow shot.

She makes the turn for Lake Huron.

One more shot with my regular camera.

And then I switched to my drone.

I've been trying to get lower for better angle shots.  I like this one.

But I like this one too.

I had to get higher to catch the ship.

She makes the turn.

I didn't catch what the tugboat was though.

The beam shot.

And she heads out into Lake Huron.

One more as she continues on her way to Superior.

Whereupon I Still Catch the Blue Angels

 I caught the Block early enough that I still had a chance to catch the Blue Angels.  I looked at the weather and I saw that the storm had missed Ypsilanti, so I decided to head back home in order to catch the Blue Angels.

Just before the Blue Angels, the pilots of the F-16s from Toledo decided to put on a little demonstration for the crowd.  Unfortunately I missed it.   I did kind of surmise that many of the acts cancelled, so I'm glad I decided to go boatwatching first.

The Blue Angels didn't cancel but they were doing their low level show.

This plane disappeared in the clouds shortly after this shot.

The famous diamond.

Still in the diamond as they pass.

They did a roll after this.

I like this shot.

The planes getting into the mirror formation.

The mirror formation.

The diamond in landing configuration.

It was humid enough that it made for a good vapor trail day.

I really like this one.

The diamond mirror.

The echelon formation.

The other direction.

Another turn.

Line abreast.

So close to a passing shot.  Sadly, this was the only one I got all weekend.

The diamond again.

Setting up for a pass.

I like this one also.

They were going slow in front of the crowd.

And breaking up.

The delta again.

As it passes.

Setting up for the last display.

And the burst.

One more pass in the delta before landing.

Sadly, they didn't do Fat Albert.  Like I said, I think there were alot of acts that didn't perform on Sunday.   But I think that's the risk of using old aircraft on a day when there is potential for nasty weather.  They weren't really designed for it in the day and now that they are older, they probably shouldn't go out in it.

Oh well, the Blue Angels were a nice topper to a good day.

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.