In two days tugster begins year 2 of blogging. Hence, some retrospection these days. Stories I missed include the biggest, I mean biggest! tanker to enter NY harbor possibly ever, a VLCC aka Malaccamax named Centennial Jewel ex Courtenay Bay 300,000 dwt! This compares with an average tanker dwt of under 70,000 in NY harbor. And, you might ask, where was tugster?

 

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Uh . . . on a bridge over the Mississippi with his eye focused on a big snapping turtle drifting closer to a clueless duckling, maybe? Friends told me about the VLCC, but well, I missed it. And then there was Proteus. Not the seagod or any of the other meanings. But where was I, you might ask?

 

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Uh, at the beach watching boa constrictors where they oughtn’t be. This boa’s eyes transfixed me, and I couldn’t break away, I confess.

Anyhow, while we’re on big unusual things, beasties and such, here’s another monster I missed. Before–long before–I was born, believe it or not . . . a whale shark was caught off Fire Island, August 9, 1935. Damn! I missed that one too. Check this out. A better picture hangs in White Caps in Islip. Don’t click on the link at the end of this sentence if you wish to avoid seeing more–this time from National Geographic–about the Japanese humpback hunt. It’s disturbing.

I missed many more stories, too. So I’m hoping in year 2, tugster evolves into more cameras and eyes. Email me: I’d love the collaboration and multiple PsOV.

Speaking of other points of view, click here for Peter Mello’s coverage of the sinking off Antarctica.