Operation Christmas Cheer 2008

Getting Geraldina ready for Operation CC this year meant doing the checklist:  engine–fluids fine and warmed up, safety equipment–aboard and accessible, VHF–triple redundancy, tides & weather–OK …

bow pudding installed by elves Gary and Brian,

checked and approved by Portside‘s founder Carolina Salguero aka Nemodeer,

who explained the mission to Brittany Oat, news12.com’s intrepid reporter, who

then came along to observe how

40+ packages of cookies and bags of latest newspapers get delivered to

tugboat and barge crews whose work

keeps them far from home when Christmas falls during their hitch.

All packages got delivered,  but Geraldina‘s engine, maybe soured by ethanol fuel additives, stalled,  and

-and the Coast Guard,

also working on Christmas Day, helped us home.  Final tally:  cheer delivered to equipment of McAllister, K-Sea, Reinauer, Moran, and independent tug Harbor II

and attempted on a Dann Towing vessel and Scotty Sky.  And sense of humor maintained by all the elves.

Many thanks from the elves to the fine folks, working in the sixth boro, for all they do, today and everyday.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp, who starts driving tomorrow for the Apalachicola watershed.