Tuira II anchors west of Perico.
Different sites related to Canal and Bay Tours say this boat was built by Wiley Manufacturing of Port Deposit MD, makers of sixth boro’s Patricia, Norfolk’s Hoss, and Erie Canal’s Capt Alix, but Wiley history doesn’t reflect this. Any help?
Also in the Canal and Bay Tours fleet is this vintage 1912 wooden vessel in Neponset MA by Lawley & Sons, Islamorada. A claim is that Al Capone once owned her.
Here she shares a lock at Miraflores with a bulker. More closeups of the locks and tugboats soon.
Below is the same Islamorada I took in mid-March 2012; that’s a range marker in the foreground to the right. I prefer the 2012 color scheme.
Fantasía del Mar, here docked in Gamboa and alongside Atlas III, is the third of three US boats operated by Canal and Bay Tours . . . and said to be built by Eastern Shipbuilding of Boothbay, but I know of no such yard.
Las Cruces . . . she could be US built, but again . . . no info. I thought it looked US built, and thanks to readers and some following up on my part, I can say it is a 1961 Blount vessel still carrying its original name.
Safari Voyager, not flagged US but operated by UnCruise Adventures, is definitely a US bottom, built in 1982 in Salisbury MD, the yard where many of the recent Vane vessels originate from. That’s also the shipyard that has built American Cruise Line vessels.
Wind Star, featured here just recently, was built in France in 1986.
And finally . . . in the background one morning was Maasdam, heading for Mexico, launched from a Fincantieri yard in Italy in 1993.
The green trimaran–I’ve forgotten the name–was super light and fast, heading for the Marquesas. She transited the Panama Canal maintaining the requisite minimum of 6 knots with an outboard! According to her owner, she can make 5 knots in 2 knots wind.
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
And again a repeated request: Please send me a photo of your seat. What I mean is this: I’d like to do a post on captain’s and/or pilot’s chairs. I’m looking for the luxurious all the way to decrepit or basic. Email me a photo of the chair and identify the vessel. You don’t need to be sitting in it. I’ve got photos of two seats so far, but I’d like a half dozen before doing a post.
tugster: a waterblog 
6 comments
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March 22, 2018 at 11:36 am
mageb
I’ve gone through all of our boat photos, You can’t see the seats on the flying bridge, and there was no seat below on any boat. I’m sorry.
March 22, 2018 at 6:46 pm
George Schneider
Sorry, Will, I only work when invited, and they haven’t called me. The only stool I have is hooked up to the public utilities.
I thought I had the perfect candidate for TUIRA II. The North Carolina ferry SEA LEVEL was last seen in the Canal zone, nominally a salvage vessel. Her statistics are perfect, and I haven’t seen a shot of her since 2013. But then I’m finding shots of TUIRA II back to 2010.
Wiley also built four ferries for the State of Maine, slightly smaller than SEA LEVEL, but possibly still could have been teased into those dimensions. Therefore, if it’s one we know, I nominate GOVERNOR MUSKIE, which left documentation in 1990. She was a center island ferry, making a conversion like this one reasonable. See http://islesboro.mainememory.net/page/1013/display.html
March 23, 2018 at 9:07 am
William Lafferty
The Governor Muskie was sold to Costa Rican interests in 1990, so it is a good possibility it is the Tuira II today.
March 22, 2018 at 10:47 pm
George Schneider
Okay, ISLAMORADA: I doubt if she was ever owned by Al Capone. She was built as SANTANTA (210556) as a yacht, owned her early years by Osborne Howes of Boston. In 1933 her ownership was changed to the Yacht Santanta Corp of Boston. In 1936 she was renamed ISLAMORADA for the Metacumbe Yacht Corp. of Boston. She must have been immune to War duty, because in 1942 she was sold to the first of a series of private owners, so if she ever was a yacht for Al Capone, it was because he hired her. She went to Panama as a seismic boat, then by 1979 was doing canal and island cruises.
The Eastern Shipbuilding Company in Boothbay appears also to be a function of American Cruise Line. Their first vessel was the 170-foot overnight passenger boat INDEPENDENCE (574958) delivered in 1976. Their last vessel I know of was Hull # 4, the YANKEE CLIPPER (621663) delivered in 1980, after which they moved their construction to Haddam CT as you refer to. It was in 1977 they built the FANTASIA DEL MAR, but I paid her a visit and there was no hull number on her builder’s plate.
Yes, LAS CRUCES was built in the U. S. She was Blount hull 74, completed in 1961 to their popular 65-foot design. She was built for the Panama Canal Commission, Dredging Division, and on paper was called the U S LAS CRUCES, although I’ve never seen that on her hull.
June 19, 2020 at 10:16 pm
Anonymous
Las Cruces was built by Blount Marine. Warren , RI 1960
June 20, 2020 at 4:39 am
tugster
Anon- thx.