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The Hudson treats the traveler with magical sights like these. The castle atop the lush riverbank is still there, but that tug–Viking–is no more. I’m not sure the disposition of DBL 134.
One morning soon after sunrise that summer 2017 I followed Delaware a ways up the Hudson before overtaking her.
Ernest Campbell had started working in the sixth boro by 2018, but its livery has changed since then.
On the last day of June, I took a ride on the Rondout and saw (l to r) Johannsen Girls, Fells Point, and Severn. Severn now works in the Pacific Northwest although still for Vane.
Tarpon was working in the boro, but since that time has been sold to interests on the West Coast, although I’m not sure she’s made it there.
In June 2019, I caught Stephen Reinauer heading out the Narrows to rejoin its barge;
North of the border, SLS aka Sheri Lynn S was tied up at a Picton ON dock.
June 2020 one morning, I spotted Kirby Moran meeting ONE Minato, and
Janet D returning to her Elizabethport base.
In June 2021, it’s Charles D passing Adventurer while standing by for an incoming ship.
And finally, Sarah D was eastbound here in the Kills.
All photos, WVD, who may have made some errors here with dates, having had his brain baked in the Louisiana heat.
It’s hard settling back into the blog after being in steamy alligatorland for most of the month, and didn’t even expect to be suddenly back. So my solution, the ether in my air intake, so to speak, is to just somewhat randomly choose and post photos I took in Junes from 2012 through 2016.
Starting with June 2012, behold Sam M and
Buchanan 1. I recall learning that Sam M made its way to Alaska, and Buchanan 1 . . . to the Rondout. Would you consider Sam M to be a lugger tug?
June 2013 took me to Philly a few times, where I got photos of Madeline and Captain Harry in the distance and
Sentry pulling El Rey, San Juan bound. The two Wilmington Tug vessels still work the Delaware River, whereas Sentry–last I read–flies the Bolivian flag. I should get down to Philly again one of these days.
In 2014 it’s Navigator and
Sabine. Navigator is still based in the sixth boro and Sabine is in the GOM.
In 2015, it’s Stephen B–still in the sixth boro–and
Evening Star, along with Wavertree during her makeover. Stephen B still works out of the boro by that name although Evening Star now has started working out of the boro again as Jordan Rose.
And 2016, it’s Eric McAllister and
a newly arrived Jonathan C Moran. Jonathan is still here, but Eric is in Baltimore.
All photos in a series of Junes, WVD, who does Junes from 2017 through 2021 tomorrow.
The cane is still growing,
the chili is heating up, along with the air.
This is jump-starting the weather,
and fast-moving winds brings buckets of unforecasted rain. This rain, not predicted, dropped the temperature 20 degrees in fewer than 20 minutes!
Alligator patrols, by mostly submerged A. mississippiensis, never stop.
You know what they say about “red in morning…”
sailor take warning, I’ll add [and gators come swarming.]
All that has postponed our leaving in the way in the way I anticipated.
Enjoy views of the vessel above the water, and from
below.
Hope springs.
And how did I get out of the bayou this time? With a toast. The JT Meleck I’ll have to try another time.
I got out by plane.
Google a St James LA map and you’ll see exactly where we crossed the Mississippi heading back NE.
After some delays, this series will be continued, even if I need to do it this way.
All photos, WVD, who’s happy to be out of the heat dome.
Since I’m not yet out of the bayou, and since Mage–who might need some cheering up– requested it, here are more photos from the currently ongoing flower parade on the waterways of Westland, a section of the province of South Holland in the low country aka Netherlands.
Hey . . . they brought out the king, or as the Dutch would say . . . the “koning van rock n roll.”
Since this blog is called tugster, and should NYS Canals do such a parade for the 200th anniversary of DeWitt Clinton’s trip, THIS is a role to play for small tugs, whether private of NYS owned.
In Westland, even local professionals get involved.
How about another shot of a small tow boat. By the way, is that a cheater tug with an excavator in the background of some of these photos?
I’m not even sure who might have sponsored some of these “floats,” but they do make me proud of my Dutch heritage with its attention of aesthetics and tolerance.
Have another push boat in the mix.
And let’s end with a string of floats towed by Walrus, another small tugboat.
Thanks to Jan for sharing these, to Mage for requesting more yesterday, to my friends at NYS Canals for paying attention, and to you all for reading.
Every day that passes, I’m closer to a lot of things, including getting out of the hot bayou near Avery Island. Click here because I know you know Avery Island.
.
If you hop on a plane today, you might still catch the last two days of this flower parade in the land and specific region of my father; my mother grew up farther east on the Rhine. Here’s an English version of what’s going on; Westland is a region connected by waterways, not a town. Here’s a map, and here’s info on the boats. I’m going to send this blogpost to my friends at the NYS Canals, because I think the integrated boat/bike/camping event is a worthy model for Canals to study.
With my limited WiFi, I post these for you to enjoy. Let’s start, of course, with a prime mover, a small tugboat mentioned in an earlier post comments as an opduwer.
I’m guessing this float was sponsored by an automobile dealer who sells US vehicles.
The range of themes surprises me. Note another small tugboat.
I love this one.
Actually, I love them all.
And given my current long stay in the bayou, I had to include this.
I have a few dozen more photos, if you indicate interest in seeing more.
Many thanks to Jan van der Doe for sending these along, more photos of a summer festival in another place, maybe not entirely different than the mermaid parade, which I missed last weekend. Imagine if NYS coordinated a people’s event of this magnitude in 2025 to fete the 200th anniversary of the year DeWitt Clinton made the 10-day journey from Buffalo to NYC to unite the fresh and salt waters.
You likely heard about the Hong Kong floating restaurant that sank recently while being towed “somewhere.” No one was hurt, and it sank in a deep part of the ocean, so it will remain at the bottom, maybe as a venue for the mer-creatures. Second lives for vessels as restaurants, etc., are tough.
Here was the original Something Different 4. Click on the image below and you’ll get an 8:37 video of the ill-fated Jumbo as it was extricated by tugboats from its erstwhile piece of then harbor in Hong Kong. These two images are video grabs, hence a bit blurry.
If I follow this correctly, this version of a floating restaurant with seating for 2300 diners was built in the late 1970s by Chung Wah Shipbuilding. The 260′ establishment, part of Jumbo Kingdom, had closed due to Covid.
Floating bars and restaurants are nothing new. Here was a post with an image of a similar floating restaurant in mainland China. Manhattan has Pier 66, among several others. It was going to have one called Water Table, until that boat–Revolution–was catastrophically damaged.
I’ve eaten at a place similar in Rotterdam, simply called De Chinese Boot; aside from slightly different spelling, you just read Dutch language there.
I still have WiFi because we’re still at the dock.
While waiting to get under way and depart the bayou, I have WiFi and might as well post some photos I’ve taken along the backroads. I’m posting this one now but took it a decade ago, and I believe the restaurant is now as active as the Edsel motor car business.
This set I took in April ’22 in Cape Charles VA.
If ever I get involved with another restoration, I’ll certainly leave the exterior paint distressed in this way.
A distillery creates an aged product, right?
This one I took in northern GA in December 2021,
and have been trying to fit it in somewhere.
All photos, WVD, who’s posted photos like these under autoster. Jeeps can be found here. Old Car City GA has attracted me too, whenever I’ve been along I-75 in northern GA. Part A of this series can be found here.
Also, if you’re on Instagram (IG), I started posting there late summer 2021 here, and since then have found great photos like these under “ruralrideshunter.”
Well . . or with an accent, I’d say whale . . . I’m not out of the bayous and sugar fields yet, but it’s getting closer. When we do leave the dock, there may be several days that not even the robots will be posting, so be patient if this doesn’t update. Either that, or you could do searches in the archives of 5200+ tugster posts for your favorite photos of who knows what.
Some day soon, we’ll leave the NISDC and the land of … legs, alligators, mullet, gar . . . . and start toward the sixth boro.
Here are some recent photos of Superior Attitude, Gar,
beautiful dawns and dusks,
and the neighbors Maggie Kay and
Red Fin. The image below inspired me to rewrite the words to wimoweh . . . “in the bayou the murky bayou the gator lurks tonight . . . ” and you can imagine or freestyle the rest . . .
All photos, WVD, who posts when possible, with assistance from the robots of tugster tower.
Quick, name that boat.
It’s appeared on this blog before.
She appeared here before as Charles Burton, but now . . . meet Helen!
Cape Hatteras (1967) and Eugenie Moran (1966) have recently appeared over by Prall’s Island, regular spot for tugboats being prepared for reefing. I caught Eugenie in Portsmouth NH over a decade ago here.
Now over to the coast 3000 miles away, it’s C-tractor 22. Thanks to JED, I rode out to sea with a previous generation C-tractor here over a decade ago.
Many thanks to Tony A for all but the last photo, which was sent along by George Schneider. Thanks to you both.
And I’ll keep the lights on in tugster tower to keep juicing up the robots.
Here was the first post in this series.
If I’m not mistaken, this sand comes from the freshwater sources of sand in SW New Jersey; I posted photos of the loading and transit of such sand here back not quite three years ago.
My vantage point here was Little Island, and in midafternoon, I was shooting more into the sun than I’d prefer.
Yup, that’s Hoboken’s W hotel and the north end
of the bluff where Stevens Institute of Technology is located.
All photos, WVD, who encourages you to visit Little Island if you’ve not yet done so. The highest point, where I took these photos, is about 60′ above the river surface.
And unless I get the robots more photos/fodder, there may be some days sans posts coming up.
tugster: a waterblog 
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