Mardi Gras 2

Ooops . . . I used the title “mardi gras” three years ago, so I’ll add “2” today, but it’s Fat Tuesday, and where is this eponym of a city synonymous for festivities of the day?

Why, the sixth boro  . .  that’s where, and headed out as quickly as possible.  But focus on her a moment;  containerships with center houses separated from the engine might be more common in the future.

Here’s how loaded she was when she arrived yesterday, as captured by John Watson.

She departed with possibly fewer containers showing, making this

mardi maigre  . . . skinny tuesday.

Not that only a few containers fit on the vessel.  CSAV Rio de Janiero is post-panamax, i.e., she won’t fit through the current Panama Canal.  To compare her dimensions with a container vessel recently featured here, she has the same beam as APL Indonesia but is 111′ longer and carries 1045 more TEUs.

Right now she’s bearing down on Baltimore, flying into a 25-knot wind.

Here she’s clears Sandy Hook.

Third foto thanks to John Watson.  All others come thanks to Jean Pierre Lailedaigle;  I hope to get Jean Pierre’s fotos more often  . . . .    CSAV Rio de Janiero was launched in 2009 as Medondra.

Unrelated:  Hats off to Rick Old Salt for this post on the crisis PortSide NewYork’s Mary Whalen.    A public meeting to discuss saving her will be held this coming Monday.  See info at the end of Rick’s post.  The folks at PortSideNewYork and Mary Whalen HAVE contributed much to sixth boro cultural programming the past few years, but “homelessness” has reduced their capacity to succeed.  Here’s a post I did on Mary Whalen back in 2008.

Outs and Ins

There are ports and bottlenecks, and the sixth boro is surely a port, not that within it bottlenecks do not exist.  Yesterday afternoon I caught Charles Island headed for sea, and ultimately Ecuador . . . so it’ll pass through that bottleneck called Panama, which has so frequently preoccupied me these days.

Zim Luanda also departed yesterday, bound for Savannah.

Meanwhile, an equal number of vessels enter port, the sixth boro, our enormous honey pot.  Like this one, huge but fairly empty.  This foto of CSAV Rio de Janiero –and the two after that–come compliments of John Watson.   CSAV Rio de Janiero leaves here (probably tomorrow) for the Mediterranean.

Also, new in town and caught by John’s eye, it’s USNS Grasp T-ARS-51.  Possibly in town for maintenance?  And while I’m on the subject of sharp eyes and unusual craft, check out Mage’s report from San Diego, featuring USS Peleliu LHA-5, Navy dolphins, and an unusual vessel that defies my ability to identify it.  Any help?  Ooops . . . here’s Mage’s link.

And finally, arriving this morning, Polish-built Ice Pearl, vintage 1980.

To a casual observer of the harbor, a lot of vessels come in, park, and then leave.  They all do, but some areas of the sixth boro ARE designated anchorages.  This explains vessels like Pacific Quartz (recently arrived here from the Arabian Sea) and Avonden.  Tug Mary Gellatly (1978, ex-Capt. Jentry, North Star, North Service) leaves her dock and heads north.

Thanks to John Watson for the three fotos in the middle;  all others by Will Van Dorp, who’s happy to find others too could while the time away doing the Otis Redding thing on a bay, any bay any day.  Just think, what if Otis had started waterfotoblogging!!!