Balder’s Belly

The link here may show the first glimpse I had of Balder.  Let me share my getting better acquainted, but first . . . the foto below I took 13 months ago.  Note the different colors of salt, reflecting

different provenances, as explained in Ian Frazier’s New Yorker article below.  Buy a copy to get the rest of the story.

Without this vessel, all of us who drive the roads or walks the sidewalks and streets within the metropolis surrounding the sixth boro would be at greater risk of slipping and crashing.  Framed that way, Balder could not be better named.   Here’s what Kimberly Turecamo looks like from Balder‘s bridge.

On the far side of the channel, that’s Dace.

Here’s what has come forth from Balder‘s belly, a bit of the Atacama Desert on the KVK.   Huge tractors load the trucks that come to a highway department near you today.

This 246′ arm, reaching nearly to Richmond Terrace, offloads at the relatively slow rate of 8oo tons per hour.

And here’s the hold just emptied, one hold of five.  Notice the ladders and the tracks at the base of the hold.

Click here to see the unloading machinery in action.

Navel, perhaps?

Here’s what gets even the last pound making up the nearly 50,000-ton payload onto the salt dock.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.  Thanks to Brian DeForest of Atlantic Salt and the Balder crew for the tour.

Water Beasts 2

You may already have seen Vladimir’s slideshow on Facebook or on Frogma.   You may have read Ian Frazier’s New Yorker article “Seals Return to New York City.”  But this even trumps that:

Small cetaceans hanging out around the Narrows.

I don’t know if it’s a dolphin or a porpoise but it IS exciting.

And if that were not enough, last Sunday Vladimir and Johna also saw

pinnipeds.  I am surprised by the total disregard by these cetaceans and pinnipeds of regulations governing their approach of paddlers.  You’d think they’d show a little restraint, but  . . .

Here’s an interesting video about what NOT to do with wild animals, in this case an ijsbjorn.  Polar bears appeared on this blog once before, thanks to Peter Mello. 

Many thanks to Vladimir for permission to use his fotos from last Sunday.   A previous post featuring Vladimir’s fotos is here.  Click here for more stories on sea creatures that just do NOT follow the rules.