Dense Traffic Nola

Sitting on the levee in Nola, I note a variety of watercraft passing by no less assorted than the revelers in the French Quarter.  Well . . .  How about as differentiated as the contents of the best 15 bloody marys in Nola?  Well, let’s see the photos below , or see past Nola posts here.

Seeing a deeply loaded kayak like that coexisting with commercial traffic is quite unusual, but the gear there tells me that is a long-haul and experienced paddler.

Above and below, MV John Pasentine fights a lot more gravity than the paddler does.

Janice Roberts and Presager keep a healthy distance apart, 

 

each carving an arc in the current.

Upbound inside the curve, Rodney is about to disappear beyond Pan Unity.

Less than a minute later, Pan Unity splits the distance between Shiney V. Moran on our side and an unidentified tugs stands by with

After doing some work and returning to the river, I return to a river that continues flowing assisting and resisting those whose business rides there.

Robin R. with a crane barge,  two tugs with fuel barges upbound, and more and more.

What hearkens to the past, of course are vessels like the kayak above and paddlewheelers like the 1991-build riverboat City of New Orleans, or the 1983 Creole Queen, or 1970s steamboat Natchez. For info on the Lake George NY connections of the family associated with all three paddlewheelers, click here and scroll.

I have more, so I’ll have to do Dense Traffic Nola 2.

All photos and curiosity and any errors, WVD.

The first batch of calendars is on the way.  Please confirm when you receive.   The price this year is $20, and few are left.  Order now by emailing me.

 

Random Nola Tugs 4

Despite the distance and the fog covering the escutcheon,  I could immediately identify this tug–once a regular on the Hudson and in the sixth boro– on the Mississippi.

Let me end out this series with tugboats and other vessels:  Sydney Ann

and Brandi,

Mary Parker and

Port Ship Service Little Ray, 

David J. Cooper and

Bulk Guatemala with selfie-shooting watch stander,

Sonny Ivey and

Connie Z,

Moose, 

Jena Marie C, 

Capt CJ, and

fireboat Gen. Roy S. Kelley,

Jo Provel with the 9th steamboat named Natchez.

Now all of this has nothing to do with the photo below, which nevertheless deserves recognition . . . interactive art which really seems to have caught on.  Thanks, Candy Chang.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who’s even now in the cold NYC air plotting a return to

 

Nola.

Random Nola Tugs 2

You might conclude that in this city I do nothing except sit on the riverbank, but the better conclusion is that Nola river traffic volume is phenomenal.  So here’s a sampling of another–say–two hours total traffic, beginning with a vessel that would look entirely at home in NYC’s sixth boro . . . it’s J. George Betz.

Next something you’ll not see except in the inland big river, O. H. Ingram, 185′ loa x 54′ 9200 hp and triple screw,  pushing

at least eight barges heading into a turn with at least two oncoming tows:

Joe B. Wyatt, 170′ loa x 45′ 6120 hp twin screw,  pushing 18 barges and Mr. Pete with a single, but they all squeeze around the turn.

The range of vessels is interesting, considering the likes of Lil Susan S

and Josephine Anne of Bisso Offshore, with Wise One in the distance.

Natalie S . . . and

Blessed Trinity .  .  . and

and Natures Way Commander . . .

Moose . .  and

CSS Savannah . . . and less than two hours have elapsed and I haven’t included all the traffic!

and let me conclude with a photo taken the previous afternoon, another that would NOT look out of place in NYC’s waters, Greg Turecamo.

More soon.  All photos by Will Van Dorp.