Out of the Bayou 9

The multi-colored lines here show the marathon between Pensacola and Crystal River, a shoreline that seemed endless and relatively featureless . . .  .  Each of the colored lines represents a day of travel.  I learned this part of Florida is called the “forgotten coast” or the “big bend of Florida.”  There may be other names, but the relative absence of settlement intrigues me.  On the other hand, with place names like Sumatra and Tate’s Hell Forest and Swamp, it may be inhospitable.  There’s even a song about Cebe Tate chasing a panther into that wilderness.

After a late departure from Pensacola, we were off the long Santa Rosa Island and its sugarwhite sand by nightfall.

Soon after we departed from Santa Rosa, we had the first heavy rain of the trip, but the storms

traveled fast and soon

we left them behind.

Remember in yesterday’s post I alluded to a contrast between LA-MS-AL (LAMSAL, a new acronym?) and FL waters?  What’s different?

Only everything:  no oil/gas infrastructure and very few boats of any type.  There was one boat, a sport fish, traveling at least three times the speed of Legs III and on a collision course until two sets of five blasts of our battery of air horns caused that boat to drop off plane and then sheepishly [I hope] take our stern.  I suspect the sport fish had all eyes on their lures and none on the wheel.   No, I won’t post their photo and name here.

Our next overnight was off Saint Andrew’s Park, Panama City. Notice the pads 11 feet down in that super clear water.

Beyond Panama City, inland fires suggest agriculture-related burns, but I’ve never traveled by road in that part of Florida.  Yet.

We gave Cape San Blas wide berth because of irregular shallows. The Cape was the site of Civil War activity and a whole series of lighthouses.

The chart said we had plenty of water, but the bands of lighter water suggested maybe we didn’t.  Ultimately, the chart proved itself correct.

AIS said the tug towing tandems was Lady Terea, a name that meant nothing to me until I searched a bit more and found that from 2014 until 2018, she worked in the sixth boro and North River as . . .

Mr. Russell.  Then she carried the livery of Tappan Zee Constructors.

That evening we spent jacked up off a remote area of St. George Island, the barrier beach that defines Apalachicola Bay.  More on the Apalachicola River here.

Seriously, we saw no other boats with the exception of the two I’ve mentioned.  I saw this mast in the distance, and an hour or so when we passed it, it was as minimal as the waters of Florida’s forgotten coast were untrafficked.

Then later, Lady Edwina passed us with a tandem tow;  the captain hailed us to ask where we were headed with Legs III.  He also said he’d started his career out working on liftboats.

A bit north of the mouth of the Crystal River,  I brought the drone as close to the wave tops as I dared to get this shot, hoping for a blinding glimpse of setting sun under the hull, but this is the result . . .   no blinding sun.

Morning showed a Dann Ocean boat and a large Express Marine barge.

Ocean Tower! it was.  

Tending another Express Marine barge was Consort, which I’d not seen for over a decade!

All photos, any errors,  WVD.

From the Line Locker 34

This title means odds and ends . . . so this is a post that represents my clearing my decks, or rather desk or electronic folders.

Compare the two screen grabs below, first recreational boats filling the Sound but heading for safe haven in advance of Henri last weekend.

Monday morning . . . the same view.  Of course, pre-AIS, small craft would do the same thing, just there’d be no trace of it.

Occasionally while looking at AIS, you might see a sub.

Might there be a portal in that location between Montauk and Block Island?  If you see subs one day and Viking Starship another day, there may be cause for wonder . . ., and yes, I’m joking.

Any idea what these tracks are?

Above and below are tracks left by the same vessel, Ferdinand R. Hassler, a NOAA vessel used for hydrographic charting, among other tasks.  Thanks to  Hassler for reliable charts. I’ve yet to catch a photo of her.

Below is a photo from the 2014 Hudson River tugboat race, an event that will again not happen this year.  The big gray tug is Anthony Wayne.  A sister tug sold last week at auction for, as I recall just under $1.5 million.  Anyone know who the winning bidder was?

And finally, excuse the backlit photos, down along the BAT side of the Upper Bay, this assemblage has been anchored.  The tugboat is Ocean Tower, and she’s alongside

what looks to be a scow, a crane barge, and a crew boat.  The barge with the landing platform

is Dutra’s Paula Lee.  Anyone know where they’ll be working?

And while we’re doing all kinds of stories here, do you know “Bring Your Dreams,” aka BYD Motors?  Well, they have a connection with a NYC port here and here.  BYD . . .  you know that’s just begging for parody, like the one about F. O. R. D.  . . .

All photos, and odds and ends, chosen, WVD.

 

Dredge Mystery Solved

I’d seen Ocean Tower on AIS earlier and watched it pass along with its tow, but I was focused on something else, so this was my best shot.  I had caught its reddish color, the Great Lakes Dredge and Dock color. 

Phil Little caught this photo from his Weehawken cliff.  I believe the tow had gone up the North River to wait for a favorable time through Hell Gate on the other side of the island.  

Later in the day I got a query from Lew.  This was the closest he could get from his vantage point, and he wondered what that gargantuan crane was.

I concluded I should contact my friend Nelson Brace, whose photos of Cape Cod Canal transits I always found spectacular.  Nelson told me he works with a group called ‘Photogs Я Us’ .  They even have a FB page that’s a “must-see” if you do FB.

And here’s the close-up of the dredge from ‘Photogs Я Us’ …  It’s the dredge New York. I’m not sure where she has more recently been working, but she’s currently heading for Boston, where the harbor channel deepening process is on.

Her bucket can dig down to 83′ down and take up to 25 cubic yds of material.

Many thanks to the fine photographers of ‘Photogs Я Us’ for these closeups.

Also to Phil and Lew for contacting me.

I recall when GLDD’s New York was operating in the sixth boro, deepening the channels here and here.  Also, she was passively involved in an incident some of you may recall as well.  Below are more photos I took of dredge New York working just NW of the Staten Island Ferry terminal in fall 2010.

Captain D is the assist boat.  These photos show the role of the derrick over the Liebherr 996. 

Here’s a crowded dredge zone.

 

Here’s the USACE on the project in Boston.

 

Random Tugs 306

Alongside Pilot No. 1 New York, the current one, it’s the newest-in-name vessel in the sixth boro . . .

Meaghan Marie, ex–Kathleen Turecamo, has become part of the same green & buff fleet as Joseph John.

Here’s a photo I took of her in port of Albany, September 2013.

A different use of green . . . Vane’s Philadelphia, a 4200 hp tug launched in 2017.

A slightly darker buff, it’s Matthew Tibbetts.  What I didn’t realize until I looked it up just now, Tibbetts was launched as Dann Ocean’s first boat to carry the name Ocean Tower.  More on that later.

It’s always a good day when I catch two Reinauer tugboats together, Haggerty Girls (4000 hp) and Ruth M. Reinauer (4720 hp), with a deeply loaded RTC

Alex puts its 4300 hp to bear on Viktor Bakaev.

I mentioned Ocean Tower earlier . . .  here’s the current tugboat by that name. It’s about a decade newer, one-third more horsepower, and 15′ longer, and 5′ broader than the earlier boat, now Tibbetts.

Kristin Poling began life as Chesapeake, an early version of Patapsco but longer, broader,and with a full 5000 hp.

And to conclude, examples of the classes of the two largest tractor tugs in the sixth boro . . . Capt. Brian A. and

JRT, each approaching their next job.

All photos very recently, WVD, who has more tugboat race photos from previous years . . .

 

 

Random Tugs 303

Enjoy the photos.  Can you guess which of these tugboats is oldest?

Greetings Rae and hello to the crewman at the railing. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen Rae.  The first time I saw her I was with Bonnie and the tug was then called Miss Bonnie.

Several people have said Matthew Tibbetts is the best looking tug in the harbor.  Who am I to argue with them about that?

Pathfinder cuts a sharp image as it leans into its empty trash containers . . . . and the barge CVA-601.

Some mornings the dawn light enhances everything.  Because I was a NASA fan a long time ago, a tug named Cape Canaveral will always get my attention.  I’m guessing she may be the newest boat among these.

Above, along the left side of the photo, see the barge with GL 54 on it?  Ocean Tower was moving it along,as below.

This light perfectly complements Sarah D‘s lines and colors.

The sun is already rising well after 0600;  I took this photo of Ruby M before 0600.

A very light Frederick E. Bouchard passed me by the other day.

Normandy has the throatiest sound of the boats I know best.

And finally,  well before 0600, Emily Ann was moving a scrap (?) barge westbound.  I believe she was last on this blog back in June.

All photos, WVD.

Oh . . . the oldest?  That would be Rae, launched 1952, same as me.

Infrastructure

From this angle, Fort Lee–birthplace of the motion-picture industry– looks quite pristine.  Yes, that’s the west tower of the GW Bridge.  Am I correct in thinking the marketing name of the twin towers in the distance is the Moderns 1 and 2?

And on the subject of “towers” that Ocean Tower, a name I never know how to pronounce, as I first raised the question here over nine years ago.

Here’s the tow I saw last week.

 

Judging from the barge name TZC-102,  these bridge supports will undergird parts of the TZ Bridge, the completion of this huge project will soon transform into a huge sale of assets.

And where are these supports pre-cast?

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who thinks you might enjoy this recent Scientific America article on suspension v. cable-stay bridges.

Ocean Tower, Land Towers

From l to r here, it’s barge OPGEN-01, Ocean Tower, and Stephan Dann.

Here, against a backdrop of USNS Charlton, it’s a profile of Ocean Tower and

one of Stephan Dann.

And towers, there are plenty, bigger and

smaller.

 

 

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

Go West 2 and 3

Legs 2 and 3 are West Point to Kingston, and then Kingston to Troy to lower the boat for clear passage through the Erie Canal.

Starting below, leaving West Point,

passing Buchanan 12,

HR Otter,

looking back toward Catskill,

meeting

Craig Eric Reinauer,

in awe in Coeymans seeing Eli (which I first misread as ELF) and

Ocean Tower,

 

passing port of Albany and BBC Vela,

seeing Slater in the morning light, and finally

after tying up at Troy, reconfiguring the boat for the Erie Canal.

Leg 4 starts at noon today as we head for a night in Amsterdam.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

 

Other People’s Photos 50

Bananas.  An accident?  One waiting to happen?

Actually, besides being tasty and nutritious, they are a non-polluting lubricant to the rails.  All but the last photo here come from Jeff Anzevino, who captured  Thursday’s launch of the latest barge up at Feeney Shipyard on the Rondout up in Kingston.   Click here for some of Jeff’s photos used previously in this blog.

After the launch, the new barge was towed to owners along the Hudson by Fred Johannsen.  Click here for previous photos of Fred Johannsen.

I’m not sure who took this photo, which I took from Jeff’s FB stream, but it shows Jeff in the small green and white boat to the left taking the photo above.  The dramatic shot was taken from the Walkway over the Hudson.

Here’s Fred Johannsen light.

The photo below–taken from the Walkway– shows Ocean Tower delivering framework for the new TZ Bridge.

And the same tugboat and cargo, here taken by Mark Woody Woods.

 

Many thanks to Jeff and to Mark for use of their photos, which iId seen on FB, which I know some of you don’t do.

Random Tugs 144

Ocean Tower passes the tow of Wavertree, aka “ocean wanderer.”

Ocean Tower, built 1969

At the east end of Caddell Dry Dock.

Coral Coast, 1970

Joyce D., no longer the newest Brown boat.

Joyce D. Brown, 2002

Between Atlantic Salt and Caddell.

Rae, 1952

In the Morris Canal.

Little C, 1988

At the southwest end of Shooters aka Mariners Harbor.

Bering Sea, 1975

On the Shooters Island end of the Bayonne Bridge.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

Unrelated:

A video of the welcome of Half Moon now in Hoorn.

A fun 8-minute 7-day trip from the Hudson River to the Thousand Islands via the Erie Canal, with ALL the locks!

A less-professional video of the arrival of Half Moon in Hoorn, but showing music by the Musiek Boot, delightful man of the waters, Reinier Sijpkens, (click here and scroll) who entertained here in the sixth boro six years ago.