Random Tugs 321

With the end of the year coming, it’s strangely difficult to put these posts together.  I’ve chased down several ideas the past few days, and abandoned them.   All these photos were taken in recent days, except one about a month ago.  They strike me as showing the different skies and waters of the unacknowledged boro. 

So, photos . . . like this of Christine M. McAllister, 125.5′ x 38′ and 6000 hp.  She’s returning to town after a rough encounter on Christmas day . . . .  Maybe someone else can tell the story of SS Denebola (T-AKR 289) first hand.  It’s been a while that Christine M. has appeared on this blog.

Soon to be ex-Eastern Dawn, 52′ x 22 and 1200 hp,  crosses the Upper Bay looking all resplendent in the new paint job.

Two Bouchard tugs are stacked up on the far side of Cape Henry, 109′ x 36′ and 5000 hp,  and her DBL 103, 102,000 barrel capacity barge. 

Dylan Cooper, 112′ x 35′ and 4720 hp, waits in the anchorage with RTC 108, around 108,000 barrels.

Genesis Vigilant, 98.5 x 34 and 3000 hp, also at anchor with GM 6508,  80,000 barrels capacity.

And finally . . .  misclassified on purpose, notice several things this windy morning  on the starboard side of OceanXplorer:  a tender, a helicopter, and areas marked ROV and CTD.  ROV I knew, but CTD I had to look up.  Check out this blog post by New York Media Boat.

All photos and any errors of fact or interpretation, WVD, who wishes you all a happy new year, or as my parents would say . . . gelukkig nieuwjaar.

Exotics 22

Behold OceanXplorer.  I missed them in a search because I was looking for an Ocean Explorer.  Of the many exotics that have called in the sixth boro in recent years, this one stands out.

She started life as Volstad Surveyor in 2010, a much more spartan-looking workboat, launched at Construcciones Navales Paulino Freire, Spain.  Since then she’s seen major modification inside and out by OceanX, in partnership with BBC’s Blue Planet and James Cameron, who “sailed” to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in 2012.

OceanX is the project of a Queens native named Ray Dalio, in town for a few days. 

Media was invited but somehow tugster was omitted from the guest list . . . at least so far.

Look at this and then see

this labeled diagram from here.  If you do FB, here‘s a story from Good Morning America of the previous boat in operation in mid-2019.

A comparison with Jacques Cousteau has been made;  Calypso was also a made-over workboat, and big money was involved there too.  In the photo below, note the person on the dock off the stern line of the vessel?

All photos, WVD.  Calypso is currently still in rebuild in Turkey, SE of Istanbul.

Several other projects come to mind:  Lone Ranger and Ocearch. If I’ve never posted my Ocearch story, here it is.