Cat ‘n Mouse

How did this cat gain its rotundity?

What creatures besides cats occupy waterfronts round the world?

Recognize this ovoid?

And when this vessel leaves port . . .

and heads for sea,

the cats are satisfied.  Save a gato . . . .

Here‘s an article on the felines.  Click here for info on “save a gato.”  Scroll through to see a foto of the creature on the stern of the Disney ship. All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Looking for a Ship

OK . .  I stole am borrowing the title from what I’d call a “must-read” book by John McPhee . . .  from two decades back.  But this small boat, identified

here–double click–is

doing just that, no matter the stormy weather.

See the pilot boat here . . . approaching the incoming container ship, which is looking for a port.

The pilot boat descends into a trough starboard the vessel, SS El Morro. . . .      Sun Shipbuilding launched . . . 1974.   See hull # 666.   Here it approaches its namesake. . . .

where–standing off a sentry box–aka–una garita waits Honcho, a 1975 tug, also looking for a ship, along with

its newest fleetmate, Handy Three.   By the way, does anyone have a foto of Handy Three passing through New York City  . . . the sixth boro . . .  late last spring on its maiden voyage between Cleveland and San Juan?

If so, please get in touch . .  see email along upper left.

All fotos yesterday by Will Van Dorp, in the last half hour before catching a ride back to NYC . . .  aka the sixth boro.

Puerto Rico 4

Back in the sixth boro USA.  My best “tug” foto comes at the end of this post.  I loved Puerto Rico!  But there were disappointments:  instead of this sportfisherman passing the “devil’s sentry box,”, I’d hope to catch Pilot

and a different Princesa

heading into San Juan harbor, but . . .  enjoy these.

And what I thought was the Crowley dock is, as Les pointed out, the Sea Star pier.  See Sea Star’s El Faro (seventh foto down) from tugster exactly a year ago here.

Being out of my element and not wanting to lose my camera, I snapped these through fences:  Don Alfredo and Sabre Spirit.

Don Alfredo (2003) works for Harbor Bunkering Corp, but i’ve been unable to find any info on

Sabre Spirit.  I know there’s another vessel (yellow trim) beyond Sabre Spirit.

Again, through the fences . . . Megolly Hawk of Black Hawk Shipping.

And that fifth foto down (unidentified schooner) got clearly identified at Pier 4 . . . as Harvey Gamage, a floating high school.

Over toward La Aduana, the pink Customs House (which I did NOT study closely enough) is the Coast Guard pier, and (from right to left) the 85′ Reef Shark and 110′ Key Largo and another 110′ cutter behind here.

You saw Amelia here the other day . . .  here’s the Hood River, OR-built vessel  face on.

And some better fotos of Greenport, NY’s Bounty, showing what some crew do

in port.    Compare the 1960 replica with the original in stats here.

Finally, as promised at the start of this post . . . here’s my best San Juan “tug” foto.  When I return to PR, Harold, I know exactly where I need to go to see the McAllister tugs there.

I have more pics I’ll put on Flickr . . . soon, and I’ve added a few links to the posts I did on the road, if you’re interested in going through them again.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp, who returns to his paying job manana.