Random Tugs 125

Eastbound and from left, it’s Sunny Williams, Sarah Ann, and Ellen McAllister.

Around the same time, it’s a light Patrice McAllister eastbound.  Compare the April 2014 shot below with these April 2012 ones of her first arriving in the sixth boro after the tragic fire on Lake Ontario.

After all the ice work Kimberly Poling has done the past few months, Sunday was a welcome sunny day, I’ll assume.

It wasn’t until this tow turned away from head-one that I understood what I was looking at . . ..

but closer in  . . . it was clearly Stephen Dann (I think this is her first appearance on this blog) towing

crane barge Strong Island.

Off Owl’s Head, it’s Pacific Reliance and Discovery Coast (I think) off to the west.

Pacific Reliance appeared here about six weeks ago.

Catherine Turecamo stands by near Gulf Pearl.

Parting shot . . . following up on the opening shot of this post.

All photos the past few days by Will Van Dorp.

Random Ships 10

Ralph E. Bouchard and B. No. 230 move in the direction of Explorer of the Seas.  Not apparent from this foto . . . Explorer was at that moment reversing its way into the the Bayonne passenger terminal, backing into a parking spot if you will.

Compliments of Bernie Ente of Working Harbor Committee, Hoegh Africa moves seaward through the KVK, overtaken by  . . .  she who’s been alleged as my “crush-du-jour,” Emma Miller.  Well, Alice has spurned me for just so long,  that part of me that always seeks “my other half” has decided that 700′ loa bulk carriers like Alice might just not be my long-lost other half.  Maybe Emma is more my type.

To get serious, Bernie has some fantastic “hidden harbor tours” planned, including four sunset tours and –what I get most excited about– a circumnavigation of Staten Island.  Click here to reserve your spot(s) while they last.

Nathan E. Stewart emerges from behind New River, an American-built tanker from Avondale Industries, 1997.

Emma again?   Nope.  It’s her sister Sunny Williams passing Histria Tiger, Romanian, proving that not all blues are created equal.  I’m partial to the lube tanker’s blue.  To digress into thoughts of love, I’ve never had a crush on someone with an identical twin.  I wonder how that would work.  Here, I feel something for Emma different from Sunny.  Hmm?   Such strange wiring I must have in me.

Parting shot . . . stern of Chemical Pioneer, a very unusual ship to bear New York as its port of registry, escorted to sea by Rosemary McAllister, who arrived in the sixth boro almost a year ago.

All shots, except Bernie’s, taken today by  . . . Will Van Dorp.

Unrelated:  Henry’s logpage is up although the watercolors keep getting washed away by the stormy north Sea.

Pairs in Springtime 2

It felt like spring this past week along the Arthur Kill, where Sarah and Shannon Dann gathered, maybe their crews spoke of fleetmate Allie B now approaching Gibraltar.  But the the boats, what secrets might they have shared?

Responder was light and downbound;  Rowan M in pushgear upbound.  When they met, I heard a hailer and Responder turned 180 and followed Rowan M back toward the east.

Later, Shannon, awaiting orders, stayed fast to barge Prysman 1 , while in the distance, Sunny and Rolf Williams, just forward of an unidentified K-Sea tug, delayed, as if asleep in a double bed.

Meanwhile this amorous couple weren’t waiting for anything . . . in March, things could turn too quickly turn cold again.

Maybe Cupid really did operate from the unidentified boat that sped past.

Unrelated:  see this article from the University College of London on mermaids assisting seismologists detect potential earthquakes on the seabed.   Really!!!  Mermaid, in this case, expands to Mobile Earthquake Recorder in Marine Areas by Independent Divers.  Now spring, pairings, Cupid, and deep earthquakes . . . might they actually be related?

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Got Lube?

Tis the season for giving, and what might be best to cool the friction, soothe the raw, heal the wounds, and soften the chapped?

If you need it, it’s time for Sunny, launched in May ’08 from C & G.

Or Rolf, the slightly older (identical?)  sibling.

Lube, balm, antifricative . . .

delivered by double- or single-hulled vessel, we all need it sometimes.  Even Galahad, and

this has been a set-up for this song I hadn’t heard in a looong time.  Enjoy the soothe.

Unrelated:  Click here to see what pirates look like and what their repellers aboard the Chinese crane ship look like.