Retro Sixth Boro 54

This month I’ve done one retro October 2012 post on the Chesapeake schooner race . . . and am doing this one at the end of the month rather than the beginning, for reasons that will soon be apparent.

On the 31st a decade ago, I made my way down to Front Street Staten Island to see what the big storm had wrought.  It was too shocked to take more photos.

John B. Caddell, waiting to make her way to new owners in Africa, had been surged ashore, to her stormy aftermath, and then to her demise.

The Upper Bay had an eerie emptiness that

looked like this on AIS.

Barbara, a friend on Rockaway took this aftermath photo of what had looked like

this only hours before.  Note the boardwalk supports above with what they had supported below.

I’d been on the highway getting home hours before Sandy hit. I documented months of aftermath of stormy Sandy  in various areas around the sixth boro, but the post that follows up on John B. Caddell a week later can be seen here.

And since this retrospective post has focused on a weather event, October 20, 2012 saw fog as dense as anything we saw last week here.  Somewhere in that water vapor is a small-town-sized population aboard Celebrity Summit;  click on the latter link for more photos of Summit‘s passage.

All photos, WVD, taken in October 2012.

We Get Rainbows

If you focus on national weather, you might imagine snow has fallen to the extent that we’re back in the ice age, but I decided to walk out to the fishing pier near Owl’s Head, and 

voila!  there were Unico’s Teresa with Acadia as well as Regulus, bathed in rainbow light. Likely it was raining in Manhattan, but not on me, nor was it snowing.

More photos from my walk tomorrow, but I’m guessing Regulus is in port because of big seas out where she’s been working in the Bight. 

All photos this morning, WVD, who has previously seen rainbows in the boro here. 

 

People on the Boro 23

As we leave the cold of the past months, we see more crew of all vessels out on deck just to enjoy the balmy weather and sun, like these crew taking photos of the northern side of Staten Island.  I’ve often wondered what they say about this port of the US;  of course they see the skyline of Manhattan as they enter and depart the port, but I wonder what they say about the borders of the KVK.

I’m not “developing” it, however, maybe just taking advantage the “educational” opportunity it offers, to create a space as they have designated in Port Huron as the Great Lakes Maritime Center.  The assemblage of containers there is attractive and functional. Click here and scroll for a post I did back in 2012 about this Center on a brownfield.  NYC is failing to recognize the KVK for the tourist destination it could be.

Pilots boarding in windy frigid months must find this part of spring part of the joy of the profession.

Crew heading back out to sea . . . do they compare ports?

The deckhand needs to stay on station, a much easier task from temperature perspective.

Another crewman headed for sea . . . is this the last port departure of his hitch or his first?

Ditto the crew indicted by the red arrow, what do they talk about?

 

These boom boats, they work all year round on these utilitarian vessels.

This was a coup, I thought.  The USCG had come aboard during cargo transfer to take the crew through a life boat drill.

Again . . . crew entering the port from sea . . .

 

And finally, nobody has time to enjoy these seats right now, but when work is done, I’m guessing they are enjoyed.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who is currently headed west again.

 

Fog ‘n Ice

For both photos today, thanks to Ashley Hutto.    When the air is much warmer than the water, Helen Laraway may look like this.

And when it’s just plain cold and clear, Mister Jim in broken and refrozen ice looks like this.  For a look at how Mister Jim looked just a year and a half ago, click here and scroll.

Here’s some Great Lakes icebreaking, and here’s a lot of foggy tugster posts.

And from exactly nine years ago as a plane-fishing Flight 1549 operation was going on, what a miracle that was!

Many thanks again to Ashley for sharing these photos.

Weather 10

Here are previous weather posts, and although today the sixth boro and surrounding land masses are experiencing the first serious snowfall this season, this post is not about that.  Rather, it’s about something I saw and felt yesterday, when it was 65 degrees F for a few midday hours.  65!!

So here was the weather phenomenon photo taken at 0834.  I take it that’s a squall line, but it seemed so isolated.

Here was the scene at 0826.  CMA CGM Amber headed into Port Elizabeth with JRT on the stern quarter.  Tomorrow I’ll have more Moran photos.  Notice how clear and calm it was right at the bridge, although Elizabethport seems enveloped in some mist.

0827 . . . shows HMS Justice in that mist.

So here I repeat the 0834 photo of that line moving rapidly in my direction.

Here’s 0840 and

below,  0841, as Jonathan C escorted CMA CGM Georgia around Bergen Point to Port Eliz.  Notice the dull finish on the Bayonne Bridge, since that squall line has obscured the morning sun at my back.  The temperature also dropped noticeably.

At 0846, besides Jonathan C, we can now see (l to r) Jennifer Turecamo with barge Portland, James D., and Miriam.

By 0922 my back was nicely warmed by the sun again, with the temperatures heading to a blue sky 65 in February, although Elizabeth seemed still misted in.

All photos taken on February 8 by Will Van Dorp.  Did anyone else see and feel this front move through?

 

Excessively Windy 3

Here are previous posts with references to wind.  Sunday and Monday were windy but commerce went right on.

 

The weight of these units is manifested by the smooth ride in the harbor chop.  Offshore it would be a different matter in the swells.

I wouldn’t call it spindrift, so maybe

it’s just spray?

All photos last weekend by Will Van Dorp.

And here, thanks to Aleksandr Mariy and unrelated but interesting, it’s Black Douglas, in its many forms.  And if you like that, you’ll love Roosevelt, especially that photo off Newburgh NY.

And finally, thanks to Isaac Pennock, who caught Dylan Cooper down bound passing Detroit on a run between Green Bay and Montreal.

Weather 7

Here was number 6 in this series.  It occurred to me this afternoon to rename the whole series “weather overwater,” as a tip of the hat to Dr.  Jeff Masters and his site.  His 18-minute TED talk at the link with his name on it is worth the 18 minutes.   And what do you imagine happens on and over sixth boro water on a day like this . . . ?

The usual.  Diane B pushes a fuel barge, leaving BW Amazon behind,

Cheyenne consolidates scrap,

Davis Sea pushes oil somewhere up river as she did here and here,

Susana S, in the same location here a year ago, takes on bunkers. . .

. . . along with Stavanger Breeze.

Fishing goes on, and pilots

do their thing no matter the weather since 1694.

More bad weather coming . . . so what.   Not that it’s easy, though.

Winds of November

Lightering  from Ocean Chariot onto The Patriot goes on uninterrupted by the brisk wind out of the north . . . gusts to 20 mph . . . .  It’s just another

day on the sixth boro. Stavanger Bell gets a call from the Miller service boat.   In the background skyline, note the “V” shaped twin cranes . . . . yup . . . . that’s the current height of building at One World Trade Center.

Here are two other shots  of Stavanger Bell with Scott C (?)

attached to The Patriot barge.  That might be  Erie Service and Energy ??? barge taking the stern of Stavanger Bell.

Also at anchor, Genmar Concord awaits a provisioning visit from

the unique, the peerless, the siblingless Twin Tube.

The small boat here headed out the Narrows . . .  could be a wet and bumpy ride, but still just another

day in the sixth boro.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Fog 9

Fog . . . it’s fickle, patchy, and blinding.  Even with radar, I imagine it causes stress.  Count the tugboats below.  Follow the lights and you get two:  Patapsco and Wicomico from right to left.  Easter morning 645 am at IMTT.

Same place, 745.  I think the vessel is Maryland.

Same location.  800 am.  Meagan Ann, whom you saw here in snow now just barely a month ago.  Fog forms in warm land air (75 Sunday) over cold water.

Patapsco over by LaFarge silos (now fog-shortened) near Hess Bayonne, as seen from IMTT.  830 am.  Note:  Hess Bayonne is less than a mile to the east of IMTT, where earlier fotos were taken.

Eastbound Ivory Coast at IMTT.  900 am.

Westbound Ivory Coast, near Hess Bayonne, at 930 am, half an hour later than the previous shot.

Eastbound Stephen Scott, near Hess Bayonne, around 940.

A minute later, as vessel approaches the St George ferry terminal.

Westbound  tanker Ionian Wave, escorted by Brendan Turecamo just before 1000.  Note the Monitor-like appearance of the Staten Island ferry.

About 1001, Ionian Wave and Brendan Turecamo emerge from a fog bank.  Normally, the Manhattan skyline would be visible.

All fotos Easter Sunday morning by Will Van Dorp.

Related:  Mitch of Newtown Pentacle has been checking out the sixth boro these days and doing nice work.

Also related:  NYTimes article on the new FDNY fireboat, arriving . . . . soon.

Unrelated:  Shen Neng 1 in the Great Barrier Reef.

Weather

I’m looking south toward the Narrows from a 23rd floor in Battery Park City while fog tries to squeeze under the VZ Bridge.  One day last year down by the Narrows without my camera, I watched a container ship disappear into a fog bank like this.  If I’d had the camera, I could have posted the foto that got away, the one of just the stern of a 50,000 dwt vessel.

Here’s how Carl Sandburg described it almost 100 years ago:              the fog comes           on little cat feet.     It sits looking          over harbor and city            on silent haunches           and then moves on.

Apologies to Carl for layout changes.  With the Wall Street mess, skies just look  gloomy these days.  Maybe substitute the word recession or __pression for fog in the poem.  With a sky looking so foreboding, I wouldn’t take that cruise if it were free.

These ships lie on the hook  along the Ambrose anchorage heedless of the breakers onshore.

Now I understand why I saw so many guys carrying surfboards through Penn Station: they were cutting work to head out and take a plunge while surfing the fog.

Top two fotos by Will Van Dorp;  next two, compliments of Brian Luster.