And Then There was the Alpena

 A couple of these pictures are out of order relative to the other posts, but since I group the pictures together by subject, they will go in here.

I had a chance to catch Alpena in the golden light, which was a bonus.  If you look to the left, you can see the Coast Guard Fast Response boat.

The Alpena was coming to Detroit after doing an unload in Essexville.  It has been a while since I've seen her.  If you look to the top of the picture, you will see the Dolphin.

I saw her earlier on Marine Traffic but I wasn't sure she would be passing in enough light.

Not only was she passing in enough light but she was passing the golden light which is the perfect time to take pictures.

The sun is at such an angle, it will make subjects pop.

The Dolphin still in picture.

I probably could have caught her sooner, but I wanted to do planes.

I like this shot.

She continues on her way, it looks like she has a little rust on her hull but that might be from a scraping.

A relatively unbusy background.  As you can see, the colors in this area are pretty close to peak.

She starts to pass Windsor.

The Windsor skyline in the background.

Showing off her flags.

Again, another relatively uncluttered background.

the bow shining.

She approaches the Ambassador Bridge.

I think she was turning towards the Windsor shore so that she could make her docking turn.

She's about to pass the Ambassador Bridge.

She passes.

Showing off one of the towers of the Gordie Howe Bridge.

I like this shot.

And a nice stern shot.

All in all, I had a good weekend.  Catching a train but sadly not a steam engine.  A hawk.  Some planes and I finish with the Alpena.

And Then There Was the Alpena

 The next ship I was going to catch was the Alpena.  She was refueling, so I figured I had a little time to catch her.  I had planned to catch her at Riverside but she was too close, so I decided to head over to Belle Isle.

It was good thing I did because I got to catch a couple other ships.

She looks good for being as old as she is.

Hopefully she stays this way.

But I think the company that owns her does a pretty good job of keeping her up.

She is certainly one of the more beautiful ships on the Great Lakes.

She passes by the whiskey distillery.

She continues on.

She gives the almost beam shot.

And the beam shot.

She continues on as she heads back to the town she is named after.

And one more.

And Now....the Alpena

 As I was looking at AIS this morning, I didn't see much on the river until I saw that the Alpena was north of Port Huron.  I looked at her destination and it said Detroit.  That meant I didn't have to go out right away.  

So I headed down to Riverside to catch her.  It was in the 90s today and that made for a very uncomfortable experience.  Normally, there is a nice breeze coming off the river but that wasn't the case.

I was actually waffling about going because it was hot.  I thought the park would be crazy but it turns out that it wasn't, which was nice.

Anyway, the Alpena was coming down from Alpena.

She had a load of cement and was heading for the cement plant in Detroit.

Anyway, I believe she is becoming my favorite ship after losing the Blough.

Today, I was looking at a page from a ship that my grandpa worked on.  The ship was named the Aetna.  I think she was owed by the same people that owned the cement plant he worked at.

I believe that is the case with the Alpena.  She is owned by Holcim Cement and they own the cement plant by grandpa used to work at.

In a way, that makes the Alpena the spiritual successor of the ship he used to work on.

As a result, I think the Alpena is going to be my favorite.

But I'm not sure.

She is a very nice looking ship.

One more shot with my camera.

And then I switched to my drone.

I kind of like this shot with with the Detroit skyline in the back.

I was moving the drone around.

The river looked nice and blue today.

This is probably my favorite angle.

She continues down the river.

the beam shot.

She passes.

A nice downriver shot.

I was kind of waffling but I decided to head over to DelRay to get some pictures of her as she was docked.

I kind of like the pictures from here.

Since she is stopped, I can get different angles.

My favorite angle.

The almost bow shot.

Another of my favorite angle.

And a shot with my regular camera.