Waiting in the Weeds...

Glassy calm, exploring ruins of the Lost Villages.

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Northern Pike hiding in the weeds, possibly digesting.
The fish stayed motionless, enabling me to make a few passes.

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Seaway Traffic (WHITEFISH BAY, FEDERAL BEAUFORT, ISABELLE G)

This is why I get up at 4am...

WHITEFISH BAY with sea smoke and Sea Gulls

FEDERAL BEAUFORT downbound

Thought I heard a ship's horn salute, so I looked downriver to see an upbound saltie meeting the downbound FEDERAL BEAUFORT.

Vessels Meeting

The upbound ship was ISABELLE G
Lighting still not in my favor, but It still gets added it to my collection.

ISABELLE G upbound

Seaway Traffic (LAGERTHA, ALGOMA STRONGFIELD, CSL LAURENTIEN)

Early morning vessel passages that I missed included the ALGOMA EQUINOX and MAXIMA.

Really wanted to see the unique-looking saltwater ship with the forward pilothouse of MAXIMA. Hopefully our paths will cross during daylight hours.

Three more ships to be seen today, managed to catch 'em all.
Lots of glare and summer haze...

Glassy calm water, even in the shipping channel

First ship I caught was the 2009-built tanker LAGERTHA, downbound in the early morning.
Internationally, there are a dozen vessels named "LAGERTHA". This particular ship is registered under the flag of Malta. Apparently "Lagertha" is a legendary viking shield-maiden.

LEGERTHA, downbound

The ALGOMA STRONGFIELD caught me by surprise, so I didn't quite get the shot I wanted.

ALGOMA STRONGFIELD, downbound

Next up would be CSL LAURENTIEN (ex LOUIS R. DESMARAIS)
The last time one of these "rebuilt" CSL ships lumbered by, I could hear the "chug" of the engine from 5km away... Today the LAURENTIEN was audible from a much shorter distance, probably because of the wind going in the opposite direction.

The 1977-built CSL LAURENTIEN upbound

It's always a nice sight to see a vessel from 1977.
Ships from that era are becoming few and far between.



Happened to catch a train on the drive home...

One person's graffiti is another person's art

Ever-fascinated with brightly colored things that move.

CSL LAURENTIEN

CSL LAURENTIEN upbound on August 14, 2022

Built in 1977 as LOUIS R. DESMARAIS at Collingwood. During the winter of 2000-01 the vessel was lengthened at Port Weller Drydocks. She received a forebody replacement, and was the third vessel (of four) to be lengthened to the new "Seaway Max" size as part of CSL's "Fleet Renewal Program". Returned to service the following season as "CSL LAURENTIEN".

Seaway Traffic (ALGOMA HANSA, NACC ARGONAUT, THUNDER BAY, ALGOMA HARVESTER, FEDERAL LEDA, CCGS GRIFFON)

Starting a day at the River with a ship is never a bad thing...
No colors on the hull, but the silhouette looks neat.

At the River shortly after sunrise

ALGOMA HANSA upbound

Minutes later, the next ship would materialize...

NACC ARGONAUT downbound

Glad I checked the AIS map before I headed out, to notice that CSL's THUNDER BAY appeared to be anchored just off Ault Island. Not sure quite why she was there, but she eventually made her way upriver.

Kinda surprised me, because suddenly could see something huge through the trees and a huge wake of water being pushed by the bow.

THUNDER BAY upbound

ALGOMA HARVESTER finally appeared on the horizon, followed by FEDERAL LEDA

ALGOMA HARVESTER approaches,
with FEDERAL LEDA in the distant background

Before she got to the island, the FEDERAL LEDA appeared, probably 45 minutes behind her.


While awaiting the HARVESTER, seconds after I shut off my camera -  a Bald Eagle swooped right in front of me... Under ideal lighting, that would have been a great snapshot.

ALGOMA HARVESTER downbound

Lighting was still good catch the LEDA.

FEDERAL LEDA downbound

Surprise vessel of the day, downbound Coast Guard vessel GRIFFON. The 1970-built GRIFFON had the loudest ship engine I've heard all day.

CCGS GRIFFON downbound

Seaway Traffic (IRDYA, JANIS, FAGELGRACHT, HINCH SPIRIT, ATLANTIC SPIRIT)

Another day where I get to see a couple of ships passing...

Downbound Polsteam vessel IRYDA meets the upbound JANIS destined for Oswego.

Also got to see FAGELGRACHT on her return trip downbound...
Riding high in the water, she looks so tall and narrow.
(Apparently her beam is 19 meters or 62.3 feet)

FAGELGRACHT downbound

Just happened to have seen FAGELGRACHT upbound a couple weeks ago.
She ended up in Duluth, Superior as I just happened to catch her arriving to a beautiful sunrise on the Duluth Harbor Cam.





Next vessel was HINCH SPIRIT travelling upbound, with FAGELGRACHT slowly disappearing in the background.

HINCH SPIRIT upbound

Got to see another McKiel vessel, with the ATLANTIC SPIRIT downbound.

ATLANTIC SPIRIT downbound

Caught her upbound three days ago.

Overall, visibility was good.
Looking 15-20 miles downriver with islands in the background...
Sunlight just happens to pick up the red paint on the channel markers.

Spectacular view looking downriver

Seaway Traffic (BRUCE, ALGOMA NIAGARA, WHITEFISH BAY, ALGOMA BUFFALO, DAMIA DESGAGNES, RUDDY, ALGOMA HANSA, NACC ARGONAUT, SPARTAN & SPARTAN II, CANADIAN EMPRESS, PEYTON LYN C)

Busy day on the St. Lawrence Seaway. Was able to catch ten of the sixteen vessels that transited the system.
There was pretty much (at least) one ship in view for the entire day.

Unexpected rain to start, water was considerably calm... Fog everywhere, could barely see any of the islands.
Happened to see a bright red dShip Carrier BRUCE when I got to the river.

BRUCE is downbound

The ALGOMA NIAGARA had been anchored (along with G3 MARQUIS) off Ault Island at 4AM.
(The G3 MARQUIS was on my list for yesterday, but never materialized)
Figured it would be neat to see it today instead...
Missed the MARQUIS, but the ALGOMA NIAGARA was an unexpected surprise.

The ALGOMA NIAGARA made her way upbound

Have another grey day (in December) with pics of WHITEFISH BAY - although that day may have been a tad brighter - and had cool sea smoke.

WHITEFISH BAY was downbound.

Such a busy day in the channel that I'd completely forgotten about ALGOMA BUFFALO.
For the second day in a row, got to see a couple of ships pass (or meet) each other.

WHITEFISH BAY meets the ALGOMA BUFALO  near Goose Neck Island Shoal.

When the ALGOMA BUFFALO passed by, she was travelling incredibly slow - Seeming to indicate that she was waiting for other ship(s) to clear the lock. Also noticed a "wind sock" on her self unloading boom.

ALGOMA BUFFALO upbound

Anticipated another downbound ship in about an hour....

Downbound tanker DAMIA DESGAGNES.

Another big green ship with a cool sounding one-word name...

Saltwater vessel RUDDY heading downbound.

RUDDY appeared to anchor just off Ault Island.

After swinging on her chain for a while, RUDDY continues eastbound.
She's approaching the Eisenhower Lock, located several miles downriver.

RUDDY departing the Wilson Hill Anchorage and back into the channel.
It's unusual for me to ever see a ship at this angle.

ALGOMA HANSA would also head to Ault Island and anchor there - However she spent the rest of the day there, presumably for crew rest, as she's often known to do.

The ALGOMA HANSA heading downriver

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Cement carrier NACC ARGONAUT upbound for Oshawa

SPARTAN & SPARTAN II upbound for Detroit.

After the SPARTAN tug & barge, was still waiting for PEYTON LYN C, hoping she hadn't been delayed. But there was a ship on the horizon...

ALGOMA HANSA anchored at Wilson Hill, just off Ault Island.
PEYTON LYN C makes her way upbound navigating past Cat Island Shoal.

Also encountered the downbound CANADIAN EMPRESS which appeared to arrive at Crysler Marina.






Was originally going to swing by Ault Island to see the HANSA at anchor... But couldn't resist continuing upriver to catch the bright red PEYTON LYN C.

Less than two hours before sunrise provided some spectacular colors.

First couple times I saw PEYTON LYN C, she had a large number of colorful containers visible... During this leg of her trip, she only had about one row of visible containers - Making her not look much like a container ship at all.

PEYTON LYN C with a lot more scuffs and scratches than the last time I saw her

Seaway Traffic (CAPTAIN HENRY JACKMAN, FLORETGRACHT, MICK, ATLANTIC SPIRIT, WHISTLER, FEDERAL WELLAND)

The "new" CAPTAIN HENRY JACKMAN (2) downbound for Quebec City,
with he asphalt of Old Highway 2 visible in the frame.

With mist and fog on the river, FLORETGRACHT is upbound for Toledo.

The upbound ATLANTIC SPIRIT meets the downbound MICK.
The red-hulled dShip Carrier has just cleared Cat Island shoal, several miles west of Eisenhower Lock.

Surprise ship of the day was WHISTLER of Monrovia.
The vessel headed downriver after loading grain at Johnstown.

FEDERAL WELLAND of Majuro, up, cargo, for Picton.
So many ships to keep track of, forgot that I even saw this one.
Any day with six ships in the Seaway channel during daylight hours is fine by me.

White Herons in the Shallows

Saw White Herons in the shallows, normally spread out...
As not to disturb each others' hunt?

A "family" of Canadian Geese

Butterfly enjoying thistle flowers.

Suspecting that the grey weather meant fewer people around to disturb this Bald Eagle, so I could be lucky enough to drift by him, relatively close. Saw him hunting earlier in the day, here he is back at one of his "favorite" trees.