Mrs Captains December Trip 2006 page three

I was doing pretty good on the way to the locks being up "in the middle of the night" because I was busy for a bit taking what photos I could of the moon, it was so very beautiful that night.

Once we got clear of the locks though, wow did I get tired! There was just alot of darkness, and just lights here and there that confused the heck out of me since I have no idea what they are all for! :o) I found myself having to get up and walk around the wheelhouse to keep myself awake! Many people ask me "Why do you stay up all night , why not just go to bed?" Well, I told myself the first time I took a trip with Anders on the ship, that if he was up from 8AM-10PM or 8PM to 10AM I was going to stay up his hours. After all, the reason I go on the ship, is not to take a trip on a ship, (Sorry boatnerd buddies) my reason for going on the ship is to spend time with my husband. It doesn't matter if hes gone 2 months or 2 days I still miss being with him so when I get the oppertunity to spend time with him then I spend time with him. Course, can't say that I don't whine just a little when I'm up from 8PM to 10AM though..:o) Anders blew a salute to Cathy in Detour , we saw her lights flashing on and off, so He threw the spot light on her house too, last time for this year , sad for Cathy, happy for us though!

One very good thing though about staying up all night, the sunrise looks so very much better!

We were out on Lake Huron by 8AM and went down for breakfast, blueberry pancakes! Then we went to bed but only slept about 4 hours since we'ld need to take a nap later in the afternoon since it would be another all nighter in the river tonight! ahhh something to look forward too!! ha ha! Lake Huron had a few rollers on it and its sure looked cold out there, but I was nice and toasty inside!! Anders spent the day at his desk again doing lay up stuff. I watched a movie and did some crossword puzzles. We went to bed after a nice fish dinner. Then again we were up at 11:30PM. 1 Hour to bouys 11 and 12. Nothing but lights to photograph and not much happening but the Christmas lights sure were pretty!

By the time we got to Lake St. Clair I was so very tired it wasn't even funny. I just can't used to being up all night long even when we have sleeps in the day time. I need the sun to come up then I'll get my 2nd wind, I hope! We went downstairs but half way across the lake the Mate called down and said there was some fog rolling in so we went up to the Wheelhouse and yep when we got to Detroit I could only see the bottom 1/2 of all the buildings! Then it got so bad we could only see just a short way down the ship. When the fog gets heavy like that they call the watchman to go up forward on the bow to help spot for hazards. At one point we got a really good laugh. Anders was making the turn to go down the Amherstberg Channel when the watchman called out on the radio " Holy Crap! theres a ship and shes coming right at us!" Course as soon as he said it he realized that it was one of the criblights on the site of the channel. He told us he was about ready to run since he really thought it was a ship for a quick second. Well I don't need to tell you that he got ALOT of ribbing after that! Poor guy! It did liven up the evening a bit though!

We were out of the Detroit River by 9:30AM and there was no delay on my part on going to bed! We got up at 2:30PM as Anders remembered he had some phone calls to make, he had to start making travel arrangements to get all the boys home after lay up! We had a nice dinner later on at 5:00PM then watched some football and hockey on TV, or should I say Anders watched it and I did my crossword puzzles! :o) Around 10PM we tried to take a nap but neither one of us could sleep , got called at 11:30PM and since there was a ship in Nanticoke already ( Canadian Progress) we anchored in Long Point bay by around 12:45AM. We went to bed and got up around 9:00AM and waited for a call from the Progress to tell us that they were almost done unloading. At around 1PM we got that call they'ld be done in an hour but we got warned to be prepared that it would be a really slow unload!I guess because of all the warm weather the power plant wasn't buring much coal so they were having a hard time finding places to put it! There was a 20knot East wind blowing so it was a bit of extra work for both Captains, one getting out of the dock and then Anders getting us into the dock. They exchanged greetings on the radio and when Anders told him we were headed for lay up after this he said "Sure, go ahead rub it in! " :o) They were headed to Superior for another trip back here again.

Photos shown are just the comings and goings of the Canadian Progress and the guys getting ready for us to dock at Nanticoke Hydro Plant, there were some good waves at there until we got closer in to land and protected behind Peacock Point from the east wind.

The Lee A. Tregurtha was at the Stelco Dock , there goes the Canadian Progress on her way to Duluth again!

The Algosea was there at the East Dock when we got there, The ship sure stirs up the mud on the bottom of the lake, the seagulls love it!

The boys didn't fool around today with the wind you can see the first man landed taking a sprint down to catch the line, theres Anders writing in the log book again, they make entries for all sorts of things, At this point he was writting when the first wire was on and then when the boom is in position so they are ready to load. The last photo shows the parade of vehicles that come in once the ship is secure . Usually I am in that line but this time I'm already here! :o)

So here we are in Nanticoke, but alas our car is in Courtright 3 hours North of here and we just heard from the plant that indeed the unload is going to be very slow!! A few of the guys here on the ship have cars here at the plant that they leave here since they live close by. They've offered us their cars but I had to give my keys to the security guy in Courtright so we couldn't even get in the house if we drove over! AHHH ! So we will stay on the ship and wait it out like everyone else. There goes that unloading noise again!! By 6:00PM we decided to take a nap, Anders is trying to estimate when we will be in the river and Sarnia but pretty hard to estimate when we aren't really sure when the unloading will be over. Our nap didn't last too long though as 1/2 hour into it the unloading the gear stopped and the mate called to tell Anders that there would be an 8 hour delay. After the buzzer rang 3 more times we just decided to get up. Now we found out that they aren't going to start unloading us until tomorrow at 7AM 01/07. Its new years Eve and I guess the guys at the plant are having a party? Woooo hooooo

Lots of coal here already!

You can get some perspective of how big the pile is by looking at those huge trucks on top of it, they look like toys!

New security gate since 9/11

High up on top!

Meanwhile as we sit here doing nothing until 7AM tomorrow more ships are coming in to take our place once we leave , arriving from Superior with more coal! The Canadian Navigator, John D. Leich, and the Canadian Transport! You can see them all there on Anders computer screen!

Well sometime during the next day before 7AM we got another update. Well no they weren't going to be unloading us until probably 7PM 01/07 now! I guess there was a load of coal there that had turned hot so they needed to move it before they could unload the ship, this is a long process , they have these big trucks that drive along on top of the coal pile and scrape up a load of coal ( a ton a load or something like that ) then the truck drives way up on the big pile of coal behind the plant and sifts out the coal while releasing water with it. Its a long process when you consider the pile is at least 30,000 tons and they are using about 3 of those fancy trucks. I guess they expected it to take 12 hours or so. So we'll just be sitting here a bit longer, the house is just 20 minutes down the road! ugh!

The process of moving a big pile of coal!

Tug boat coming to assist this ship off the dock because of the strong winds

uh oh and look there is another ship coming with more coal, and 4 more on the way! Tell them no rush!!!'

Yep, so its night time in Nanticoke again, we are finally unloading and I don't care how loud the unload gear is just want to get it over with and believe me by this time I am not the only one! Then later we got the got the call 1/2 to go before we are done unloading at 4:30AM yeah!!!!

The Halifax came in to take the place of the Algosea.

We were out on Lake Erie heading towards LAYUP at 6:30AM we've got 24 hours to go until we get to Sarnia

Peaceful sunrise on the lake.

Anders had an upper management meeting at 8AM to be sure everyone knew what was needed for lay up. During that time I packed! We took a nap after lucnh from about 1-4 when Anders just got up and said he had things to do, oh boy, its going to be a LONG night! He says he doesn't care, just wants to get the ship laid up so we can go home! ME TOO!

We saw a beautifull Sunset later on in the day!

And then a big bright beautiful moon lit our way up the river!

Our last view of Detoit for this season Yeah! It sure looked pretty though.

And the Casino in Windsor too.

Finally arrived a the goverment dock around 5:30Am on January 3, 2007 , it was something to watch for sure, as by the time we got there the moon was gone, and no sun so it was a pretty dark hole to find to park a big boat in! The turn into it was pretty much 90 degrees and at the end of the slip was the cheecheeman! So in she went . Anders was to "park" her 50' from the CheeCheeman so to allow room for the Coast Guard cutter behind us. While I'm watching I'm seeing us geting closer and closer to the Cheecheeman and it sure looked like we were going to run right into her and that there wasn't enough room at the dock to fit the ship, but things look so different from way up high in the wheelhouse. Once we were all secured at the dock of course there was plenty of room for all of us. :) First thing on the agenda was to start pumping out the ballast and during that time we took a nap as it would take 4 hours to pump it all out. Then Anders had alot of work to do! They boys too! 5:48 Done with Engines..yeah!

Later on when we got up and the ballast was out, the boys set to work securing the ship up for the winter, the wheelhouse was "packed" and "wrapped"

I couldn't really watch them too much this year as the lines they were tieing up were so close to the ship side so I checked around at what was around us. This is a neat little park , although I'm guessing its not little, there were no people in the area to get a perspective of size but the covered stand sort of gives you an idea . The center are small pools to look like the great lakes. Pretty neat!

Theres the deck crew plcing wires to secure the ship for the winter, it is a big job and hard work.

Anders was at his desk all day, he'ld call down and have one of the boys sent up to his office to have them sign off and give them their travel arrangments and any money they might have asked for to travel with. Meanwhile I was photographing the coast guard boat across the river in the USA and some cute ducks that were swimming around in the slip. :o)

It was so very warm in the lower 60's so it made it really nice for the guys working outside. There were people in the park riding bikes, walking their dogs, just out enjoying the beautiful weather, it sure didn't look or feel like December!

At lunchtime, the crew all met in the crews dining room to send off Tom in style. Anders spoke a bit about him and his service to Algoma and all the years they had sailed together. The crew had raised almost $600.0 to send him home with! He will be missed by everyone for sure.

Theres the Cheecheeman up there funny to me how it looks like its hood is up..:o)

One last thing for the deck crew to take care of. Since there would be another ship tied up along side the Algolake , they dropped some big tires over the side for bumpers.

Finally everything was done!! We packed up all our stuff and loaded it all in the elevator to drop it down. A funny thing happened as Anders told me to go down and take it out of the elevator as he had to go find the Chief to hand over the remaining petty cash etc. So I went down to the deck level and tried to get the door opened. Nothing, the elevator wasn't coming down. So I found one of the crew to help me, he got the door opened and there was the elevator, empty. we looked at each oher and both said. "where did it all go? " So he thought maybe someone had taken it of already at one of the other decks. So I went up to the galley level and there was Anders with our luggage. OOPS!! So I went to the wrong deck as I forgot we were going to have to use the crane to bring the stuff down as we were WAY up high with the ballast all out. Oh well, so I didn't have to carry too much, worked out for methe ha ha !

So there was Anders way up there lowering down out luggage. My job was to take it out of the basket but I lucked out the 2nd mate was down there too and he did it for me..:o) Thanks Gary!

The ship was really high out of the water without the ballast in the tanks. You can see part of the crot nozzle , this is what makes Ander ship go :o) You can also see the draft marks, helps the crew know just how much cargo is in the ship but how deep the ship is in the water.

She sure is big, no matter which angle you look at her.

I finally got to see the cheecheeman up close, so thats what was sticking up! :o)

So then we waited for our taxi to arrive and went down to pick up our car at the hydroplant. Took the 3 hour drive home and picked up our boys Bandit, Mckenzie and Chester.

Our house was still all decked out for the holidays and would be for while since we hadn't even celebrated the holiday yet.

Sometime later the next week we had an ice storm that coated everything with a thick coating of ice, lots of damage around but sure was sparkly!!

The next weekend we went out to have Christmas with my two children Zachary and Melissa .It was more than great to see them and we had a great time! I made that game table for Melissa :o) We had a great time playing backgammon, cribbage and parchessi on it!

This is the village we were in , Stowe , Vermont. Very pretty there all year round!

So thats my latest Sailing adventure, I hope you enjoyed it! Anders and I are enjoying his time off together and hoping that spring doens't come too soon! I really enjoyed my trip with him and really love the new camera he got me for my birthday. If you are intersted in having copies of any of the photographs I have the originals in larger pixels on my computer. Thanks for your visit to my website and feel free to email me to let me know how you liked it or go to my guest book too. :o) Have a great rest of the winter! See you in the spring.:o)

Best Wishes!

Donna M Rasmussen aka Mrs.Captain

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