Sea lions battle for dock space in San Francisco.
Sep 242009
Sep 242009
Sep 152009
Earlier this summer on July 26, some huge storms whipped through the New York City area. I was at home when one of them came through. Later, tornadoes were reported in Staten Island and Brooklyn; I think I saw a funnel cloud in DUMBO as well.
This is the view from my window of J Condo in DUMBO shortly before the storm began. If you look to the left of the tower, you can see an odd discoloration in the sky.
I took the liberty of enhancing the photo to emphasize what may have been a weak funnel cloud.
As the sky grew stranger and stranger, I decided to go up to the roof of my building to take a look at the view. A family of four was there. Shortly after they arrived we heard huge thunderclaps. The dad said that was that and after dragging the kids away from the metal kitchen vent pipes they went downstairs. I stayed up for around five or ten more minutes. However, I was also freaked out by the loud thunderclaps directly above my head and practically ran inside.
Shortly after returning downstairs, the heavens let loose a torrent of water. A friend of mine was driving in Manhattan at the time, and described having to pull over to avoid the wall of water coming down the street. As you can see from the photo, it was impossible to see Manhattan from my apartment.
Less than 15 minutes after the rain started to fall the storm abruptly ended. If you were to look at the sky it was like nothing had happened at all.
Sep 132009
Today was a beautiful day to cross the bridge.
Sep 122009
Sept 11 Tribute in Light from Bleeker and 7th Avenue
Sept 11 Tribute in Light from Brooklyn, NY (linked to larger version)
Sep 112009
At the start of the summer, I took a tour of New York City’s harbor. The tour was run by the Working Harbor Committee; they are the same people who organized the tugboat races the other day. This was not your standard tour of the harbor–we visited all of the docks that regular tourists don’t usually see.
There are four Working Harbor tours offered each year; the last one is next Tuesday on September 15. Tickets are still available. You can read more about the event or buy tickets directly.
It was a bit of a gray day, but some parts of the tour were quite picturesque. This panorama was shot midway through the tour.
The tour was run from the Zephyr, a ship run by Circle Line tours from South Street Seaport. Even though it got a bit chilly, everyone was on the top deck of the ship.
Anne, Phil and I enjoyed the tour. In the background are the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges.
Large cranes outside of Red Hook.
New York Water Taxi berths all of its boats off of Red Hook near the Ikea.
We saw tugs and barges berthed at various locations throughout the tour. One fact I learned from the tour was that the barges and tugs are almost always owned by the same operators. In this photo, you can see that the tug and barge even have similar paint jobs.
Tires are hung from the pier to provide a cushion for ships approaching the shore.
New York Harbor.
The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge from Brooklyn to Staten Island.
The tanker Ice Energy.
The Ellen McAllister won the tugboat races last weekend. Here she is working!
A tugboat working just outside of Bayonne.
The Andromeda Leader is a cargo ship.
Tugboats can be worked on in dry docks like these.
More tugs!
The tour was narrated by an executive from one of the dock companies. At points within the tour, he had mini-quizzes. Phil was thrilled to win a calendar!
The Michigan Highway is a Roll-on/roll-off (RORO) ship, carrying tons of cars. We were stuck behind her for a while; a very large ship, and a bit intimidating compared to our small tour boat.
The Ever Reward is unloaded. The Ever Reward is owned by Evergreen Shippers.
Sunset in the loading docks.
Robbins Reef Lighthouse. You can own Robbins Reef Lighthouse.
The New York Harbor is regularly dredged to remove silt and deepen the water.
Phil took a photo of me in front of the Statue of Liberty.
I took this panorama at the end of the cruise. A tour around New York Harbor is both enlightening and relaxing. It’s a fun trip for any New Yorker. (Incidentally, I have higher resolution versions of this image if anyone is interested.)
Sep 092009
The 17th Annual Tugboat Race and Competition on the Hudson River was held this past Sunday morning at 9:30 AM. I went to last year’s races, and had such a fun time I decided to go again. There were fewer ships racing this year; I’m guessing it was because it was on Labor Day weekend. However, it was still a blast.
Ellen McAllister was the fastest tug of the day.
The Urger looks great–it was the oldest tug at the competition and was built in 1901.
The Army Corps of Engineers dredging vessel marks the finish line.
The tugboats race to the finish line.
After the race, the line throwing competition begins. Tugs have to go as quickly as possible to the pier, and throw their line over the bulb on the pier. It’s incredibly difficult.
The Merchant Marine Academy was racing as well. The crowd had a lot of fun cheering on the cadets.
The Tugboat Cornell was built in 1949 and is still seaworthy
The tugs also play around on the water and do pushing competitions.
After the competitions, all of the tugs tie up to the pier and each other.
Sep 092009
From 9th Avenue and 14th Street
From 6th Avenue and 8th Street
Sep 052009
The September 11 Tribute in Light was tested last night. This photo was taken from the Lower East Side.
Aug 202009
New York City was hit by a huge storm the night before last. I managed to get some photos from just outside of my office.
