Funny How Things Work Out

Yesterday (Sunday) was too nice of a day to spend lazing about at home, so I decided to head down to the harbor. My goal was to get a photo of the car carrier Lapis Arrow, but I missed the arrival of the ship because I ended up having a nice chat with someone I hadn’t seen in quite a while. I’ve been feeling a bit down again due to various circumstances, but he said a few things that helped cheer me up. Much appreciated, frank, sensible talk from a mariner.

I stopped by the ship to check on some things and did a couple of small tasks I didn’t get to do on Saturday.

The atmosphere at Pier 9 was festive with music from ARC Gloria. Lots of people touring the ship:

It’s nice to see there is local interest in tall ships. Or, is the ship merely a novelty?

Detail of ensign:

A trip up to the observation area of Aloha Tower provided a different view:

Did I mention it was a nice day?

View over the harbor, looking westward:

Detail of area by Piers 30–32, with B. Ace (see Saturday’s post), Chevron’s Florida Voyager, and Lapis Arrow:

A sad reminder of what was:

At the risk of becoming a nuisance, I gathered up my courage to ask if I could go out on the pilot boat again. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, eh?

Mikioi:

R.J. Pfeiffer:

Here’s Florida Voyager from a different angle:

Kwai was between Florida Voyager and Lapis Arrow:

Stern of Lapis Arrow:

As car carriers go, she’s prettier than a lot of the ones I’ve seen, due to her vibrant colors.

View of bow:

Hey, there’s my house! A shout out to everyone up on ‘Alewa Heights

R.J. Pfeiffer and a containerless Manoa:

R.J. Pfeiffer rat guards:

Manoa’s bow with old APL eagle visible:

Another view of ARC Gloria:

The Falls:

Yeah, that rail on the poop deck looks good.

It was time for Lapis Arrow to leave.

Looking back toward the harbor:

Hello Plimsoll Line!

Smiling crew at the pilot ladder:

Goodbye!

As I said, things worked out after all. I got my photos of Lapis Arrow, courtesy of Paul, Captain Tom Heberle, and Captain Sinclair Brown. A BIG mahalo!

Hawai‘i is a maritime state. As such, it would be great if there was more of a connection to what goes on in the harbors around the state. Hopefully, my photos provide my friends and people who stumble across this blog a brief peek into a world that they don’t get to see very often, if at all.

Termites Looking for a New Home

Work on the tween deck today. We took down some old (but not historic) wood shelving.

Friends of Falls of Clyde’s president, Bruce McEwan, making the termites unhappy:

Oh the joys of termite frass!

Old signage Bruce found:

Removing the shelving also opened up that particular area. It’s no longer a dark, uninviting space.

Of course, I had to have a look around. Here’s the CLIFF manufacturer’s mark on angle iron riveted to the tank bulkhead with an interesting texture around the margins of the rivets:

The ship’s original iron frames and beams are stamped MOSSEND. Anything stamped CLIFF is an addition.

I wanted to move the rest of the shelving to have a look at the surface of the bulkhead behind it. Oops.

It was heavier than it looked, so I had to abandon that idea. I had visions of me being squashed under it…not good.

The new gangway was making mournful sounds…a distinct improvement from the elephant trumpeting of last week. From inside the ship it sounded rather like humpback whale calls!

Port tank #2 illuminated by sunlight streaming through holes in the deck:

More rust-tea:

Too lazy to empty.

The Shadow of 5:

I received a lovely gift today:

Mahalo Jenny! Beautiful work.

Elsewhere in the harbor…

Two types of rat guards on Rhapsody of the Seas:

And my old friend the needlefish, cruising around looking as toothy as ever:

“Lost in Musing Circumstances…”

Sometimes things don’t work out the way you plan. Add to that a bit of drama and stir…

Yeah, it was that kind of week.

“Don’t surround yourself with yourself…”

It’s a bad thing, but that’s all I want to do now. Anyway…

There was a problem with the shiny, new gangway.

The less said about that, the better.

I spent only about 40 minutes on the ship on Saturday. I did a quick walk around the deck, checked the list, and left. Among other things, my heart just wasn’t in it to do more. That was for the best because I had other matters to attend to.

Sea Princess rat guards:

Yet another photo of the old anchor:

While I was trying to deal with taking photos through a gap in the fence, a large needlefish cruised by:

Beautiful colors…pointy teeth!

Draft marks on tug:

Male house finch in a tree at Pier 15:

“Turn yourself around…Turn your life around…Turn your world around…Turn this ship around…”

New contacts and a new project. Perhaps it’s possible.

Watch this space.

Cargo Ships

I find cargo ships fascinating. I think it’s because of the variety of configurations they come in.

When I arrived at the harbor this morning, Nine Frontier was taking on fuel and getting ready to leave. She is a wood chip carrier.

Instead of heading right over to FOC, I decided to wait in order to take some photos.

My favorite shot of the day! Nine Frontier crew member with rat guard:

A different sight on the pier:

Playing fetch with a monkey fist (appropriate) until it was time for the ship to unmoor:

Pilot ladder and gangway:

Turning after leaving Pier 10/11:

Aomori Maru arrived at Pier 9 as Nine Frontier was leaving.

Crew members getting ready to place fenders between the ship and the pier:

Fender detail:

Unusual to see a Horizon Lines ship at this location:

After getting my fill for the day of sanding and varnishing, I went with a friend for a late lunch/early dinner. We picked up some food and went to sit on one of the hillocks in Kaka‘ako Waterfront Park.

It was nice to see a number of humpback whales off shore:

(The white blot in the photo is a whale spouting.)

Some were in/near the harbor channel. I hope they don’t get hit by any of the ships arriving or departing the harbor.

A nice finish to a fairly good day:

The Barbarians Are Attacking!

I found some new, interesting things on the deck this morning during my visual inspection of the ship.

Paper darts:

After a week of wind and rain, it was nice to see the sun again:

Even with all the rain (runoff), the harbor water was amazingly clear:

I thought the rain was going to keep me in my cabin:

But, I was happy to be able to do some varnishing and other work on deck.

Kagawa Maru was at Pier 8. I posted a pic of the ship’s chafing gear before, but here’s another one because it’s attractive:

The cloth cover on one of the fenders amused me:

If you look carefully, you can see it’s Crayon Shin-chan and Shiro.

Celebrity Century’s rat guards:

Mikioi crew member throwing a line up to Capella:

Capella was fueling Celebrity Century.

Holiday Ship Spotting

Rather than spending my holiday sitting at home in front of the computer, I returned to the harbor.

The Coast Guard ships were looking very sharp, dressed with flags. Here’s USCGC Rush:

The usual barge traffic. Some boats on Ho‘omaka Hou:

USCGC Spar:

“O STAR” no more! The painters were busy painting on the rest of the letters (a bit crooked) in her name:

Tosakaien Maru rat guard:

Despite the blustery wind, it was a nice day, so I decided to go walking. Instead of one of my usual routes toward ‘Ewa, I went to Kaka‘ako Waterfront Park.

A different view of Mindoro Star. The painters were definitey busy:

Some kids were jumping into a fenced off drainage canal. Not a good idea. Who knows where the run-off is coming from!

Cranes left at the Ehime Maru memorial:

After basking for a while in the sun on top of one of the hills, I continued on to Kewalo Basin.

Did I mention it was (and still is) windy?

I was sad to discover that Kula Kai was gone. I looked around, but didn’t see her anywhere.

Her berth, next to the modern sampan Nisei, is now occupied by Betty H:

I hadn’t heard any news of her removal. A quick Google doesn’t turn up anything. She was in very poor shape, so it wouldn’t surprise me if they finally got rid of her.

Another vessel in sad shape is Vida Mia:

She needs a lot of TLC and varnish!

Here’s some info on her from WoodenBoat magazine’s website: Vida Mia

Yesterday Gangway

As Sonangol Rangel was leaving, Hokuho Maru was arriving at Pier 9.

Pilot boat Kawika and Hokuho Maru:

Lowering gangway:

Chafing gear:

Rat guard:

No weights to help hold it in place.

Satsumaseiun Maru was at Pier 8. Chafing gear:

I arrived at FOC a little later than I usually do. The main task for the morning was to help move the old gangway aft, to make room for a new gangway. Unlike Hokuho Maru, we don’t have a boom on board, so it was all muscle power.

Looking down stepping from the ship to the gangway. Mind the Gap!

Thought I’d rope off the steps leading to the (now empty) gangway area…just in case.

Detail of the pier. A combination of different textures:

Déjà Vu

Exactly a year ago, I posted this: An Adventure

How cool that the same ships were in port today!

Queen Elizabeth arrived as I was walking to the harbor from the bus stop.

It was interesting to watch what was going on on the pier and on the ship.

Heaving line:

And again…

Traditional monkey’s fist:

(The funky green color is a fence that was in the way. See photo just below.)

Bow line dropping into the water:

Rats have been on my mind, as I had one invade my house the other day. Thanks to a trap, it is now an ex-rat.

Rat guard on Kaiyo Maru. What’s the point if it’s not deployed properly?

However, very nice detail. Hitching on the weights:

Fish (appropriate) on hull of Kaiyo Maru:

Kaiyo Maru fender:

Kaiyu Maru (not a typo) fender:

Lots of barge traffic today. I thought this was the most interesting one. Assorted cargo on Pacific Trader:

I like the portables on top.

Recently, I’ve seen a brown booby diving for fish in the harbor. I tried getting photos of it, but due to the camera issue, the booby was more of a blurry.

Was a bit more lucky with the manual focus today. Still not the greatest, due to the distance.

Work on FOC goes on in the hot sun…

Bitts looking nice (if I say so myself):

I’ve posted photos of the Mossend mark before. I like this one I took today:

What Is That? Ew!

Last night I was going through some of my ship photos from September 2012.

What I thought was some trash floating in one of the rain water buckets turned out to be something quite different.

A dead rat!

I haven’t seen any obvious signs of rats (or any other furry creatures…except Joe ), so this was a bit of a surprise.

Maybe we need rat guards?

“It’s Not Your Grandma’s Piano…”

Yesterday started off with a visit from the pilot boat. At first I thought it was Paul, but it wasn’t.

Paul did arrive at the ship a little bit later to do more work on the pump system:

While the wood bits on the ship are not pieces of fine furniture, it’s easy to get obsessive about sanding and varnishing. I’m not an expert, but I try to do the best I can within reason.

More sanding:

Before and after sanding and cleaning:

Yes, the deck itself is in poor condition, but there’s not much I can do about that.

View aft:

Unfortunately, the shipping schedule wasn’t posted, so I was caught off guard by Horizon Pacific:

I dashed off the ship and on to the pier to get some pics.

Mikioi at the stern:

Leaving the harbor:

Umesato at Pier 8:

After leaving FOC for the day, I went to have a closer look to see if Umesato had any things I could add to my collection (idea source) of rat guard and chafing gear photos.

Strong, but ugly plastic chafing gear:

Worn line and worn mat:

Rat guard:

More chafing gear:

(Sun) Settsu: