A Busy Evening

Almost calm, near sunset. Not typical, but not unusual, either. Ships stacked in the anchorage abreast the breakwater and upstream with outbound traffic. How better to describe ideal ship-watching conditions?

The Shangor was letting out extra anchor chain, and the rattle was loud enough to make an observer on the East Basin breakwater flinch.

Sea lions barking in the background, gulls fighting in the fore... ships sitting idle, slipping chain, heading to sea... pilot boat scurrying to and fro, sun slinking slowly over Young's Bay.

Autumn in Astoria.

Revisit

I glanced out the window this morning and thought "That's the same type of rigging that was on the ship in the moonset picture from last year."

I didn't think a lot more about it until I just heard Joanne Rideout mention that the Sammi Crystal was in the anchorage today.

Sure enough, same ship. I checked the date on the photo file from last year and found that it was just shy of a year ago that I shot that moonset over her.

This morning was gray, foggy and cool. A year ago it was clear and cold. Very clear... the structure just to the right of the intersection of the anchor chain and the bridge is the Cape Disappointment lighthouse, 13 miles distant. It's always there, of course, but it's usually obscured by haze, rain, fog or occasionally the sun's glare.