Thursday, April 1, 2010

Making Ready to Make Ready…

There’s this ongoing rumor around here about the nitrogenous waste hitting the rotating ventilator.  Soon. 

We’ve heard it before, and we’ll hear it again.  More often than not, they’ve got it wrong.  But… they might be right.  With a spot of luck, at least the direction will be correct (winds from the south) and the ridge behind me will shelter me.

But, for now, things are calm.  No rain or wind.  We had passing (sometimes intense) showers of rain this afternoon, but nothing that lasted all that long.

I was standing in the checkout line at Safeway this evening at one of the few lanes that offers a view to the outside world and noticed a glowing ship in the distance.  The sun had broken through and illuminated the ship and not much else. 

It was spectacular, but fleeting.  Couldn’t complete the transaction in time to get the shot, but I did wander out to see what was to be seen.

Darya-Bhakti2

The bow of the Darya Bhakti, just off the East Mooring Basin breakwater.  It looks like the crew is hosing out the hawsepipe and giving the anchor chain a bath.  Can’t see any crew members here, but I’d have to guess that the big stream of water is coming from the fo’c’sle. 

Darya-Bhakti1

Lots going on here… cranes deployed, hatches open (you can see the helipad markings in the big version) and the anchor chain is being washed down.

An hour or so earlier, I had taken a side trip out to the South Jetty to see what was to be seen.  As I stood on the observation platform, I spend more time trying to protect the camera from spray from the waves crashing on the boulders than I did shooting, but I did squeeze off a few.

Nasty-Bar

This one is looking more or less north, across the Columbia River Bar to Cape Disappointment. 

The waves visible on the opposite shore are probably 30+ feet high.  Most of the combers visible in the river are south of the navigation channel, but it still doesn’t look like a human-friendly environment.  I guess that goes a fair piece toward explaining the lollygagging tug/barge combo outside my window.

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