A Surprise Visitor

…and an odd one at that.

This wasn’t here when I got home last night!  But after I’d uploaded all of the photos on the memory card I went back downstairs to find the ungainly-looking assembly at anchor off the front porch.

It was raining hard and the light was failing, but I had to make the attempt, once again bracing against the porch post to help minimize camera shake.

The tug Kokua and barge Haleakala:

The Shipfinder app indicated that she’s bound for Honolulu (and the names of the tug and barge both sure hint at somewhere in Hawaii!).

Given the worsening weather conditions, I thought that perhaps the crew had decided to wait for a more-calm bar, but when I came back downstairs to try for some better shots, I found her underway again, and rapidly heading out of sight.

I can only guess at what had taken place, but given that the tug had tied up alongside the barge for such a short period, I suspect that the crew was making one more check of the barge before beginning the long haul to the middle of the Pacific. 

Many tugs don’t show up on the bar-pilots’ schedules, so there wasn’t any real warning that this one would make an appearance.

Both shots at ISO 1600 with the 70-300 G, shutter speeds focal lengths and apertures vary.  Post-processing (mostly for noise) in LR4