Baltimore Harbor Shipspotting June 23, 2019 Part 1
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My friend Doug and I make an occasional shipspotting team, him with a boat and I with a camera. The wind was forecasted to be between 0 and 4mph for the day which we hoped would keep the waves down. What the waves actually wind up doing depends on a variety of factors so the reality was some areas were calm and others had waves that made photographing a challenge. The high in the mid to upper 80s is pretty pleasant when out on the water.
We left dock about 9am and headed for the Patapsco river under the watchful eye of a young Osprey while the parent tended to other business on the nest.
Shortly after entering the Patapsco River we spotted the tugboat Pearl Coast, the first of three Dann Marine Towing tugs we would see, underway towards the Chesapeake Bay. Doug hustled to the other side of the river so we could take advantage of the better lighting from there. After radioing the crew to expect photos we resumed course towards Baltimore.
After passing under the Francis Scott Key Bridge we made our way to Dundalk Marine Terminal which was that day hosting a pair of Wallenius Wilhelmsen roro (Roll On Roll Off) ships, both in the fancy new blue and black paint scheme. There were waves coming in periodically which made photography a bit of a challenge. It would be like this until we went towards the inner harbor.
The Tijuca was unloading some Caterpillar equipment at that moment and a grader was observed being driven off. The Oberon was also seen but we weren’t sure if it was taking on cargo or discharging.