Floating Ziggurat

September 28, 2010

When I saw this cruise ship in the Port Docks, I wound my way up onto Alameda Drive to see if I could get a good angle. It's docked in exactly the same location as the dredge Essayons in this recent photo, but the cruise ship is much larger.

Zoom-in of the dock. The ship's name is Oosterdam. The Essayons was so much smaller that I was able to take the bow-end photo from approximately the left-hand side of this photo or a little out of the picture on that end.

Here you can see part of the Astoria-Megler Bridge. The red-roofed building is the Harbormaster's Office (and rental space), and a few masts in West Mooring Basin can be seen on the right. I took this photo from across West Mooring basin looking back at the building across the water.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Bella at Bornstein

September 11, 2010

Port Docks

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Do Not Run Over This Hydrant

December 8, 2009

I think the message is clear: "Do not run over this hydrant!"

With rain pattering on the ground outside my window, and more rain predicted every day through Saturday, it's tempting to dig into the archives for blue sky. I thought it was amusing to see this hydrant looking a little paranoid, but in fact fork lifts and other heavy equipment navigate the expanse of pavement at the Port Docks west of town. We've seen the area in several earlier posts, such as this one, this one, this one, and this one.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Things found in a shipyard

Astoria, Oregon ~ December 8, 2009

I should have measured the links of this chain in the port docks, but I didn't. Suffice it to say, they are big!

I'll be sure to measure them next time. In the background are the masts of the Lady Washington. This photo and this one were also taken in the port docks.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Snakes

These snakes are not venomous, but one always has to be careful with them.

Quiet and cold

I had to buy some plastic bags from an industrial supply store out by the port docks on the west end of town yesterday, so I took few minutes to wander around. It looks pleasant, because the sun was out, but I doubt the temperature was above 32 degrees. (Our cold streak is not over yet.) The tug in front is the Manfred Nystrom. Behind it is the Lady Washington. The bit of blue on the right side of the photo is the Oregon Responder, called an "oil skimmer," which is part of a network of ships used to clean up oil spills and is home-ported here at the docks in Astoria.

An unusual craft in the Port Docks

Dusk was settling in on a rainy Friday evening yesterday when Laurel called and told me I had to see what was docked over at the port where the cruise ships come in. It was "futuristic," she said. I got there as fast as I could with the light still fading, but wasn't sure if I was allowed to take photos, and neither was the guard on duty. So I snapped a couple of them from behind the chain link fence. You can see there's an additional fence between us and the ship. This is standard security now, as the the dock is used for many types of ships. When I asked what this vessel was, the guard gave an answer that suffices for so much these days, "You can google it." Which I did. Here you have the web search results and the image results.

The "How Stuff Works" link is especially interesting. (VP, I hope you had nothing to do for the rest of the day.)

When I zoomed the image, I found this interesting bit. It says, "Wine Tasting." I don't know if this was left over from the last cruise ship, or whether our men and women at arms were being offered the bounty of Oregon's vineyards.