The engine(s) don’t seem to be working. Tugs are guiding the ship into the Port of Oakland.
July 30, 2009
July 13, 2009
June 13, 2009
Smog check?
Yesterday morning I took pictures of three ships leaving within a ten-minute-or-so period, all of them spewing crap into the air. We, of course, need to have our cars smog-checked every two years. Ships coming in and out of harbor. Not.
Why not?
Update: Ah. … A federal appeals court agreed Wednesday [27 Feb 2008] that state air pollution regulators can’t order ships arriving at California ports to reduce their toxic contributions to local smog.” The Court ruled that the State Air Board’s rules couldn’t take precedence over the federal Clean Air Act and the state would have to get a waiver from the EPA to allow its rules to go into effect.
OK. So when is =that= going to happen, now that TPTB at the EPA have changed? Soon? Have we asked?
May 4, 2009
Photos earlier today
We have another visitor down at P29 — not as big a ship as the cruise ship earlier this week. This is the Golden Bear, belonging to the California Maritime Academy in Vallejo.
(For Don’s benefit, note the fog covering Treasure Island and Berkeley beyond …)
A lovely sight — watching the fog ebb and flow across Treasure Island and Yerba Buena.
And then ebb. Flow. Back again.
It’s dark out now and we don’t see the fog. We only see the lights on the islands get blotted out and then come back into view. Yerba Buena is almost clear now.
For a while. …
(n.b. The planes from SFO are taking off to the north. Our short flurry of rains is over for the nonce.)
May 2, 2009
A visit from Carnival Splendor
[Blogger wasn't FTPing nicely this afternoon so this post was delayed. ...]
Carl Nolte writes, Flu outbreak diverts Mexico’s cruises to S.F.
The Mariner of the Seas (>1K’ long — displaces 137,276 tons) berthed early this morning at Pier 35.
<PALIN> We can see it from our bedroom window! </PALIN>
(yeah, yeah, yeah. I know that was SNL and not Palin.)
Just now, [well, sometime after lunch] the Carnival Splendor (952′) came into Pier 29 and I took a mess of photographs. Together the two ships have ~ 6800 passengers aboard.
I feel kind of :-((( for the passengers because the weather was grey and drippy today. Rainy a bit and then not a bit and then rainy again. MUCH chillier than the folks on the cruise (who had signed up for Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco, &c.) were dressed for. We thought, boy, those folks down by the wharf are probably upping the prices on their fleece jackets and umbrellas.
Seems we’ll have more of the same (cruise ships, that is) for a while now. …
I imagine Butterfly restaurant down at Pier 33 is not the place to go for lunch. Not that we had any plans to do so. We have [had] a Cinco party down at Mercedes – Hair of the Dog Cantina starting at 6p.
[The Cinco was terrific. We walked down (con paraguas), stopping off at the bank to drop off a rent check. Got to the cantina a bit early. No prob. Met some new folks, old friends. Mariachis out front. Folks who weren’t invited to the par-tay were sitting on the benches in the alley enjoying. Music (after the mariachis were done) by Carlos Godinez and his sidemen. We were seated RIGHT THERE. (Literally. We chatted across to them between songs.) Godinez played some Jobim, which made me happy.(Jobim? Cinco music? No, not really, but made me happy.) The spread was terrif. (Munchies followed by buffet. All you can drink vino blanco o rojo, margaritas o Dos Equis o whatever you wish.) I heartily endorse Mercedes – Hair of the Dog Cantina. Owner/staff were swell. We had a good time.]
(and then hoofed it home — sin paraguas … ~2mi total RT)
We got home to find the cruise ship nestled, all snug in its berth …
The Mariner of the Seas leaves in a half hour or so, but I think the Carnival ship won’t leave until morning. …
April 10, 2009
February 6, 2009
The sun adding shadows to the rain clouds
And then, a while later, a couple tugs pull a decommissioned vessel south … to dry dock? to repair? to ???
October 5, 2008
And feather canyons everywhere*
Tom Perkins is out in Maltese Falcon, cruising around.
That’s a BIG yacht.
* “Both Sides Now” – Joni Mitchell
[Sour Grapes posted a beautiful cloud picture over at his place.]
October 4, 2008
Our visitor yesterday
Left this morning.
This is the time of year when the cruise ships move south for the winter, from Alaska routes to Mexican routes. Our ville is a stop off point and has been having heavy cruise ship activity (sometimes three berths in use) for the last month or so.
July 23, 2008
Festival of Sail kicks off with parade of ships at noon today
We live where we can see the water because his nibs wanted to see boats, boats, boats!
And we do.
The Festival of Sail kicks off at noon today with a parade of ships sailing in through the Golden Gate.
I’ll be downtown for lunch with his nibs and will miss the ship parade, but I’ve been enjoying some of the runup this morning.
Shown:
[1] The fire boats serving San Francisco Fire Department from the Bay spray a welcome for an incoming military ship.
[2] Some masts over by the Ferry Building. And a ferry, and a docked dinner cruise ship. The Delta Queen, the largest of the dinner cruise ships on this side of the Bay, has been docked elsewhere to free up some room for the wooden ships to dock. The ships will open for tours starting tomorrow. We’ve been enjoying views of a two masted ship, docked at Pier 19 since we got back.
[3] Another smaller boat.