The Miller Richmond

This is the Miller Richmond, a shallow-draft tug that belongs to JJM Construction, a company that does, among other things, marine construction and dredging, so her primary role is hauling JJM barges. She was built in 1974 by Allied Shipyards in Vancouver as the Carlyn McMurren, one of 3 tugs built by Allied that year for the Northern Construction Co. She became the Miller Richmond in 1987. I think she may be for sale, but only if you have a spare million.

And for those that can`t tell - this is a fine looking vessel, even in the rain! She's been doing the City Transfer barge run the last week or so, so I might yet get the chance to catch her in good weather.

Seaspan Commodore

We rarely see the larger Seaspan tugs off Powell River, and since the Mill's Woodroom shut down many years ago, it is even rarer to see one of these self-loading/self-dumping barges. This is the Seaspan Commodore and the logbarge Seaspan Phoenix.

I saw the pair of them, loaded with logs, heading south on Malaspina Strait on Sunday morning. They were going to the Stillwater log sort, where the Phoenix offloaded. But it seems that once she dumped, they couldn't get this Phoenix to rise again, she's listing to starboard. Sunday night the Commodore and her tow came back up the Strait, lights ablazing, and anchored off Second Beach. They were still there yesterday morning when I grabbed these shots, interesting additions to my collection of tugboat pictures.

More Snowy Owls - Boundary Bay

Last week's owl posting proved popular so I'm treating you again. More pictures of the Snowy Owls at the dikes on Boundary Bay at Delta, BC,  a week-and-a-half ago. An experience I'll not soon forget.

What a treat to be able to photograph so many! The first two pictures are of the same bird, so five birds here, and I still have more. These owls may be there another month and more before they've all gone back north, so if you have a chance to see them, don't pass it by.

I'm mildly surprised by the number of Google searchers that have found last week's owl post, so hopefully this post pleases a lot of folks!

And don't forget, "clicking" on the pictures makes them bigger.

For the record, these were taken with an Olympus E-5 with a 300mm f/2.8 lens plus 2x teleconverter, ie: 600mm, with tripod and gimbal, f/8, ISO 800 with shutter speeds from 1/250" to 1/400".