Tugboat Ride

We were lucking enough the other day to spend 11 hours on a tugboat going up to Tolstoi Bay to assist a freighter get out of the bay and underway with its load of logs.  The tugs assist by essentially pushing and pulling these huge boats into position in otherwise impossibly narrow bays with the assistance of a sea pilot on board who knows local waters.  It was an amazing experience to witness first hand some of the behind the scenes action of tug boats and the logging industry.  So many moving parts............

Wheelhouse from the tug, heading up the Clarence Straight with some 4-5ft chop.

Boats zipping in an out, float planes taxiing around, unreal.

They pile the logs up near the ship that are cabled together, then use boom boats to push them into position, then the cranes pick them up for loading.

The huge cranes.

Loading boom boats onto a barge to be hauled back to Ketchikan.

Smaller tug pushing the freighter into position in the channel.

The captain was so relaxed all the time.  20+ years of being a captain on tugs.

Releasing from the mooring buoy.

Orient Becrux headed to it's home port.

Out of order fishing pic from the next day;)

So many things could go wrong, but they execute it well.

The brief rest, as they go to the next log bundle.

After they get the logs bound up, they jump on the boom boat and get into position for the next hoist.

Bind logs to crane.

Then get out of the way!

Humpback from yesterday.