Friday Night Crane

A crane at the Port of Oakland’s Charles P. Howard Terminal, just west of the Jack London Square Ferry dock. We had just gotten off the boat after a roundtrip to San Francisco. I didn’t expect to capture Orion, but there it (or he) is at the upper left. The bright star to the right is Venus, with the Pleiades dimly visible in the background. At bottom right is the stern of the Potomac, FDR’s presidential yacht, which fetched up in the port after a colorful history involving Elvis Presley, drug runners, and the U.S. Customs Service.

Further Greetings from the Friday NIght Ferry

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Kate and I drove down to Jack London Square for the last Friday night ferry of the year. A low sky, with the cloud ceiling down around the tops of the Bay Bridge suspension towers. Somehow, that made the usual port light show even more intense than (or maybe just different from) usual. Among several ships working in the Port of Oakland tonight, Yang Ming’s YM Great, which arrived this morning is scheduled to sail tomorrow morning.

Friday Night Ferry

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A first for me on the San Francisco-Oakland ferry: We passed between an outbound container ship (the MSC craft at left) and one still being loaded/unloaded (the Hapag-Lloyd ship on the right). For a minute, it was like sailing through a canyon.

Boat Ride

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Walked from KQED over to the Ferry Building and met Kate, who had ridden the 7:55 ferry from Oakland. We got right back on and rode back as the dusk deepened. This was the view from the Alameda ferry terminal, before we made the short hop back to Jack London Square. Calm, nearly warm night. Beautiful on the water.   

Port

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We took the ferry over to the city on Friday night and met Sakura and Eamon to celebrate his birthday. The boat left at 6:55, in the midst of a beautiful, post-storm twilight. Just as the ferry ride is always an event for me — the Bay and its shoreline are even more striking than usual from out on the water — the industrial art of the port and its machinery always makes an impression.

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Port

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Friday evening, on the 7:55 ferry from Oakland to San Francisco. Looking back up the estuary past the Port of Oakland’s inner harbor. The ferry’s rear deck is set up with overhead radiant heaters, so even in the winter during a storm, it’s tolerable to ride back there; in fact, in all the dozens of times I’ve taken this trip, I don’t think I’ve ever sat inside the boat.

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