Views of the Neighborhood

~ John W. Howell

On Friday we had a special ship come through the Corpus Christi Channel.

The VLC Anne, reportedly the biggest ship that’s ever been in the Gulf of Mexico, entered the channel about 7:15 am

The ship is 1,093 feet and can carry up to 2 million barrels of oil.The ship headed from the Gulf to Occidental Petroleum, also known as Oxychem, in Ingleside.Nine-hundred thousand barrels of crude oil will be loaded in Ingleside, and the ship then will head offshore, where an additional 300,000 barrels will be transferred onto the ship. The reason this needs to be done is the Channel is not deep enough to .accommodate the fully loaded vessel. Most vessels carry only 300,000 barrels in total. Loading at the Ingleside dock saves about seventy-five cents a barrel.

This first photo is a condo near the entrance to the channel. I took this picture so you can get an idea of the scale of the ship. The condo is six stories tall

Anne

Here is the bow of the ship

And the rest. The Anne is registered in Marseilles, France.

The Anne is accompanied by three ocean-going tugs. The tug in front is spraying water. This is a salute of welcome to the Anne.

Here is another shot without the zoom.

Here is a shot of the tug itself

One more photo of the ship.

Here is a closeup of the bridge. Notice the instructions to the crew. Also, note how high the Anne is riding in the water

I took this photo to show the size of a crew member (in orange near the middle of the photo)

A final shot that includes the mothballed drilling rigs.

I hope you enjoyed the visit.

100 thoughts on “Views of the Neighborhood”

  2. This was a fascinating photo journey, John. Do you know the ultimate destination? And, I never knew that tugboat spray is a salute/welcome. Have a great day….

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    1. The ship is destined for Europe and Asia is the only information I could get. Regarding the spray it is tradition. It could also have been a way to keep the bow surfers away. There are a bunch of surfers here who delight in using the bow wave of boats passing through as entertainment. Very dangerous. Thanks. 🙂

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    2. Completely off-topic here, but still: Dear GP Cox, just wanted top let you know that I can’t comment on your blog any more. Sorry about that,
      Pit

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        1. It’s nothing you did. I’m having these problems with a few other blogs, too. My comments quite often end up in the spam folders, and even “unspamming” them has no lasting effect. A reason may be that I might have inserted too many links in a comment. Anyway: I haven’t found a solution yet.
          @John: please excuse my misuse of your blog to communicate with GP Cox, and thx for your patience.

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        4. John was kind enough to forward your reason and I sure can sympathize, Pit!! I’ve had quite a few snags and glitches over the years and I annoyed Support to no end with my pleas for help. But I think you might have hit on the problem. If they see too many links or addresses, the Spam folder usually grabs it.

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        5. I think the problem is manifold. It also has something to do with broswers. Here, on John’s blog, e.g., I can only comment using MS IE, not Firefox. But unfortunately on yours none of my browsers works. I’ll follow up on this. Now that you have commented on my blog, I can use that to communicate with you. I’ll let you know there if/when I comment on your blog and you could check if I landed in your spam folder.
          Have a great day,
          Pit

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        9. Oh no, I know how frustrating computer problems can be!!! I was just told the other day that although I Tag my posts for WWII and WW2 – they are aren’t showing up in the Reader – another WP glitch or my computer?!!
          Thank you for letting me know, John.

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        10. Your posts not showing up in the reader may be because you have too many tags and categories. Quite some time ago I read that in a discussion on one of WP’s forums. There the suggestions was not to have more than 10 or 11 tags/categories combined. I don’t know if that’s the case with your posts, but it would be worth trying.

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        11. I have told people about adding too many, so I keep a lid on my amount. Don’t know what the cause can be, but like I’ve said before, I AM computer illiterate!!

          Liked by 1 person

        14. Yep, that’s what we both need – computer-savvy ten-year-olds. But then, “computer-savvy ten-year olds” is a tautology, isn’t it?

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        1. Thanks, Hugh, for your remarks. I have indeed contacted WP, but we haven’t found a solution yet. At the time being I’m just collecting more information [a list of blogs and which browsers work or don’t with which blog] and then I’ll contact them – and Akismet – again. We’ll see, although I’m mot too hopeful. But you never know.

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        2. You’re welcome, Pit. All my comments on other blogs have been captured by the WordPress spam monster on three separate occasions. WordPress always come and save me, but they’ve never been able to tell why it keeps happening. One of their little mysteries.

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        6. So far they haven’t been able to help me, but partly because I haven’t contacted Akismet yet. I’m still compiling my list, which browser works with which blog. That takes time.

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  9. Wow! She is massive. I love ships they are so amazing to be so large and heavy and manage to stay above water. Thank you for sharing such a momentous occasion.

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      1. I rather them than me. Still, I guess they used the ship to their full advantage. I wonder how many people it takes to run that ship and what the living quarters are like? Not a place to work if you’re a smoker.

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  11. Great shots, John! I wonder how that ship compares in size to the largest cruise ships. Thanks for the tour!

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    1. Hmmm. Good question. The largest cruse ship the Royal Caribbean Harmony is 1200 feet. The Anne is 1093. So I would say about the same size as most cruise ships.

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  16. Holy Hannah! Echoing GP with “overwhelming.”
    I haven’t been to any blogs this weekend, John, but I couldn’t miss the Sunday stroll with you. Your initial comment about the condo building being six stories set the scale and tone perfectly. What a leviathan! I can’t help but imagine there is a change in the air pressure as it ponderously moves through the channel. The technical details and logistics make these posts truly fascinating. Marvelous work. You could file this and use it in one of your novels… Mega hugs.

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  18. Somehow I knew you would be out there getting great shots for your Neighborhood post! Your shots are better than the one I saw online at the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. It is practically in Portland’s backyard. We are going that way this afternoon so I will see if it can be seen from the highway. Excellent photos! I liked the way you got some greenery into the frame.

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  19. Thanks, John, for that great series about an amzing vessel! I remember taking pictures and videos just from that condo building [Cline’s Landing it is, I suppose].
    Have a wonderful Sunday,
    Pit

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        4. Well, I must have used Firefox then, to send it. Normally, nowadays, I check my ever-growing list of which browsers work with which blogs and, for yours, use MS IE.
          Thanks for fishing my comment out of your spam folder, and have a nice week,
          Pit

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