On January 21, 2012 I travelled to Kilometer 391 on the Parana River, near Rosario, Argentina on behalf of SMIT Salvage Americas Inc., to assist in the re-floating of the grounded bulk carrier, the M.V. "Aristeas P", pictured below: 

Over the years many Arabian countries have built drydock facilities to open new industries to help them steer away from a completely oil dependent economy. Oman is the latest entrant to the list with their brand new facility in Duqm. The facility has two 400,000 ton graven docks and will also soon add a floating drydock. The facility is within an entirely new harbor and is just gorgeous with beautiiful workshops and even the retired Kungsholm as a hotel facility.

On a recent trip to Sicily to deal with construction issues on a number of high speed catamarans, I saw this forklift parked in a director's reserved parking spot.

Sometimes we get so busy nobody knows where anybody is going.  Fortunately, in New Orleans, we never have that problem; we always know where Pierce and David went.

December 15, 2011, in Rochester, New York to inspect a pier on behalf of the Department of Justice with regard to a fatal boater's crash on a dark night in 2008 on Lake Ontario.

It was surprisingly warm for this time of year, but the USCG Boatswain in charge of the 47 foot MLB and his crew performed a risk assessment and decided we should wear the mustang suits for the night time trip.

December 08, 2011 Donjon Marine Co. Inc., HQ in Hillside NJ hosted the latest in the Donjon-SMIT, OPA-90 Salvage and Marine Fire Fighting (SMFF) network Captain of the Port Zone (COTPZ) training drills. The drill was attended by PRONAV Flex Crew fire fighting first response individuals, Donjon-SMIT, SMIT Salvage Americas and Martin & Ottaway RSA.

The Normandie is by far my favorite passenger vessel from a design point of view (On a pure love/looks basis, the pre-war Nieuw Amsterdam II beats her by a small margin).

Years ago I came across a set of drawings in our office with a last correction date of February 9, 1942 that show the conversion of the Normandie to an unnamed troop carrier drawn by Cox & Stevens.

My sister, Annemarie, who, as an ex tall ship sailor, has good salty connections sent me the words to this famous chantey.

So here we go:

High tech comes in many flavors. Some of it is just completely new like the Lever building in New York City or maybe an IPad, but I like high tech when it reaches back and reaches forward. In yacht design occasionally I get to see such instances. I particularly like those designs that use wood in novel ways. Last week I finally got the chance to sail on a 1980's Dick Newick wooden trimaran that has been taunting me on its mooring on the river near my house for many years (I am digressing a little here, bear with me). 

The world is filled with anniversities, commemorations and memorials.

IMO also has special days and September 29, 2011 will be World Maritime Day. It would be easy to be cynical about yet another "special" day. But if there can be a national pickle day, or even a day that commemorates the Irish, it is simply a non brainer that each year we stop for a minute and contemplate the effect of martime on the world. This year the day will take special notice of piracy and the effect it has on today's maritime commerce.