Port Aransas Ships

The Aransas ship channel to the Corpus Christi docks is in Port Aransas so I occasionally go down to the jetties to watch for incoming or outgoing ships. I have gotten out on the beach (2 miles from the jetties) to see a ship approaching the jetties only to high tail it down there to just miss seeing them pass. Those big ships move more quickly than you’d think… 

Don’t ask me why I’m fascinate by theses big ships that sail the seas of the world, but I am. I’m also fascinated by the escape boats that are always accessible by steps from the bridge to the last people on board can quickly abandon ship and escape. The IMO numbers on the back of the ship make it very easy to find information about the vessel. I will be adding more ships as I see them.

First ship October 21st was the Star Lima carrying blades for windmills. It had never occurred to me that shipping by ships and then transferring to trucks for their final destination was a great way to go. The Star Lima sails from Norway 🙂

Next was the Greek ship NICOS I. V. on October 26th seen below coming in through the jetties.

On October 29th I saw the Sea Hermes which is from Malta

I can’t figure out why (and I’d like to know) there is a need to send out the pilot boat when I’m sure all vessels are equipped with excellent radio equipment. Prior to the Sea Hermes entering the jetties the pilot boat made a quick run out to it and then came right back in. I found out later the “pilot boat” runs the pilot out to the ship. The ship’s captain officially turns command of the ship over to the pilot who then navigates the ship through the jetties and into port until docked. This is all fascinating to me.

On November 3rd I saw the Stolt Aguila, another oil tanker who sails under the Cayman Islands flag.

The clouds covered the sun this particular evening, but it was shining out on the ships waiting for their turn to come into port. It was almost like they glowed.