2019 in Reflection

This past year has been a busy one with its ups and downs, and various things have kept me from spending much time on this blog - a busy autumn at my day job, home renovations, and writing for Warships IFR magazine have seen to that.

Nevertheless, I found some time to take photos this past year, so I will do my annual retrospective of what I consider to be my best or otherwise most interesting imagery.

I will start with my Naval photography, as that seems to have the most highlights.

USCGC Seneca.

USS Jason Dunham.

In May, we received a visit from the Mexican Navy's training vessel ARM Cuauhtemoc. 

ARM Cuauhtemoc

The first Sunday in May is Battle of the Atlantic Sunday, and as a Trustee with the Canadian Naval Memorial Trust, I made my annual pilgrimage to the waters off Point Pleasant Park onboard an RCN vessel for the committal ceremony. This opportunity is always a great privilege that yields a unique perspective on the burial of veterans at sea, as well as new angles of the comings and goings from Halifax Harbour in general.

Battle of the Atlantic service, 2019.

While the summer was a bit quiet in this regard, September and October more than made up for it. First, the Royal Navy's new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth paid her first visit to Halifax, and as a contributor for Warships IFR magazine I had the opportunity to fly out to the carrier in a Merlin helicopter and remain onboard as the ship entered the harbour. 

RN Commodore Utley and RCN Rear-Admiral Baines pose on the ski-jump of HMS Queen Elizabeth.

The ship's crew "man the rails" as she enters port.

The entire gallery of images is here. During her visit, I also caught the departure of RMS Queen Mary II.

HMS Queen Elizabeth at anchor in Halifax as RMS Queen Mary II departs.

September's excitement didn't end there, as a week or so later, I was extremely fortunate to experience my second helicopter ride of the month (and only my third in a lifetime) onboard an RCAF CH-148 Cyclone in order to spent a few hours at sea with HMCS Ville de Quebec during Exercise Cutlass Fury.

HMCS Ville de Quebec as seen from a Cyclone helicopter.

HMCS Fredericton stalks a "vessel of interest" (in this case, Leeway Odyssey) while her RHIB approaches with a boarding party.

RCAF Cyclone helicopter on the deck of Ville de Quebec.

Cutlass Fury provided some imagery around Halifax Harbour as well, and I was able to catch various comings and goings. The gallery is here.

Having previously written about the 1969 gearbox explosion in HMCS Kootenay, I was exceptionally aware that the 50th anniversary was approaching on October 23rd. Upon finding out that one of my fellow CNMT trustees was a survivor of this event, I asked if he was willing to be interviewed about his experience - he was, and I was able to weave his recollections into my existing text and turn it into a two-part article that appeared in the September and October issues of Warships IFR magazine. On October 23rd, the event was recognized with a service at the Bonaventure anchor memorial in Point Pleasant Park.

Rear-Admiral Baines places a wreath at the anchor memorial.

The chain from the refurbished anchor memorial extends into the waters of Halifax Harbour.

Not all my photography was aimed at Naval subjects this year - I also took a few photos of the Coast Guard, and one of my favourite sequences is of the arrival at dawn of CCGS Louis S St. Laurent back in April.

CCGS Louis S. St. Laurent entering Halifax Harbour.

I will end this post with random photos from my other ramblings during 2019.

West Ironbound Island as seen from Gaff Point.

A fallen tree reflected in the waters of the LaHave River.

A wharf reflected on a foggy LaHave River.

A peaceful scene on the waterfront in Lunenburg.

A still at the Ironworks Distillery in Lunenburg.

Blue Rocks, NS.

Ice sculpting in downtown Dartmouth in February 2019.

Ominous clouds approach Halifax from the south, as seen from the ferry.

George's Island receives a ray of sunlight against a dark background.

A tower crane on the waterfront reflected on the surface of the harbour.

Ripples in the sand.

Harbour seal.

Woodpecker set against fall colours.

Trees reflected on the ice of a water hazard in the Brightwood Golf Course.

To close out this post, here are some photos from the 2019 edition of Nocturne - Art at Night.

Street art near Pizza Corner.

An art installation in Public Gardens.

Next to the Central Library, there was a temporary photo booth set up....

...and it projected the photos onto a nearby building.

As well, Incendia Motus put on another show by the Maritime Centre.

Oh, OK - one more photo. The Dartmouth Tree Lighting fireworks at Alderney, fired from a barge on the harbour, make for some interesting visuals with the Halifax skyline as a backdrop.

Here's hoping everyone has a successful year in 2020. Personally, apart from some highlights, I am happy to see the end of 2019.

Recent Harbour Traffic, and HMC Dockyard views

I haven't had a lot of time for blogging recently, so I have developed a bit of an image backlog of harbour traffic images. In addition, I have managed some interesting angles on the ships in HMC Dockyard.

This past week, Scotia Pilot made a close pass to my morning ferry while on her way up-harbour.

A few weeks earlier, I captured this early-morning image of Scotia Pilot returning from dropping a pilot off on an incoming ship, possibly the ship in the background here.

YM Enlightenment's arrival was well timed for my afternoon ferry crossing last week.

Atlantic Willow escorting YM Enlightenment towards the narrows.

Atlantic Bear is tethered to the stern of YM Enlightenment in case she needs to provide extra steering power in the narrows.

One foggy afternoon recently, Nolhanava was sitting at anchor with a catamaran carried as deck cargo. It was unloaded in Halifax, and reloaded onto a larger container vessel bound for Thailand. 

They say that the difference between boats and ships is that ships can carry boats, so I guess this makes Nolhanava a ship.

Catamaran Aquarius on the deck of Nolhanava.

One of the Halterm container crane operators captured the loading procedure for Aquarius.

Nolhanava has been in port a fair bit lately, in one of the anchorages. She mostly handles the run to St. Pierre et Miquelon, and was apparently reflagged Canadian recently to allow her to stop in Newfoundland ports as well.

Tanker Damia Desgagnes also carries liquid natural gas (LNG) in tanks on deck.

Containership Malleco departing Halterm a few weeks ago.

Car carrier Miraculous Ace was also well timed, this time for my morning ferry ride.

Reflections from the rising sun highlight every single crease in the hull plating.

Most of the naval traffic recently has occurred while I was stuck in the office, and unable to pop down to take photos. That said, I have managed to catch a few ships alongside from angles that I don't normally get.

On March 6th, I attended the Welcome to the Fleet ceremony for M.V. Asterix (a future blog post will document my tour of that ship). Asterix is probably the tallest ship to serve in the RCN, at least in the recent past, and the view from her bridge provides some interesting views of the ships in HMC Dockyard.

Asterix herself is fully loaded with fuel, and ready to depart for RIMPAC 2018 - this year's Rim of the Pacific exercise run by the USN.

HMCS HALIFAX taken from the bridge wing of Asterix. A few weeks later, the brand new USS LITTLE ROCK was alongside in this same location, but she unfortunately was not there during either of my two visits to Asterix.

HMCS SHAWINIGAN.

The bridge wings on Asterix overhang the water, and in this case, HMCS MONTREAL.

MONTREAL was alongside Asterix for a fuel transfer.

We also had two foreign warships in port this week, the aforementioned USS LITTLE ROCK and the Danish HDMS EJNAR MIKKELSON. LITTLE ROCK is a member of the FREEDOM class of Littoral Combat Ships, or LCS.

LITTLE ROCK arrived just before my morning ferry ride on Tuesday, and still had tugs alongside as mooring lines were made fast.

LITTLE ROCK has two doors in the transom for launching and recovering small boats.

Size comparison between Asterix and LITTLE ROCK.

HDMS EJNAR MIKKELSON is an offshore patrol vessel of the Royal Danish Navy. EJNAR MIKKELSON and her sister ships patrol the waters off Greenland

EJNAR MIKKELSON can land a helicopter, but does not have a hangar to store one.

Unlike LITTLE ROCK, EJNAR MIKKELSON has been in Halifax before, and was alongside the Cable Wharf during the Royal Canadian Navy's centennial celebrations.

RCN personnel handle the lines during EJNAR MIKKELSON's arrival in 2010.

To finish off, I captured this image a few weeks ago of HNoMS ROALD AMUNDSEN, a Norwegian Navy guided missile frigate.

I can only assume the crew felt that the skipper needed convincing that it was time to depart Halifax, and our appalling springtime weather.