A few things today: a closer look at our cruise ship du jour in Astoria, a look at ships coming and going, and a reminder of how ships at anchor let us know what the tide is doing.

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The second cruise ship of the season comes to Astoria on Thursday, and it’s a good opportunity to talk more about these big ships, carrying many passengers, and what Astoria will see here as we move through the season.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons: Abxbay, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

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We have an unusual spring snow storm on the way in the Cascades starting today, and colder than usual weather for the coast too. We’ll talk about how conditions up north allowed this cold air to flow down to us, and create winter like conditions in the middle of April.

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So many times over the years I have said on this show that a ship is headed for “the shipyard at Swan Island.”

Today we’ll take a closer look at that facility, who owns it, and why it has, for many years, been a great place to take a ship that is in need of repairs and maintenance.

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Today the Nieuw Amsterdam, a 1000-foot long cruise ship arriving from San Diego, is the first blue water cruise ship to call on Astoria in 2026. She’ll head for British Columbia when she leaves here. Today we’ll talk about Astoria’s cruise ship visitors and why they tend to arrive in spring and fall. We’ll also take a quick look at other ships arriving this season and when they’ll be here.

Nieuw Amsterdam Photo Credit: Jonathan Palombo, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

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Today we’ll talk about a common occurrence on the river that can affect sea state and make it more turbulent to be out there in a smaller vessel:  a west wind and an ebb tide.

Understanding how to predict such conditions and plan for them is part of being a knowledgeable and safe mariner on the mighty Columbia River.

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Today we’ll talk about the fate of decommissioned ships. We have one on the river now, the USNS Watkins, which arrived yesterday headed to Vancouver. She’ll be decommissioned, or taken out of service, in July. We’ll talk about what’s next for her.

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Note: I’m publishing this podcast a day early because this ship will be arriving in the river around 8:30am Monday, and that’s before the show airs on KMUN. This ship is a US Military Sealift Command ship, designed to be a vehicle carrier, a type of ship referred to a as RO/RO – Roll on, Roll off. She can carry tanks and trucks for the military and also containers and other cargo. We’ll talk about where she’s headed on the river and what the options are for ships arriving here. Not all are here to handle cargo, even though most of them can.

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Yesterday we had some squalls blow through our area, bringing with them heavy rain, wind and fog. While we on land were turning our wipers on high or clutching our coats a little tighter, or just staying in, mariners were working as usual – just another day at the “office.”

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Today we’ll look at a variety of things: weather, ship traffic and cargo – specifically scrap metal which travels by ship and barge on the river.

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