Tugboats - Unsung Heroes of the Waterways

I love tugs, ever since I was a kid.

I have never been on one and always wanted to do so. I moved here to UP in January of 2011 for a live-in care provider position. My bedroom is the top floor overlooking Puget Sound and across from Fox Island. I spend any free time I have sitting in an easy chair reading my Kindle and watching the tugs cross back and forth hauling a crane or chip barges, pulling log booms, or heading somewhere for another adventure. I have seen many types of tugs, doing various tasks, including dodging the outgoing tide by hugging the shoreline. I love it at night if I wake up and look out on the water and see their many lights that makes it look like Christmas on the water.

Tugs don’t just haul or push 24/7, but they also assist and escort tankers and ships, marine logistics, emergency respond and rescue, maritime logistics and other services too numerous to mention. They are truly the “jacks of all trades” of the waterways.

No matter how you slice it, to me they are the unsung maritime heroes. Here in the Pacific NW they are everywhere from Bellingham, to Portland. Maybe to some it’s a silly dream, but I for one hope that someday I will be able to ride on one,before I am too old to enjoy it. In the meantime I will continue to watch and marvel at my window and wonder what it would be like to be out there on the water serving others. I have a bill- zillion pictures but will only include a few.