Port of Call

At Bluff, Nigel and I are sitting in the car eating fish and chips – parked on a street up the hill to get a good view of the port and harbour. We see two tugboats moving toward the wharf area – both going in the same direction but one going bow-first and the other going stern-first. Weird! We finish the food and decide to drive to Stirling Point, I say that I want to see the lighthouse. Photos taken 13 Nov. Southland, New Zealand

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At Bluff. View from the waterfront road toward Stirling Point Lighthouse

We start driving along the waterfront and hey, there’s a tugboat parked out there in the channel and oh! – there’s the other one. The next photo shows the first tugboat waiting on the other side of the channel and beyond is the aluminium smelter at Tiwai Point. The second tugboat is waiting further out to sea

We know that a ship must be arriving soon – must be a big ship I excitedly tell Nigel – I’d read that ships over a certain size must be accompanied by two tugboats. We look out to sea and this is what we see…

By this time we’ve parked, leaped out of the car and are both taking photos. The next photo shows Stirling Point Lighthouse, Dog Island Lighthouse (on an island way out beyond the ship), and a channel marker on the left

Click to enlarge (see the distant lighthouse on Dog Island – to right of ship)

Here is the ship “Luchow” (Hong Kong) approaching the first channel marker

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Further Information

If you’d like to see the ship Luchow there are photos at  this website

Dog Island is about 5 Km from the entrance to Bluff Harbour. Here are a couple of links if you’d like to know more about Dog Island Lighthouse:

Maritime New Zealand

New Zealand Lighthouses

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Text and Photos 1-3, 5 by Liz, Photo 4 by Nigel; Exploring Colour (2018)