On the last morning of February, Norwegian Gem made an early arrival at Pier 88, returning from the Dominican Republic just a day after Norwegian Breakaway was here. Norwegian seems to be the only cruise line operating out of the Manhattan terminal this winter. They keep their ships moving though—Gem was already heading south for Puerto Rico by Monday afternoon. In the photo below, Gem steers itself into the pier while Cape Fear stands by with a fuel barge for bunkering and Captain Dann stands by to assist. NY Waterway ferries move back and forth in the background between midtown and Port Imperial.

The DEP’s North River tanker was servicing the North River sewage plant, hauling away residual solids (sludge) for dewatering at the Wards Island plant. The NY Waterway Edgewater ferry passes heading south. NY Waterway runs rush hour weekday to Edgewater Landing. A similar service used to run from an area just south of there to a dock at 125th Street until the 1960s.

It would be great to see a real osprey flying above the Hudson some day, but for now we have to settle for the mechanical version, as a Marine VS22 passed over. FlightRadar24 shows the plane took off from Naval Air Station Patuxent River on the Chesapeake, flew up the river to make a loop around West Point and returned. This was likely a training mission.

The Edenborg came down the river in the afternoon, leaving Albany after discharging a cargo of wood pulp from Sweden destined for paper mills earlier this week.