There's a rift between Locks and the Towboats that pass through them. I wouldn't have known such a rift existed if it weren't for my trip on the Upper Mississippi the week before last. There is a good amount of waiting while a tow is passing through a lock and it used to be that a towboat crew could climb over the lock wall and get a drink or use a pay phone, or just stretch their legs. Not anymore.

For the crew of the Theresa Wood: Thanks for the unforgettable ride!

I'm home now after five days on the Theresa Wood riding up the Upper Mississippi and three days on the Thomas E. Erickson riding down the Illinois. I couldn't have learned as much as I did in those eight days if I'd spent a year on phone interviews with towboat companies.

On July 6th I left the Theresa Wood at the locks in Guttenberg, Wisconsin and crossed the state of Illinois by car. At Pekin, Illinois I boarded the Thomas E. Erickson headed down the Illinois River.

Rearranging the tow is more than playing a game of Tetris. Sometimes it's like playing chess with Bobby Fischer.

July 2nd- About 2300 hours I stepped out of the pilot house of the Theresa Wood and walked out on the upper deck.

The Captain ordered groceries for the boat this morning and at about 1700 hours an aluminum skiff from S&S Boat Store out of Burlington Iowa, tied up alongside the Theresa Wood and delivered food.

I climbed aboard the M/V Theresa Wood, owned and operated by Marquette Transportation and on charter to AEP River Operations, on July 1 at about 1500 hours.

From July 2-8 Raina Clark will be posting on-the-spot updates from vessels on the Mississippi and Illinois rivers

Here's a visual perspective of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico from NASA's Earth Observatory (http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov)

Lisa Sonne contacted me about a book she's writing on Morse Code and how it might still be used in the marine world. Can anyone help her out?

Raoul A. Galan, Jr. of Research & Development Group is in search of more vessels to employ in his work cleaning up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Stories about the "Ocean Therapy" centrifuge oil recovery machine, whose development was funded by actor Kevin Costner, have been floating around the press shortly after the BP oil spill began. A couple days ago a reader took issue with a New York Times article we cited regarding this story. Here is his take on what the real scoop is:

I have received a number of emails and calls from readers asking me to review their ideas about how to stop the flow of oil from the deep water well following the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon. I have no where near the right qualifications to pass judgement on these ideas. What I can do is bring them here to start a discussion among the professionals in the field.

A reader wants someone to explain why the Deepwater Horizon sank. Where was the damage control? Were all the compartments open below the waterline at the same time? Since the Deepwater Horizon is a flagged vessel are there not some requirements concerning floatation, de-watering, etc.?

The Earth Observatory, the best place to get satellite images or natural and man made disasters, is posting daily image updates of the oil leak following the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon.

Since I usually row out of the Bellingham Bay Community Boating Center, situated between a Coast Guard small boat station, Puglia Engineering's Fairhaven Shipyard, the Bellingham Ferry Terminal, All American Marine and Aluminum Chambered Boats, I figured I'd coin a new blog series "Saw Rowing."

Thank you Todd Pacific Shipyards of Seattle, for hosting a tour for the West Coast branch of WISTA.

Months ago I bemoaned the fact that Secretary Ray LaHood talked "planes, trains and automobiles" with John Stewart on the Daily Show, with no mention of waterborne modes. But now I see that marine highway advocate, Wayne McCormick, of americasmarinehighways.com did get some personal attention from the Secretary on the subject.

It probably won't impact anyone's operations much, but I couldn't pass it up: NASA reported that the Chilean earthquake may have shortened Earth days. We might be short a couple microseconds each day to get our work done now. (This view of Earth comes from NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer aboard the Terra satellite.)

January's MarineNews feature on short-sea shipping generated a suprising amount of reader feedback. Here are a couple more select responses to the article "Navigating Obstacles: The Trials and Tribulations of Short-Sea Shipping"

A row passed Fairhaven Shipyards new dry-dock and the Alaska Marine Highway's MV Kennicott in Bellingham, Wash.

Here's what readers had to say about January's MarineNews feature "Navigating Obstacles: The Trials and Tribulations of Short-Sea Shipping"

Touring the Horizon Consumer and grooming my son for a maritime academy.

Message in rememberance of Piper Cameron. Photo featuring Katie Wixom, Pacific Maritime Institute student, on the tug Lauren Foss in the Gulf of Mexico in 2009 (courtesy Katie Wixom).