Pasha Bulker
This afternoon, I had my first experience viewing a ship on Nobby’s Beach.
It was however, no ordinary ship - during the horrendous storms last weekend, the 76,741 tonne deadweight Panamax bulk carrier operated by the Lauritzen Bulkers Shipping company, the Pasha Bulker, beached right on the shore.
It is 225 metres in length and has a beam of 32.2 metres and a cargo hold capacity of 90,911 cubic metres.
On television, it looked big. In photographs, it looked big. In the Newspaper, too, it looked pretty big. But nothing can prepare you for the sheer gargantuan presence that the Pasha Bulker commands sitting a mere 20 metres from the beach. It is absolutely enormous, dwarfing the people, the helicopters, the lighthouse hovering around it. Even from a distance, through the lines between buildings and down the streets, it looks incredible. Almost surreal.
Matt, Karen, Emily and Kerrie decided to make the journey up today, giving me the excuse to take a drive in there and work against the traffic and the weather (which is still lashing NSW in one form or another). And today was no exception.
Just minutes after arriving, seconds after walking up and progressing down the Boardwalk… the heavens opened. And spoiled our potential photo session.
And made right drowned-rats out of us! 
Nonetheless, I managed to snap a couple of shots before I had to hide the camera back into its waterproof bag.
Plans to salvage the Pasha Bulker include using a specialised anchor-handling vessel, the Pacific Salvor, to winch the ship seawards with 15-tonne anchors and cabling.[9] A hydrographic survey has been conducted to survey and map the bottom of the ocean through the surf zone using a surf ski single beam echo sounder and GPS. This will give the salvage team more insight into the chances of refloating the ship.
Link: ABC.net.au
Kate said,
June 18, 2007 @ 9:37 am
Babes they are magnificent photos! They seriously are some of the nicest photos I have ever seen of the Pasha Bulker! And that’s under the circumstances that you were in - not being able to take many and the weather being horrendous. Unreal.
We will have to go in together through the week and spend some time taking more photos. Provided the weather is OK! 
Phanny said,
June 20, 2007 @ 7:16 am
Super photos Scotty
What a sight to see, I wonder how long it will be there and can only imagine the huge operation to get it moved!!
ScottyB said,
June 20, 2007 @ 10:53 am
Few days of clear coming up soon Katie.. we’ll go in there this week I think! Want to get some night photos too…
Phanny.. they are waiting for the king tide, which is early next month I think! 3 giant salvage tugs have been called in for it. Going to be an amazing recovery if they manage it!