The harbour at Summerside hasn’t been dredged for a number of years and the process began this past November. There isn’t much boat traffic before the harbour freezes every year, so the dredge boat was an unusual sight. The dredger worked at different locations and when my husband and I photographed it one day, it was positioned near the Indian Head Lighthouse.
We took the first photos in the harbour looking out towards the lighthouse. The sun on the structure highlighted the repair work done over this past summer.
Zooming in on the activity off-shore in the Northumberland Strait revealed what I thought to be a tug boat with a barge.
One of my favourite images of the two has a crow or raven in the shot as well.
I learned later a barge is pushed into place by a tow boat not a tug. The bow of the tow boat is constructed to allow it to make contact with the barge to manoeuvre it. Below you can see the tow boat pushing the barge.
The barge works in tandem with the dredger. Once the barge is manoeuvred in place, the crane on the dredge boat lifts the soil into the barge. Later it is towed off shore to be dumped.
The harbour will be able to accommodate small cruise ships following this work.