When we did the Pirate Ship Cruise out of Port Isabel, we saw this massive cargo ship coming from the Port of Brownsville. Our tour guide said that it was likely empty, because of how high it was sitting on the waters of Laguna Madre Bay. You can see the relative size by the boat alongside of it.

We were also told that these ships follow a 17-mile long shipping channel from Brownsville, TX to the Gulf of Mexico.

We had seen them before from land at SPI and Port Isabel, but this was the closest we ever got to one of these giants.

Sadly, the bright afternoon sun resulted in the ship being more of a silhouette in my original photo. I did some selective lightening in Snapseed to better show the features of the ship for my feature photo.

I also tried a black and white rendering. I like each one for different reasons.

The thing I like best about both images is the reflection of the sun dancing on the water.

“Admire a small ship, but put your freight in a large one; for the larger the load, the greater will be the profit upon profit.”

Hesiod