A 544-foot-long cargo ship ran aground on a underwater shelf about 600 yards off East Las Olas Boulevard early Friday morning, the Coast Guard said.

The Eastwind ran aground at 2:10 a.m. near the area where ships wait to enter Port Everglades. Large seas and winds as strong as 25 knots made conditions difficult in the ocean overnight.

The grounding occurred at low tide en route in to the port, the Coast Guard said.

A Coast Guard marine inspector flew over the ship to inspect the situation before being lowered to the vessel from a helicopter to oversee response operations.

There was no damage to the ship and its hull was not breached. At this time there are no signs of pollution or any injuries to the crew, a Coast Guard spokeswoman said. The spokeswoman said officers are inspecting the ship. She said no attempt will be made to refloat the Eastwind on the next high tide until the inspection is concluded and the OK given.

A commercial salvage company has been contracted and will be placing pollution response gear in as a precaution. It is also making preparations to refloat the freighter.

The Greek-flagged vessel is carrying bauxite, an ore from which aluminum is extracted, along with paper and steel. It also has approximately 241 tons of heavy fuel oil onboard.

The Eastwind’s last port of call was New Amsterdam, Guyana. Its crew is mostly Greek and Filipino.

Current weather conditions at the scene are six to eight-foot seas with 20-25 knot winds.

The incident is under investigation.

Well…Newtie *is* sort of an Egyptian demi-god thing, y’know. Being a cat and all? Not much of a grim reaper, really, unless you count the odd lizard, roach, Newfie or cricket that finds a way into the house. We’ll chalk that up to poetic license. He does approach silently, and appear from nowhere, like the reaper… though he’s a lot more fun the spend time with.

I’ve got a wee bit of goofy morning recreation playing with the little guy… I sound like a crazy cat person, probably, but the little orange boy always makes me feel good, worth spending time with. I can’t quite put my finger on it… is it because I raised him from a baby? Because he’s a red-furred Libra? Did I just get lucky? Whatever the reason, he’s a sweetie-poop.

Policy Almanac: links to reports, stats on various policy issues, like crime, education, social issues, foreign affairs….lots of subcategories so there is much more here than on first appearance. (via infomaniac)

Gray Pumpkin and Katt will be in town next month. I look forward to maybe seeing them. I wonder how much change has taken place? Plenty for me, that’s to be sure.

Random Disney ºoº Factoid – Donald Duck’s middle name is Fauntleroy.

Created a New LJ feed – dailyaudiobible (Daily Audio bible rss compliments of Adam Curry) – FamilyRadio.org has an audio version of every book and verse of the bible. The speaker is great, and most of the files are < 1 Mb.

Fun Movies from wurzeltod-

EMILIE SIMON – FLOWERS

Immortal Ad Vitam – New York 2095

Newtonian Fluid Vortex.

current music: The Beatles – I Feel Fine

current mood: I feel fine. Maybe even a little naturally stoned (Or just slow to wake.)