These pictures are from the summer of "07 when I was working for Constellation Maritime. we were setting the buoys for the offshore LNG facility in Massachusetts Bay. Ships discharge their cargo directly into these buoys, which are connected to the pipeline on shore. http://www.excelerateenergy.com/northeast.htmlIt was a very interesting job. we had to hold the buoy between our two boats and pass a wire to the large anchor handling tug so the could tie into the anchors which were already set on the ocean floor. That yellow line you see on the big boat is a six inch diameter cable encased in a protective coating. There are eight of them for each buoy, arrayed in a circular pattern- picture a wagon wheel with the buoy being the hub and each wire leading to an anchor like the spokes. You can see the buoy in the top picture being lifted off the ship. It reminds me of the space capsules that the astronauts used to splash down in. When it's all set in place it actually sits about 50 feet or so under water.
