As you might have Guessed, Grus is here!

Which of course means my exquisite pain of the last two months of Grus tracking is over.

On Friday I went out to Port Hueneme to try and spot the Grus coming into port, and indeed, hit the jackpot. I also thought I’d try and spot my car driving down Hueneme Road to the VDC.

I got there at 8:30 in the morning and had an idea the ship would be docking around 10, so I went and had breakfast. That morning and in fact all day, there were many Volvos coming out of the Port. A few Minis, and essentially no BMWs.

After breakfast I went to find a vantage point as you are not allowed into the Port. Upon turning the corner south of the port, at the beach…. BINGO!! There was the Grus, majestically sailing north right on schedule. I got a bunch of pictures.

I then walked up the beach to the breakwater, and throwing caution to the wind, even went into the port a bit, past the chain-link and ominous signs, to grab some unobstructed pictures.

Later, I found a good spot near the entrance to the port to watch via binoculars, the cars unloading and counted about 250 cars coming off the ramp until, BINGO2, an Imola Red Competition Package M3, whose stickers and markings looked a bit different from the basic (non-Euro Delivery) models coming off the ramp. I was feeling pretty certain I had spotted my own car.

Still no BMWs were leaving the port, only coming off the boat. So I headed down to the VDC and saw a couple of employees walking from the parking lot to the restricted area. I told them my story, and that I was wanting to see my car drive by… they said ‘well you have priority so you just may see it’ I said how so, since no-one knows I’m there.. they said ‘we do’. So they were very nice. When I told them I thought I spotted my own car, and said it was an Imola Red Competition M3 package… they both agreed it was a good chance of being my car, saying. There may be at most only 2 or 3 total like that on the whole ship.

I told them I’d be down by the port entrance waiting. About a ½ hour later, the BMWs finally started rolling out of the port, and almost immediately a blue 325 cab pulled up next to me, it was my new friend, and he said: ‘It turns out Euro Delivery cars go straight to customs and do not leave the port right away’ and that once the cars clear customs, the VDC tries to release them within a day, baring any scratches, etc…

So, I took off, happy that I found the Grus, got some cool pictures and probably even saw my own car rolling off the ship. Here’s a link to the picture… hope you enjoy.

Grus Pictures at Port Hueneme with VDC