Well That Escalated Quickly. FOG!

A sunny day!

This weekend, the Boatress and I decided to go out in Sweet Pea for a slow ride into the Chesapeake Bay. It was one of those days as reported. Sweet Pea is great for a slow ride with the dogs up in the cabin, some tunes and just gliding along.

What beauty

But, all of a sudden, yes a sudden. We were up close and personal with a fog bank.So of course I grabbed the camera.

Click

click

click

SLOW CLICK. The Boatress was at the helm not amused

And before I knew it, we were in the middle of it. I mean I think we were in the middle of it. Cause I had no reference points. And gotta say. That is a scary thing. So I stopped. When in doubt, stop. Not on a highway BTW, but in the water. I turned on the navigation lights, and stopped.

SCREECH

Then decided to look at the SUN and turn around slowly. Sonner or later I would see something. Right? WRONG! The fog was moving in the direction I was trying to turn around in. And then it hit me. WAIT. I have a navigation thing! I forgot. And looked at it. And YIKES. I had turned right into a shallow area of Oyster Beds. I had on the rocks flash backs, BUt the navigation gave me a window of sanity.

Yikes

And slowly but surely, it all came clear and I ran home and thought, Dang, Woohoo, I have a story!

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20 Responses to “Well That Escalated Quickly. FOG!”

  1. Rick

    Fog kept us an extra day on Fire Island this summer. Definitely worse places to be stuck at.

  3. Troy in ANE

    I find it beneficial to turn on the Garmin when leaving the dock, even on a beautiful sunny day. Should something go a-rye quickly (as it often does) Sandi or I can follow the cookie trails that are already in place.
    Near home we have so many cookie trails the river looks like a paved road.

    • Troy in ANE

      When most of you bailed on us this spring in Dora our goal was to try to pave Lake Dora and the whole Harris Chain of Lakes.

  6. tparsons56

    For many years we cruised Lake Michigan and Huron, the Georgian Bay and North Channel where radar, GPS and a good depth sounder were a necessity. Like you had experienced you can be in bright sunshine one minute and then you can hardly see your bow in the fog. Normally you would only get fog with no wind but on several occasions we would have fog, strong winds and waves all at the same time. Fortunately lake freighters make one gigantic blob on the radar – hard to miss!
    After one nail-biting trip one of our boating buddies reminded us that boating trips are not a vacation – they are an adventure.

  7. Alan Frederick

    The fog looks like the Covid conundrum. We here at Smith Mountain Lake, VA are going ahead with our scheduled Nov. 14th ACBS workshop following CDC guidelines. It’s time to break out of the fog and look for some rainbows.
    Weather is cooperating so we can social distance doing some presentations outdoors if needed.

  8. Al Campbell

    Hey Mat….good nav lesson. Radar and a radar reflector are good things also.

  9. John Rothert

    I too got fogged in here in ole Va . Had to stay on the hook in Jackson Creek for several hours. Had to watch for others seeking shelter as they would just appear as if from a grey curtain…scary.
    John in Va.

  11. Jack

    Used to drive out on Lake Huron to fish. Luckily it was never foggy. That 56 Olds didn’t have radar or Garmin, but it had a good heater!

  12. Mark in Ohio (sometimes da U P )

    Speaking of navigating in bad weather. Today is the 45th anniversary of the sinking of the Great Lakes freighter Edmund Fitzgerald. Those of us that grew up on and around the Great Lakes, remember this incident like it was yesterday. These giant freighters are like friends to us. This was the last major tragedy on the Great Lakes. Let’s hope they’ll never be another one. “The legend lives on”.

  17. Alex

    Be careful. Fog is scary stuff. Consider adding a simple radome to that boat.? You can’t exactly outrun fog that swoops in. Not too $ for a basic setup.