When you don’t have the foggiest idea…
I said that sometimes, but for the last two days the conditions we were in came pretty close to that statement. We were in the Intracoastal Waterway in North Carolina traveling on the Alligator River, when heavy fog set in. With enough water around us and on a course with the autopilot steering, it’s not so much of a problem,although the channel markers would not be visible until we were right beside them. When we approached the Alligator River Bridge and I called the bridge tender to request an opening, we weren’t surprised when he told us that he would not open up until he could see the traffic lights. I said we’d be standing by on VHF radio for him to announce when he would open up and that we would drop the hook to wait for better conditions. A sailboat arrived shortly after and anchored next to us. We settled in the wheel house with a cup of coffee, but the conditions didn’t seem to improve. All of a sudden I noticed that the swing bridge started to open up. Benno scrambled to get the anchor up quickly while the bridge tender called: “Let’s go skippers!”

Off we went into the fog. Some miles further I was standing up on the bow, enshrouded in mist, trying to spot channel markers and buoys, because we had to make a sharp turn around some shoals. Visibility was next to nothing. We slowed down and the sailboat which had been traveling behind us overtook us. I heard some yelling as the sailboat suddenly made a quick turn to starboard. There was the red buoy I was looking for. The excitement went on for some time, luckily without incident. Finally at 13:30 hrs the fog lifted and it turned out to be a nice, hot day. Next morning, fog again!

Today it’s raining and misty. A week ago we were still in Bimini, the Bahamas, and now we are in Willoughby Bay, Norfolk, Virginia, and staying put.