Post by jerryk on Sept 26, 2023 10:23:03 GMT -5
Yesterday I took my wife's 70 year old brother fishing. He is visiting the area and is staying up about 2 1/2 hours from my home by water. The place he is staying is on a Gulf coast outer island with only ferry access and he doesn't have a boat, so I said I'd pick him up at his rental house and take him fishing in my boat. Spent the day fishing around an inlet, caught quite a few varieties of fish and had a great time. Nothing big, nothing wild, just a fun trip with steady action and we had a wonderful day.
After dropping him off shortly after 5 PM I headed back toward home, expecting the return trip to be a bit longer because I was going to be fighting the wind (which on the morning trip was light and at my back), plus there was a chance of rain. Well rain it did...two big thunderstorms formed south of me at sunset and I had no choice but to go through them to get home. For those who don't know FL waters, the inland waterway marks the only safe passage through much of the inland bays and sounds, and the channel markers are usually unlit day markers on posts through narrow dredged channels flanked by very shallow water on either side where they put the dredged material. The markers were not visible at all in the torrential rain and when the winds were driving spray and waves all over the boat it sure wasn't a fun trip back home and it took me about 4 hours. I was navigating solely by GPS and keeping my eyes out for markers as I knew they were close based on the chart. Came close to hitting two of them, but was able to spot them and turn off just in time. Sure can't wait until my radar is installed to help in that situation, but overall I came away thankful for the GPS and a decent hull under me to handle the waves (rapidly created by 35 knot rain downdraft winds).
Good times, and all part of the adventure we call boating.
After dropping him off shortly after 5 PM I headed back toward home, expecting the return trip to be a bit longer because I was going to be fighting the wind (which on the morning trip was light and at my back), plus there was a chance of rain. Well rain it did...two big thunderstorms formed south of me at sunset and I had no choice but to go through them to get home. For those who don't know FL waters, the inland waterway marks the only safe passage through much of the inland bays and sounds, and the channel markers are usually unlit day markers on posts through narrow dredged channels flanked by very shallow water on either side where they put the dredged material. The markers were not visible at all in the torrential rain and when the winds were driving spray and waves all over the boat it sure wasn't a fun trip back home and it took me about 4 hours. I was navigating solely by GPS and keeping my eyes out for markers as I knew they were close based on the chart. Came close to hitting two of them, but was able to spot them and turn off just in time. Sure can't wait until my radar is installed to help in that situation, but overall I came away thankful for the GPS and a decent hull under me to handle the waves (rapidly created by 35 knot rain downdraft winds).
Good times, and all part of the adventure we call boating.