When I used to fly back home to Ft. Lauderdale, the plane would take a southernly route over the ocean following the coast before turning West or East for landing at the airport. I studied the coastline, the ocean and the boats for many hours.
Some boats appeared so tiny in the ocean that the only way to spot them was by following their wake of white waves. Larger boats – container barges and cruise ships – were easer to spot.
All of them seemed to stay within a few miles of the coastline. Obviously that wasn’t the case for transatlantic cruises and container ships, but the majority of ships I see were clustered near the coast.
The sheer vastness of the ocean was breathtaking. I could understand how ships at sea would disappear. In fact, it’s amazing that anyone could ever locate a ship at sea.
Once we went on vacation to the Keys. We rented a small boat to go out on the ocean. I asked the rental guy about the radio and he said “There is no radio.” I asked what were we supposed to do if the boat broke down. He said, “Use your cell phone and call 911”.
I wasn’t reassured. I’ve had rental boats die on me before. So we stayed close to shore. Close enough that I figured I could swim to shore if necessary (under a mile).
The water was crystal clear. I donned my mask and jumped in. It looked like it was about 10 feet deep. I could see all the way to the ocean bottom. I dove down and quickly realized it was at least 50 feet deep. Then I thought about sharks and got out.
As we puttered back to the dock I had a new appreciation of the ocean.
I’ll never go out on a boat for a deep sea adventure. No cruise. No deep sea fishing. No transatlantic trip.
Forget it.
I’ll stick to land, where at least there’s sufficient air and I have chance to walk my way out of bad situation.