: Wow, that is truly sad- and frightening. I can personally verify
: that in the wheelhouse of the ferry boats and barges down here
: there are dominoes games and drinking going on. I posted a pic
: here before of the bar in the wheelhouse of the "Tug
: Life" barge. I think I also mentioned before on here about
: the time the captain grabbed my friend (a passenger) from his
: seat and said "Here, take the wheel for a minute" as
: another vessel was approaching and they were underway at speed.
: The captain ran down below to check out the smoke that was
: billowing from the engine room, which turned out just to be
: steam from a broken heat exchanger, but why not stop the boat
: while you figure that out? Also I personally watched a ferry
: boat captain texting at night all the way across Pilsbury Sound
: and he looked up with that "Oh sh--" look as he nearly
: plowed over the green can at the entrance to Red Hook, along
: with a poor couple in a dinghy.

: In my travels when I have to take vessels in other countries I
: usually stay topdecks. I figure less chance of getting trapped
: down below when the thing decides to go turtle.

: Anyway, I post all this stuff to remind us all that we are targets
: and we have to constantly be on the lookout. If a captain can't
: see an entire island I think it's safe to say he's not going to
: see a kayak! All that said, it's not the ferry boats that scare
: me most- it's the tourist who has never driven anything bigger
: than a 14' john boat on a lake, and for a few hundred bucks with
: NO checkride he can rent a 25' powerboat and take it in open
: seas. I had one drive right over the dive mooring once just as
: we were surfacing. Had I not grabbed my friend's ankle and
: stopped him he would have gotten a prop in the head. I have
: rented boats down here and all they do is show you how to turn
: it on and off, and give you a stern warning about the
: oil/temperature alarm. Whatever you do, don't run the boat if
: that alarm goes off because that will ruin the engine... now go
: run over and kill someone.

Hi Malcolm,

It's not just there. The closest call I've ever had around here kayaking was when I was nearly run down on the local river by the police boat. They had it at full speed and both officers where putting dock lines away, no one was driving.

Bill H.