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CalifBill

On 5/13/2010 1:01 PM, wrote:
On Thu, 13 May 2010 11:20:36 -0700,
wrote:

My boat is near Bethel
Island. And yes, it's easy to get lost. That's why I don't venture
far as I currently do not have a marine GPS. If I ever get lost I
plan to follow one those huge freighters going to Stockton. Just
gotta figure out how to get back home, or follow one going the
opposite direction. Problem is I'll end up in the Pacific, lol. Oh
well, I could always tie the boat up in Alviso and take the bus home.
G
Eddie

Wouldn't a chart and a compass help you figure out if a freighter was
coming in or going out?

BTW do not underestimate how much good aerial photos help if you are
back in an island maze (I am not sure where you are "getting lost")
We were down in the 10,000 islands below Everglades City a few years
ago and I had a stack of aerials I got from my son in law (SFWMD).
Once we got oriented on the pictures we were moving around the islands
like a native. Compasses and GPS are fairly unless there because you
can be 300 yards from where you want to go but you can't get there
without going the other way. It is handy to know what is around the
next bend.

They do not help as much in the Sac Delta. There are lots of levees,
that all look alike from the water and you may be in a channel that dead
ends, after a mile or so, and you will be 100' from the channel your
really want but a levee is in between. I used a Garmin 45 for years and
paper chart to un-confused at times.