A Good Day on the Waterway

When I first snapped this photo my intent was to include it in a blog post entiltled : A Bad Day on The Waterway. The post was to be full of photos of sunken, beached, and otherwise impaired boats we have seen along the way

As we approached this mariner attaching him self to Tow Boat US I thought, "Well, that's not how you want to start your day."  When we got close enough to read the name the Cap'n exclaimed "That's Halo!"  Do we know them, I wondered.  "That's the boat the Coast Guard was hailing 2 days ago. Look, he lost his mast,"

I had been so busy snapping photos I hadn't noticed the shortened mast. And yes I did remember the Coast Guard's repeated radio attempts to raise a signal from Halo.  In fact, we had guests on board at the time and  I mentioned to them how we often hear alerts from the Coast Guard seeking overdue boats, asking us to be on the lookout, and we never hear the rest of the story. Was the boat found? Was their a mechanical failure? Had the Captain stopped in a different port? Was he/she just going off the grid for a few days?  We never know.

But now we did -- maybe not the whole story -- but at least we knew Halo was safe. For the ship and her captain, it turned out to be a very good day on the waterway afterall.