Fog may be a routine matter for the Maritimers who read this; for us Great Lakes folk, though, it's a bit of a rarity during the boating season. Most boaters around here simply avoid it, but there are often a handful who will forge on through no matter what.

When we do get fog, it's usually the soft, mystical kind, a gentle translucent gray that gives a hint of the maritime life but without much menace or power. The "pea soup" stuff of Nova Scotia fishermen's legend, in which you can't see the bow of your own boat, is something I have yet to encounter here.

No matter how many times you see it, though, I don't know if you ever quite get used to the visual merger of sea, land and sky.