The Port of Tampa was recently closed by the US Coast Guard due to heavy sea fog.  A dozen ships, including the Royal Caribbean cruise ship, Brilliance of the Seas, were delayed offshore for almost two days. Another ten ships were unable to leave the port. The delay also caused the cancellation of the next scheduled sailing of the Royal Caribbean ship. The Coast Guard shut down the port on Monday afternoon. By 3 p.m. Tuesday, three Coast Guard vessels escorted Brilliance of the Seas into its berth.

I went to high school in the St. Petersburg, not far from Tamp Bay. Winter is fog season on the Gulf Coast. When warm damp air hits the colder water of the Gulf of Mexico, a wall of fog rises and drifts inland on the prevailing South-westerlies. The sea fog can be both breathtaking and frightening. I have sailed in fog in Maine and along the New England coast, regions known for their fog. They do not compare to the sea fog that comes rolling in off the Gulf.

Yesterday, we posted about a charter fishing captain who had the bad judgement to operate a 1,200 HP fishing boat at very high speed in close to zero visibility. The boat ended up embedded inside Sunset Grill restaurant on Bahia Beach in Ruskin on Tampa Bay. Fortunately, perhaps miraculously, no one on the boat or in the restaurant was killed or even seriously injured. Matt Santiago, the charter boat captain who ran the 39′ boat into a restaurant Monday, has been cited for reckless operation in dense fog.