Buoy ID

The latest addition to my buoy collection has almost enough information for me to commit identify theft. About the only things missing are a social security number and a date of birth. In the photo above it’s the one covered with black Magic Marker writing.

Had the owners included their email address we could correspond about their wandering buoy. Texting is also a possibility, but I don’t know if the phone number they provided is for a cell phone. It’s not my usual style to call or send a letter although a Christmas card is a possibility. I could also drop it off at their home in Port Orchard during one of my fall bike rides given the Beach Drive address on the buoy.

However, I plan to keep it—that is, unless they read this post and want it back. :) I prefer unmarked buoys or buoys with fishing id numbers, but my buoy collection is too small to take the hit of returning it. Besides my neighbor got it for me. He fishes a lot and sometimes brings me buoys if I remind him to look for them (and promise to get his mail while he’s gone).

Earlier this month he and a friend were on a two-week fishing trip to the west side of Canada’s Vancouver Island. They crossed the Strait of Juan de Fuca near Seiku. The buoy was about four miles offshore drifting free of the crab or shrimp pot it had been tethered to. Despite a couple of stern warnings on the buoy (“Do not touch me!” and “We are watching YOU!”), no omnipresent owner interceded when they rescued it from the choppy waters of Clallam Bay. I would call it a flawless salvage operation.

I don’t think the buoy floated from Port Orchard to Clallam Bay, a distance of more than 100 nautical miles. There are too many places along the way to wash ashore. The more believable scenario is that the owners brought it with them from home to the strait and it got loose up there.

But if they had just included an email address I could ask them.