Buoy, Oh Buoy

Returning from Scotland, I decided to investigate buoys—you know, those little beach ball things. I spotted an endless array of them on prior trips to Wales and England while traveling along the rugged coastline and recently in Scotland as I drove past mountain-shrouded lochs. Not being nautical in the least, I found myself fascinated by those mysterious, round orbs, so I plunged into the Internet (face it: all fiction writers are closet researchers) where I learned…
​

• A mooring buoy, used only to secure a vessel, is white with a blue horizontal band.
• A safe water buoy, showing a clear water channel, is white with red vertical stripes.
• An inland water obstruction buoy is white with black vertical stripes – avoid that shore!
• A hazard buoy, marking rocks/shoals, is white with two orange bands and a diamond.
• A boats keep out buoy (self-explanatory) is white with an orange diamond and cross.​

Loch Linnhe on the West coast of Scotland. Can you spot the buoy?

There are more—many more—floating street signs that boaters rely upon as they attempt to navigate various waterways. The buoys are joined by a whole host of other markers and beacons that can feature numbers, lights, stripes, diamonds, crosses, and colors which will change depending if you are on the port or starboard side when going upstream. Lesson learned on this research trip? Never take for granted the knowledge that your ship’s captain carries around in his head when taking you out for a day of fun upon the sea.

The Isles of Eigg and Rùm seen on the way to the port town of Mallaig via The Jacobite steam train. Buoys abound!