Hum . . . When were the guys going to be back?

My father had planned a fishing trip for the guys w/ one of his buddies who lives in South Georgia while we were in St. Simons. The boys headed out about 6:30 am for a 3-4 hour in-shore trip. The girls headed off to the beach to enjoy the sand and then came back for pool time and lunch. As time crept by, no one heard from any of the fisherman. David always has his cell phone on him and always answers it, but each time I called we got no answer. A 6:30 am leave time should have meant we absolutely should have heard something by 11:30, but nothing. We had lunch, and decided it might be time to worry. At 2:30, still nothing. Mom decided to call the surrounding counties to see if my car had been reported in an accident. Nope, no accidents in the past few hours. Now we just had to worry about the massive body of water sitting right to the east of our house! A key point here is that we weren't real sure where they put the boat in the water, what the boat looked like, or exactly where they were going. The worry continued. At 3:15 I called a guide David and I went out with earlier in the week to see at what point we should call the Coast Guard. I mean, we didn't want to be ridiculous, worrying wives, but we were getting a bit concerned. He was a bit stunned that few details about the trip. More on that later. He told us to call the Coast Guard if we hadn't heard by 4:00 to allow time for a search team to go out before dark if needed. (Oh, my, this can't be happening!) We called the Coast Guard and the lady on the other end of the phone was quite polite and took all of our information. She did ask that we go up the road to where we think they left the car to see if it was there. Mom and I get changed for the ride. Just as we were about to head out the door, David called! It turns out as soon as he took his phone out of the storage compartment on the boat, the Coast Guard was calling to inform him that he'd been reported as missing. Nice! Upon returning back to the house, I asked David to let the guide who had advised us know that he was okay, and boy, did he get a talking to about boat safety! So for those who will be boating on vacation, remember these rules:

1. Let others know where you're putting the boat in the water.

2. Let others know where you anticipate going and / or how far you plan to be going out.

3. Let others know the make/model of the boat.

4. Remember - cell phones are great, but there still are places, particularly in the ocean, where you aren't going to get service!

Happy vacationing!