It was a true Florida morning in Cape Haze, warm and clear.... sultry.  Lewis was listening to the weather forecast on the boats radio and making ready to cast off for their trip to the Bahamas.  “ Explorer “ was a forty foot  ocean going sport-fisherman, ready to try out it’s new engines, two brand new Chrysler Hemi’s.  Lewis’s wife Barbara, and littleJimmy (age six) stepped on board and Lewis cast off the lines.  Explorer moved away from the dock and headed out into the Atlantic, the  sweet melody of it’s exhaust sounding over the water. 

  Barbara put Jimmy in his life jacket for safety, he was a precocious little boy who wanted to get into everything.  Barbara had a full time job watching him.  The three on board never realizing that they were going into the Bermuda Triangle.

  Now Lewis was a man that didn’t believe in the paranormal, and he did not believe in UFO's either.  Even when he saw one himself one moonless evening in Florida.   After admitting that he saw it he said he didn’t want to talk about it anymore and he didn’t.  But today he would find himself faced with the unexplained again.   

      

       Explorer surged on, Captain at the helm, compass heading........... on course.The rhythm of traveling on the Ocean had never caught on with Barbara, and she felta sickness coming on.  But she stayed with her job of taking care of Jimmy.  Then Lewis realized her struggle and said.  Let me take care of Jim; I would like Jim to watch the compass for me, and he can stand right here with me and help  run the boat.   Barbara gratefully went below and laid down in the cabin. 

  The further they got from Cape Haze the fewer boats they saw, and after a while it seemed  Explorer was the only boat on the Ocean.  Beautiful blue Ocean, mild Seas, warm sun. The radio crackled with ongoing weather reports, continually updating and affirming a smooth journey for all vessels on the Atlantic Seaboard.  The little boy stood by his station at the compass, sure that he was a help, not aware that Lewis could read it over his shoulder.  Jimmy noticed that the compass needle moved slightly and then came back to their heading, and he didn't report it.  But when it swung to one side quite a bit he started to tell Lewis. 

  Lewis didn't respond, he was intently looking ahead.   There, directly in their path was a large wall  of fog, it went from horizon to horizon.  Jimmy looked again at the compass and said, Lewis the compass moved!   And when Lewis looked down, the compass needle was making slow circles continuously!   The closer they got to the fog bank, the faster thecompass would spin.  Lewis put the engines in neutral and  Explorer settled down to float on the blue waters.   They drifted there for a while before Lewis made a decision. Slowly turning the boat around, he found the wake that they had left, and followed it in a course for home.    Now,as they gained distance from the fog, the compass returned to normal, and Lewis leaned down and spoke softly to Jimmy.  “Lets not say anything about the fog or the compass to your Mom or anybody, ok?” Jimmy said ok, and he never did.......... for almost forty years.

     Explorer returned to Cape Haze and soon after the engines were turned off Barbara woke up asking why are we back here?   Lewis told her the engines didn’t sound right, I’ll have them checked out to be safe.  Then he turned to Jimmy and winked. ................. 

At a dinner table conversation many years later Jim told his Mom and me the truth about that day.  

A promise kept for almost forty years!

True Adventures by................................  Ron Francis........... (c)... 2009