It came to mind while sailing in my friend's boat on
Lake Seneca yesterday.
I wondered if Captain Nemo might have a secret
base there!
As I mentioned in my last blog Lake Seneca is about
40 miles long and a couple or three miles across.
But with all that water we were told there was an
area where boats are not welcome. That, of course,
made us want to go there!
Word was there were markers warning vessels to stay
some 500 yards away. Someone told us if you ignored
the warnings a "bull horn" would be used to chase you,
or, you'd be "taken into custody." But by whom? And why?
As luck would have it our boat was stuck on a low
speed. It would have taken a day to sail to the mysterious
spot in question. So......we went by car!
We drove to a road in the small town of Dresden
and turned right heading towards the shore of the lake.
That's where we came to the sign marked "Dead
End" and a building, surrounded by fence, with
little symbols of submarines painted on another sign
that read...."Naval Undersea Warfare Center!"
Off shore was a huge island complex of buildings
with large cranes obviously used to lower something into
the lake!
I was ever so glad we didn't sail there!
I could just imagine going past the warning signs
and suddenly seeing two torpedo's coming at our
small craft!
But why a Naval "Warfare Center" in the middle of
a lake in the middle of New York?
Well, as it turns out, the deep, deep waters of Lake
Seneca are an ideal place for the Navy to test sonar
and underwater communications gear.
Guess they would have heard us coming by boat!
It's good to know the Navy is on top of things
even when those "things" are several hundred feet on
the bottom!
And, since we don't want to end up there, ...we're
likely to steer a course around the area next time
we're sailing Seneca!
Hope you're on the right course and that all your
NEWS is good!
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