Do you know how God sends you signs, and then you up and ignore them? For example, I was canoeing with my family at Mohican yesterday, and the current took us under a tree which snatched my sunglasses off my head to forever be lost in the water. They were not super expensive glasses, but $14 is $14. 
It was then that I thought, hmmmm….I should secure my camera because, although it is waterproof, it does not float.
So, I took my precious camera and used the attached lanyard to connect it to my wrist. That lasted for about 5 minutes until I couldn’t stand rowing with a camera attached to my wrist anymore.
After all, I reasoned, I was in the “dry” boat. For the trip up to that point, I was in the crazy boy boat and underwent major torture getting great shots of my mean brother-in-laws splashing water at me. It was all worth it, though, to get “the shot”.
We had just taken a break and even took a group picture…a rare thing in our family. The losing the sunglasses incident happened about 2 minutes into the second part of our journey. About 15 minutes later, we were caught up in a current and before we even knew what was happening, the “dry boat” tipped us into the river and carried my camera off to who knows where. It was the only part of the river that was over my head, and it was the strongest current we encountered.
What can I say? Looking back it was pure stupidity on my part. Live and learn. I’m just as bummed about losing the photos as I am about losing the camera. I can say this, though…we had a blast! Wish I could share some pics!
R.I.P. my little teal waterproof wonder with an Achilles heel of non-floatability.
I can relate to the pure stupidity part of this. I left my car GPS in our unlocked car and it was stolen. I'm so irritated with myself, as we have a road trip coming up soon and I really want a GPS for the trip.
My heart stopped beating for a second!
Oh no, that's so sad!
DadBURN it. I'm sorry; I would be bummed, too. And just like Michelle, we left our car unlocked while in Destin on vacation, and my gps was stolen, too. But… you and your family are OK, as are me and mine, so we will be OK…
Uncle bob and I had similar happen when the kids were small..we had a canoe and would go on trips to Wisconson..also locally to the rivers and streams..those little ones you really have to be watchfyul of though..we hit a rapid area also and i thought for sure i would drown…as the boat capsized on top of me!…LOL Bob said Stand up! which i did.. and was fine..the kids were going down stream on their inner tubes and life jackets on….thoguht we would never catch up to them! so be glad it wasn't the kids you lost!
The funny part of this story is that Craig and Weston had entered the "dry" boat. For the last two miles they had been patting themselves on the back that they "sure were glad to be in a dry boat. Dry boats were much more fun!" So much for that, we went swimming! The water was over our heads and very cold! Drew's eyes were huge and she kept yelling something at me. My mind, being cold as it was, thought she was worried that a kid was trapped under the canoe. So I righted the canoe, drug a kid to safety and realized that it was her screaming "I can't find my camera. . ." You know photographers and their priorities. . . lol I think we were only 500 ft from the finish line. Only 500 ft from a dry finish and an intact camera. My, oh, my.
For your next camera you should get a floating strap so you don't have to worry about losing it:
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&biw=1212&bih=612&q=camera+floating+strap&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=10331724077387527884&sa=X&ei=IIcMTsLUEMyBtge4kPnMDQ&ved=0CC4Q8gIwAA#
Coulda, woulda, shoulda.
Ugh! From the sounds of it, it WAS a great day and lots of memories.
but no pictures. At least it was just your P/S right?