Dear Mateo. Yes you could get lost at sea . There are no street signs out here. Once you are out of sight of land, you can wonder what direction land is. But we have good tools for dealing with where we are. Nowadays the GPS system (Global Positioning System) is the primary navigation tool. It will tell us precisely where we are on a chart in latitude and longitude. If the GPS fails, you can go back to using Dead Reckoning, where you calculate your direction and speed, and then calculate where you would be.

And also, you can use the older system of celestial navigation, which means taking sextant sights of the sun or moon or stars, and through complex calculations, coming up with your position. This requires a very accurate clock, so that you have precise time, down to the second. But it works, and was the way I found my way across the Atlantic Ocean the first time I sailed that voyage.

Question submitted by Mateo, Age 5, FasTracKids Irapuato