🔍 Key Concepts

• Mooring buoy identification in the Aids to Navigation System • Difference between special purpose buoys and lateral/channel buoys • How light color relates (or does not relate) to daytime buoy color and shape

💭 Think About

• Think about what a mooring buoy is used for compared to buoys that mark channels or dangers. Would its light need to help you navigate, or just help you find the buoy itself? • Ask yourself which light colors are already heavily used for other important navigation aids (like port and starboard channel markers) and whether a mooring buoy would use those same colors. • Consider whether the light on a mooring buoy must match its daytime color (white with a blue band) or if the system standardizes light colors differently at night.

✅ Before You Answer

• Verify how mooring buoys are depicted on nautical charts, including color and any note about lighting. • Check which light colors are reserved for lateral marks (port and starboard) and whether those should be avoided for mooring buoys. • Confirm from the Aids to Navigation guidance which standard light color is associated with a mooring buoy, if it is lighted.