PA28-181 PLT WITH RELATIVELY LOW EXPERIENCE LEVEL AND NO INST RATING ENCOUNTERS FOG ON THE CALIFORNIA COAST; MAKES APCH TO WRONG ARPT BUT IS AIDED RADAR VECTORING BY CRQ TWR TO HIS DEST ARPT IN LESS THAN VFR CONDITIONS.

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PLANNED A XCOUNTRY FLT FROM TORRANCE ARPT (TOA) TO PALOMAR ARPT (CRQ). OBTAINED WX BRIEFING FROM FSS ABOUT XA00 AM LCL FOR PROPOSED XA00 DEP. BRIEFER QUOTED CEILING AS 10000-15000 FT ALL ALONG PROPOSED RTE; VISIBILITY 6 MI OR BETTER EXPECTED. I CALLED PALOMAR ATIS ON THE TELEPHONE AFTER BRIEFING; AND ATIS RPTED CEILING 15000 FT; VISIBILITY 6 MI. ALL CONDITIONS SEEMED ADEQUATE FOR VFR FLT. I HAD ASKED BRIEFER IF THERE WAS ANY POSSIBILITY OF LOW CLOUDS/FOG ALONG THE WAY OR AT EITHER TOA OR CRQ; AND WAS TOLD THAT NONE WAS FORECAST. AROUND SAN ONOFRE; I COULD SEE A LAYER OF LOW CLOUDS ALONG THE COAST AHEAD OF ME. GOT CRQ ATIS. ATIS WAS RPTING 600 FT SCATTERED CLOUDS; CEILING 15000 FT BROKEN. DEWPOINT TEMP SPREAD WAS 1 DEG C. DECIDED TO ATTEMPT APCH. CONTACTED CRQ TWR AND WAS TOLD TO RPT ENTERING DOWNWIND. DSCNT THROUGH THIN; FOGGY CLOUD LAYER TO PATTERN ALT WAS NERVE-WRACKING. CLOUDS WEREN'T COMPLETELY OBSCURING VISIBILITY -- IT WAS MORE LIKE A THIN MIST. SAW ARPT; ENTERED DOWNWIND. COULD NOT FLY AT PATTERN ALT (1300 FT) BECAUSE I WOULD HAVE BEEN IN THE CLOUDS. ENTERED DOWNWIND APPROX 800 FT ALT; RPTED DOWNWIND TO TWR. TWR REPLIED THAT THEY SHOWED ME ON RADAR AS DOWNWIND FOR OCEANSIDE ARPT. I SAW THE WORD 'OCEANSIDE' PAINTED ON THE RAMP ADJACENT TO THE RWY. REQUESTED VECTORS FROM CRQ TWR TO ARPT. THEY GAVE ME VECTORS; BUT I COULD NOT SEE THE RWY. RPTED THAT I DID NOT HAVE RWY IN SIGHT. CRQ TWR TOLD ME TO PREPARE FOR GAR. I WAS ON SHORT FINAL (SPD APPROX 90 KTS). SAW RWY ABOUT 400 YARDS AHEAD. CALLED FOR GAR. CRQ TWR TURNED ME ON DOWNWIND MID-FIELD. I BEGAN APCH IN PATTERN AGAIN; STAYING AT ABOUT 700 FT MSL TO STAY OUT OF CLOUDS. MADE SUCCESSFUL APCH AND LNDG. THE ARPT WAS 'GOING IFR NOW.' I WAS THE LAST VFR FLT IN. LOTS OF BAD THINGS -- UNABLE TO MAINTAIN CLOUD CLRNCS OR REQUIRED MINIMAL ALT PER FAR'S. THE PROB AROSE BECAUSE I ACCEPTED THE ATIS RPT OF 600 FT SCATTERED; RATHER THAN BELIEVING MY OWN EYES; WHICH SHOWED ME THE CLOUD COVER WAS BROKEN/OVCST 600 FT; NOT SCATTERED. I DIDN'T WANT TO BELIEVE THAT THE WX BRIEFING I'D GOTTEN FROM FSS COULD BE SO WRONG. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS: WHEN I MADE MY CALL-UP TO CRQ; THE TWR DIDN'T TELL ME HOW RAPIDLY CONDITIONS WERE DETERIORATING OR WORN ME AWAY. WHEN I MADE MY CALL-UP; I WAS CLR OF CLOUDS. IF CRQ HAD SAID AT THAT POINT THAT THEY WERE 'GOING IFR;' I WOULD HAVE TURNED AROUND. HUMAN PERFORMANCE CONSIDERATIONS: WHATEVER CRQ TOLD ME; I RECOGNIZE THAT AS PIC IT'S MY CALL AS TO WHETHER TO START THE APCH OR NOT. I LET OTHERS' JUDGEMENTS (FSS; CRQ TWR) OVERRIDE MY OWN; AND THAT SHOULD NOT HAVE OCCURRED. WHEN I SAW HOW THICK THE CLOUDS WERE; I SHOULD HAVE STAYED CLR. ALSO; I SHOULD HAVE BEEN SPRING-LOADED FOR FOG/CLOUDS WHEN THE ATIS GAVE THE TEMP AS 14 DEGS C AND DEWPOINT AS 13 DEGS C. ALL IN ALL; IT WAS A MAJOR LEARNING EXPERIENCE.