The fistful speaks of oceans

[Perd Hapley]

I hope you beach bums will share your thoughts and feelings with me.  (Doesn't that sound nice?)

I was born and raised in Missouri, in a working class family that didn't take two or three weeks off for vacation every summer.  We took one in Colorado one year, and flew to San Antonio a few years after that.  Beyond that, we drove all over Missouri and neighboring states on various short trips.  

Since childhood, I've been out west a couple of times, even as far west as Puget Sound.  I spent a few months at Fort Benning, Georgia, and a few years at Fort Hood, TX.  From there I went to Mexico a few times, and I've been to Bosnia, Croatia, and Hungary.  I've been on the tarmac at NYC, Bangor, Paris, and somewhere in Ireland.

Nevertheless, I've never seen the ocean, unless one counts the Puget Sound and seeing the waves on the beach as we took off from New York.  And I'm not sure I want to.  You see, bugs creep me out, and there's a lot of those in the ocean - lobster and so forth.  And all of that other stuff - the jellyfish, the anemones - I don't think I could handle 'em.  I don't think I would want to set foot in saltwater, there's too much ugly stuff in there.  And walking on sand with bare feet feels like my skin's about to pull apart.  It hurts.  

So, is it as spooky as it seems to me?  I guess I'd be used to it, if I were raised in Malibu, but I'm not sure.  How about you other non-coastals?  Was the ocean a little scarier than you expected, or is just not a big deal?  

OK, I'm done, you can make fun of me now.

[charby]

Did you grow up near Times Beach?

[wingnutx]

I don't like being on the surface in deep water, not knowing what is under me.

SCUBA diving is great, though.

Born and raised in Phoenix AZ, but we used to go to Mexico todive all the time when I was growing up.

[USP45usp]

I've seen the Atlantic (grew up in Florida from 7th to 12th), the Gulf and the Pacific (live on it now).

No, it's not spooky.  It's awe enspiring though.  Look out upon a vast field of water (like looking at a vast neverending field of wheat, grass, etc.. ).

Getting into the water is kinda scary at first.  You can feel the undertow and as you go further and further out it gets more powerful.

Salt water is not good for your eyes, but good for any sores that you may have.

Sand is hot but it feels so good to sqush the wet sand inbetween your toes.

Wave are either small, medium, or body surfing.  

Salt water, when it dries, creates a crust on your skin.  That is why they have regular water showers so you can rinse off.

In the gulf, you can walk out really, really far.  Unless you find one of the trenches they dredge so ships/boats can come in and out of port.

From seeing both the Atlantic and the Pacific, I think that the Pacific is rougher waters then the Atlantic, but that is just me.

Hope this helps .

[Typhoon]

Your general 'touristy' beach (lots of sand and folks) is pretty much not a big deal and usually safe.  For instance, the Southern California beaches don't have much going on in the way of critters unless you really go out into deep water.  Although sharks have been spotted off of California, it is quite a rare occurrence.  Off of California, we often get rip tides.  Not fun, (been caught in two of them) but as long as you don't panic and know what to do (swim parallel to the shore and then diagonally in) they are not excessively dangerous.  (However, I will stay out of the water during a rip-tide warning).

The closer you get to the tropics and reefs, the higher your critter quotient.  I grew up on the island of Okinawa (hence my Internet 'handle') and spent A LOT of time in the water.  Some of the reefs and beaches were fairly teeming with wildlife, and you learned to keep your hands to yourself and a sharp eye out for prickly, stinging and biting things.  (I've swum in tennis shoes, for instance, just because the coral extended far into the ocean).  

In the nine years and amongst us three kids, the only injury was when my sister was brushed by a jelly fish.  Unpleasant, but not that bad.  Now, that is not to say that there aren't some nasty jellyfish out there (the box-shaped sea wasps come to mind - Kill you plenty) but they typically stayed on the Pacific side of the island, not on the East China Sea side.  Most of the critters seemed to have the good sense to keep out of the heavily human-inhabited splash zones.  

Take the pluge one of these days.  It really is not that big of a deal.

[Monkeyleg]

I've ridden my motorcycle along the Pacific Coast Highway many times. One of the most awe-inspiring sights is Big Sur. The colors are indescribable.

Milwaukee, as you know, is right on Lake Michigan. The vastness of the view of water is the same. But knowing that I'm viewing an ocean somehow makes it different.

[crt360]

It depends.  You'd probably find the water along the Texas coast pretty spooky.  All the times I've spent down there from Galveston to South Padre, it was a murky green.  Try to avoid going in it with open sores or cuts.  Despite what people used to say, there's some nasty bacteria in that water that occasionally causes necrotizing fasciitis and other bad stuff.  Plenty of things swimming around in it, too.  I had fun in it when I was younger, but aside from maybe bayfishing for trout I don't really care much for it anymore.  I've been to the Pacific Coast a few times, but never got in the water - can't tell you much about it.  Go to some place in South Florida or the Bahamas where the water is super clear.  I had a lot of fun in the Bahamas, renting a little boat and going out snorkling - got up close to all kinds of little colorful fish, big stingrays, giant manta rays, and way too close to a big school of barracudas that stopped and checked me out.  There's stuff out there that can kill you (or at least sting you or bite a limb off), but the odds of it happening are pretty slim.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

I'm a Hoosier.  Like all good Hoosiers, I grew up spending my summer weekends at the lake.  

Lots of critters in lake water, bugs, fish, seaweed ("lakeweed"?), more fish, sand, turtles, even more fish, frogs, and all sorts of other cool stuff.  None of it is big enough to hurt a person, though, so I never developed any fear of the water.  Lakes are fun.  Friendly.  Tastey, too.  Bluegill, perch, bass.  Mmmm...

Oceans suck.  All that salt, blech!  It burns you eyes, your mouth, your sinuses.  It dries out your skin and leaves you feeling crusty and dirty.  Sharp shells everywhere for you to step on and cut your feet.  And of course, once you're cut the salt water stings there too.  The wildlife is big enough to hurt you if it wants.  Sharks, jellyfish, crabs, all sorts of malevolent critters.  Waves big enough to knock you over.  Currents and undertowes that can drag you away to your death.

I have a scar on my forehead, I got it when I was a child.  I was swimming in the ocean, and a big wave came and pulled my under, flipped me over a few times, and smacked my head against a sharp rock or something.  Took a chunk out of my forhead, a chunk that's still missing to this day.  Stung like a bitch at the time, too.  Stupid ocean.  

A lake would never do that to a person.  It's a matter of respect, of courtesy.  Lakes have it, oceans don't.  Stupid oceans.

Oceans suck.  Not quite scary or intimidating per se, just dumb.  A waste of perfectly good water, water that could be better spent inland in a good lake.

[grampster]

I grew up just a few miles from Lake Michigan.  Spent a lot of my youth on the beaches from Saugatuck to Muskegon and points north as I got older.  Iv'e also spent time around Lake Superior and Lake Huron.  The big lakes are beautiful and deep and cold. (usually)  Not much to worry about in fresh water other than storms.  They give up some mighty tasty fish, though.  (Perch and whitefish)  I don't care for salmon or lake trout.

Been to the east coast (Cape May) and Swmbo and I go to Florida in the winter, so we hang out along the Gulf  and in Key West we get both the gulf and the ocean.  I don't especially like swimming in the ocean, but I have.  I'd rather swim in a nice heated pool that has a tiki bar handy with a chaize lounge for naps.

This January and February I'm gonna do some fishing and kayaking while we're in KW.

[280plus]

We Navy folks have a saying, "See all that water? That's only the top." Then there's "You're never more than 7 miles from land, it's just straight down."

I love swimming in the ocean. The spookiest was swim call out in the middle of the Sea of Japan. No land in sight anywhere and don't ask me how far down the bottom was, I couldn't touch, that's for sure.

Other than that I was an avid pacific Coast body surfer for a while. I'd do it here but the waves just suck most of the time on the northeast coast. And then theres the rocks...

I HATE getting tangled up in kelp though. :shudder:

[Guest]

You can drown from a glass of water.  Ocean Drowning tho, much more respectable.

[Art Eatman]

I've messed around in the Gulf a lot.  Mostly swimming and fishing around Panama City, Florida, and the same around Corpus Christi and Port Aransas.  A lot of offshore fishing, out at the bluewater line.

Lotsa fun; nothing bad ever happened.  The only interaction with sharks was cleaning them and then cooking and eating.  Blacktips are prime goodie.

Art

[Dannyboy]

I've lived on the ocean for most of my life, except for the 8 years in the Army.  The ocean is awesome.  That's the only word to describe it.

[Standing Wolf]

I spent a couple of my years in the People's Republic of California on assorted beaches. I mean I spent all week end every week end at the beach, and many work day evenings, as well.

The most dangerous creature I ever encountered was a representative of Homo sapiens who was frightened by the sight of a naked man. A sleeping seal and I once startled each other: I thought it was a rock, and didn't give it a wide enough berth. I ended up with tarry feet whenever I hung out at beaches on the Santa Barbara channel. The water, generally about 55°, was too cold for me to swim in longer than about five minutes at a time.

[MillCreek]

Here in the upper left corner of the United States, our beaches are generally rocky and/or carpeted with gravel, the water temperature is usually 50 degrees year round, and it is so murky that your field of vision is limited to a few feet.  I am more of a mountains person myself, which we have in abundance up here.

[Moondoggie]

It doesn't matter how deep it is, you only need the top couple of feet or so.

I'm a water baby.  Always loved to swim, snorkel, surf, scuba, sail, etc.  Started my ocean adventures when I joined the Marines at 18 and got stationed in SOCAL.   OK, so why am I living in Nebraska??

The best open water I've experienced is in the Bahamas.  Warm, good visibility, lots of neat critters to look at.  Pretty colored fisheys.  Not much dangerous stuff, but hey, you can get run over crossing the street.

When my family obligations in Nebraska are fulfilled (looking after 83 yr old MIL) and we're free to relocate some sort of water feature will be a consideration when we pick our spot.  A good sized lake in AR will do.  A 20 ft sailboat will suffice.

[Guest]

I guess that's the meaning of 'different strokes for different folks.'

I'm from central Alabama.  Growing up (in the 1950s), my family took a week's vacation at Orange Beach (Gulf of Mexico) every summer.  When I was old enough (8? 9?) my dad started taking me out with him to go fishing on the charter boats that ran out into the Gulf.  I don't even remember my first encounter with salt water, I was too little to remember it.  I thought no more of playing in what passe for surf in the Gulf than playing in the swimmin' hole in the creek at home.

I've always loved it.  I still do.  When I was a teenager, it was The Hangout, an open pavillion on the beach at Gulf Shores.  I never got to the stage where I frequented the Florabama, a legendary beach bar that straddles the state line that wasn't far away.  After I moved to NC and discovered the Atlantic, I took up surfing and real deep- sea fishing.  Unfortunately a seizure disorder put a stop to both those activities, there's no percentage in going unconscious in the ocean.  And though it's been a while since I have had a seizure, I still haven't gotten back an a board and my time on the deck of a boat has been scant as well.

One of my favorite beach vacations was in the summer of 1990.  I was asked to accompany a lady friend, her daughter, two other women and one boy on a trip to Portsmouth Island, an uninhabited island that is part of the Cape Lookout National Seashore in NC ( http://www.portsmouth-island.com/ ).  The island is 20-something miles long and it takes a 4X4 to get around on it.  I had one at the time, so my truck and I got invited along.  The womenfolks had a cabin on the dune (no electricity, no potable water), the menfolks pitched a tent on the beach.  I think I impressed the kids that first morning on the beach, when I told them that there was nothing between them and Portugal except miles and miles of ocean, and they really needed to be careful and not play in the water without adults watching them.  We managed to get them home without losing either of them.  It was a great trip, especially seeing the old Life Saving Station, predecessors to the Coast Guard:

http://www.nps.gov/archive/calo/pv.htm
snip=
Glimpses of Portsmouth:The United States Life Saving Station was a leading influence in the community from the late 1890's until its closure in 1937. The crews were often made up from local citizens. Life was disciplined, drills harsh, and respect in the community was widespread. From the watchtower, a nightly guard scanned the waters for vessels in trouble. Foot patrols walked the dark, stormy ocean beaches. Behind the large doors of the boathouse, oar powered surfboats waited, ready to be sent down the ramp and out to sea at a moment's notice.=snip

I have seen the Atlantic when it was feeling its oats in the teeth of a hurricane, I have a giant amount of admiration for men who had the strength and courage to take small boats out into a storm's fury in order to try and help vessels in distress.  For more see http://www.uslife-savingservice.org/ , http://www.uscg.mil/history/h_USLSS.html etc.  Old salts along the coast talked of the heroism of these men in respectful tones, and it takes a lot to get respect from crusty old crabs along the oceanfront.  I never knew any of these men, but I have seen what they faced.  They must have clanked when they walked.

I don't have anything negative to say about people who don't care for the beach or the ocean.  As my friends and I used to say while heading out 30 or 40 miles into the Atlantic out of Shallotte for a day of fishing, "Thank God for golf courses, otherwise there would be three times as many boats out here."

lpl/nc

[Perd Hapley]

Thanks for all the replies.  I guess I gave the impression that I was planning on avoiding coastlines all my life long.  Actually, I've been curious to see the seashore for some time, and I will when I get around to it. 

I imagine I won't have a big problem with getting into the water.  After all, I've been in rivers and lakes where poisonous snakes were present.  Then again, snakes don't freak me out like bugs and octupi do.  I have a healthy respect for the dangers snakes represent, and that's about it.


Did anybody get the literary allusion?

[Matthew Carberry]

Did anybody get the literary allusion?

Well, you're either the Lorax or "a Joker, a toker, a midnight smoker"....

[Perd Hapley]

Wrong.

I don't know what a Lorax is, or where Steve Miller comes in.

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The Negro Speaks of Rivers
by Langston Hughes

Ive known rivers:
Ive known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and Ive seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

Ive known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.


Langston Hughes, The Negro Speaks of Rivers from Collected Poems. Copyright © 1994 by The Estate of Langston Hughes.