Into the Deep: Love of the Ocean & Water

[gotoseagrl]

One of my favorite movies with the cutest little cottage by the sea.

[Cin]

Years ago I saw this painting at the MFA in Boston. They had a Winslow Homer collection there for a couple of months. I was mesmerized by it. It wasn't just that it looked like the rocks at Fogland Beach in Little Compton RI or rocks on the 12 mile drive (I've seen it called the 10 mile drive, but I grew up calling it 12) in Newport RI, nor was it only that there were 2 women dancing on a beautiful moonlit summer's night while a bunch of women sat on the rocks and stared out at the ocean, although that many women hanging out together and dancing in the moonlight in 1890 seemed way cool to me, it was the way Homer somehow made the moonlight look like it was actually sparkling off the water. It was a fabulous painting to my decidedly untrained eye and literally took my breath away. It also taught me that I needn't care that I knew jack shit about art or painting and it didn't matter how other people felt about the painting. All that is really important is how a piece of art speaks to you.

I grew up surrounded by ocean. I lived between Massachusetts' North shore with its amazing beaches, Cape Cod with its breathtaking sandy beaches that are a part of the National Seashore, and the rocky coastline of Newport, Tiverton, Little Compton etc. I was pretty lucky. I miss the ocean more than I can say.

[Zimmeh]

I was born in Daytona Beach, Florida. The beach has always been a natural way for me to relax. As a kid, we would go to the beach every weekend during the summer and even in the winter. I currently live in Bew Smyrna Beach, Florida and about ten minutes from the beach. I love the sunsets and sunrises here.

Thank you for starting this thread!

Zimmeh

[Chad]

Originally Posted by gotoseagrl

One of my favorite movies with the cutest little cottage by the sea.

That is one of my favorite movies!
Thank you for high lighting it.

[Stone-Butch]

I was born in Newfoundland Canada. The entire province is surrounded by the Atlantic ocean. There are lakes and rivers wherever you go but standing on high ground and looking at the ocean or walking the beaches on a windy day watching the waves crash on the rocks is my favorite. I go there every year I can and just breathe the salt air. It lifts me up so much.

[gotoseagrl]

I am crazy over lighthouses and this is my favorite one, Old Point Loma Lighthouse, late 1800s, at the Cabrillo Monument in San Diego. It is furnished with Victorian furniture from the era of the last family who lived there. They lived off of the garden and livestock they kept there as well. The children would travel across the bay to school. I love their story.

There was no way I could capture all of the most vast panoramic view of the sea that I think I've ever seen from that hilltop. I've seen a lot of beaches and ocean views and this was the most unforgettable. I was in awe.

[Cin]

This is Marconi Beach, one of my favorite beaches in Cape Cod. Pics rarely do justice to stuff like this.


There are literally miles of beaches along the Cape Cod National Seashore.

You can camp at Race Point Beach and I remember my wife and I really early one July morning drinking iced coffee on the beach and watching whales spouting water about 50 yards off shore. The memories I have of my time by the ocean are some of the best of my life.

One of my favorite memories was very, very, early one morning paddling a small raft type floatie way out in Cape Cod Bay so far out that I could no longer see the shore and just floating and letting the tide take me for awhile. A sandpiper landed on my leg and rode with me the whole way while I paddled back towards land. It was awesome. Here's a pic of the kind of floatie it was

[Greco]

Step Into Liquid (1/10) Movie CLIP - It's All About the Wave (2003) HD

Love the ocean...am addicted to this documentary...Madre Mar...

Great thread gotoseagrl!

Greco

[Zimmeh]

I love driving at night between Port Orange, Florida and New Smyrna Beach, Florida. Crossing Rose Bay, you will see the Prince de Leon Lighthouse lit up. It's very pretty and I've sent out a few post cards with its image. What I love about living on the East Coast of Florida, is that you can drive along A1A from Daytona Beach Shores to St. Augustine and just look out at the ocean. Flagler Beach is a non driving beach and its orange colored coquina rock beaches are my favorite. http://ponceinlet.org

[Zimmeh]

That is the one thing that I never was able to do while living in Massachusetts.

Thank you because now I will be planning a trip to Cape Cod!

Zimmeh

Originally Posted by Cin

This is Marconi Beach, one of my favorite beaches in Cape Cod. Pics rarely do justice to stuff like this.


There are literally miles of beaches along the Cape Cod National Seashore.

You can camp at Race Point Beach and I remember my wife and I really early one July morning drinking iced coffee on the beach and watching whales spouting water about 50 yards off shore. The memories I have of my time by the ocean are some of the best of my life.

One of my favorite memories was very, very, early one morning paddling a small raft type floatie way out in Cape Cod Bay so far out that I could no longer see the shore and just floating and letting the tide take me for awhile. A sandpiper landed on my leg and rode with me the whole way while I paddled back towards land. It was awesome. Here's a pic of the kind of floatie it was

[gotoseagrl]

"I sometimes think my vision of the sea is the clearest thing I own. I pick it up, exile that I am, like the purple ‘lucky stones’ I used to collect with a white ring all the way round, or the shell of a blue mussel with its rainbowy angel’s fingernail interior; and in one wash of memory the colors deepen and gleam, the early world draws breath." Sylvia Plath

[Cin]

Originally Posted by Zimmeh

I love driving at night between Port Orange, Florida and New Smyrna Beach, Florida. Crossing Rose Bay, you will see the Prince de Leon Lighthouse lit up. It's very pretty and I've sent out a few post cards with its image. What I love about living on the East Coast of Florida, is that you can drive along A1A from Daytona Beach Shores to St. Augustine and just look out at the ocean. Flagler Beach is a non driving beach and its orange colored coquina rock beaches are my favorite. http://ponceinlet.org

Originally Posted by Zimmeh

That is the one thing that I never was able to do while living in Massachusetts.

Thank you because now I will be planning a trip to Cape Cod!

Zimmeh

The only part of Florida I have ever been in the ocean is Naples and I loved how warm and full of life the water was. I had to be careful walking around in the water because i would crush the sand dollars which were abundant. I remember a ray jumped out of the water almost exactly where I was standing. My wife's step mother told us that only sharks make them do that. We made a day trip to Sanibel Island during that visit. It was before hurricane Charley split it in two, but we never went in the water. However from the top looking over a cliff I saw several sharks swimming with some boys who were body surfing. I doubt they even knew the sharks were there. I am totally in love with sharks. I respect them immensely but I also have great affection for them. They are awesome to see. I've spent years in the ocean, snorkling, diving, swimming, paddling my ass across Cape Cod Bay on a floatie and a variety of other water activities and I've only had the privilege of encountering up close and personal ten sharks in my lifetime. It was an awe inspiring experience every single time.

I would love to live where the water is warm and you can swim in the ocean all year. When I lived in MA near the ocean (which was most of my life) I swam from the minute i could stand to be in the ocean (maybe May) until the minute it was impossible for me to remain in the water without going numb, maybe the end of October. I remember going to an ENT for a bad ear infection and all he wanted to talk about, and dragged several students in for a look at, was something about the shape of my ear inside. He asked me if I my ethnicity was Northern European. I told him I was Portuguese and if my geography is correct that hardly qualifies as north. Then he asked me if I did a lot of cold water ocean swimming. Yep. Sure did.

But the water is great on Cape Cod for sure. What part of MA did you live? And what couldn't you do in the ocean?