My Life-Long Love Affair With Water

Water, especially the ocean, has always enchanted me

All my life, I have loved being around, and preferably in, water. It has the power to calm me and fill me with joy and peace when nothing else can. Water has been an important part of my life since I was a young child.

Although I also enjoy swimming pools, waterfalls, lakes, and other bodies of water, the ocean is where I am happiest. I have many fond memories of time spent walking on the beach or playing in the waves.

Once I learned to snorkel and dive, my love of the ocean reached a whole new level. Words are inadequate to describe the beauty of the underwater world and the serenity I experience when I am immersed in it.

I feel a spiritual connection to the sea turtles, rays, dolphins, and other marine animals I have been blessed to swim alongside.

My childhood beach vacations

Every summer, my family would drive from our home in New Orleans to Florida to spend a week at the beach. I always eagerly anticipated that trip.

At first, we stayed in a hotel. I loved that hotel because it had a large pool with a waterfall I could stand underneath and let the water wash over me. I could also swim through it and enter a cave-like area with a swim-up bar. I thought that was so cool!

When our family grew larger (I’m the oldest of six kids), we rented a cottage. It was part of a beachfront complex in Destin, so the ocean was a short walk away.

We would build sandcastles and play in the waves all morning, then go back to the cottage for lunch and a break from the sun. I was always impatient to return to the beach for the afternoon.

My beach trips as an adult

As a college student in Texas, I would occasionally take day trips to the beach. The drive time was more than two hours each way, and I couldn’t afford to stay overnight, so those beach trips were rare treats.

The most memorable one was when I walked past a naked man. He was sprawled on the sand next to a rock with “nude beach” spray-painted on it.

My first beach trip outside the United States was when my husband and I honeymooned on Grand Cayman Island in 1991. That was also the first time I snorkeled and discovered a whole new world existed underneath the waves.

Since then, I have been to many different beaches. My husband and I have visited Fiji, the Bahamas, and various beaches within the United States. I have vacationed in Cancun, Mexico with my best friend, and Fort Morgan Beach, Alabama with my mom.

Of all the beach destinations I have visited, Maui is my favorite. My husband and I first vacationed there in 2001. We loved it so much that when we returned home we quit our jobs, sold our house, and moved to Maui! You can read my detailed account of that adventure here.

My unforgettable encounters with marine life

My beach trips and the ten years I lived on Maui have enabled me to have some incredibly close encounters with marine life.

One of those remarkable experiences is captured in the photo above. It was taken at Stingray City, a sandbar off the coast of Grand Cayman where wild stingrays gather. I got to touch and feed one of them, and swim with many others.

When I lived on Maui, there were plenty of coral reefs within easy swimming distance of shore. I spent time in the ocean, surrounded by a wide variety of marine animals, whenever possible.

Vibrantly colored tropical fish were my constant companions. Occasionally, I also got to swim with dolphins, spotted eagle rays, sharks and eels. Once a curious monk seal approached me; another time a manta ray swam by.

Two of my experiences with marine animals were especially memorable.

The first was the time I saw two octopuses mating. I noticed them because they didn’t change color to blend in with their surroundings. Instead, they remained red, and one had an arm extended into the other’s body.

The other was when I was given the opportunity to wade into the ocean and release baby seahorses born at the Maui Ocean Center. It was wonderful to let them go and watch them swim off to begin their new life!

Sea turtles

Sea turtles were another animal I frequently encountered. Because I volunteered with Hawaii Wildlife Fund, I got to watch as a sea turtle crawled ashore one night, used her flippers to dig a nest, laid her eggs, and covered the nest with sand. She then made her way back to the ocean and swam away.

When those eggs hatched, I helped smooth out the sand so they would have a clear path to the water. A wildlife official allowed me to hold a turtle hatchling in the palm of my hand before placing it gently on the sand so it could crawl into the surf and float out to sea.

I also often saw sea turtles in the water when I snorkeled. My presence did not seem to bother them. In fact, they sometimes swam so close to me that I had to back away to avoid colliding with them!

Humpback whales

The annual return of Maui’s humpback whales was another source of great delight. I eagerly awaited their arrival each year and had so much fun watching them.

Although the whales can be seen from shore, I much preferred the closer view I got while aboard a zodiac raft. Humpbacks give birth in Maui’s waters and curious calves sometimes swam right up to boats I was on. Their moms were always nearby.

Humpbacks engage in many behaviors that I found highly entertaining. They do things like breach (jump completely out of the water), form competition pods (groups of males in hot pursuit of a female), and spy hop (stick their heads out of the water to look around).

You can read detailed descriptions of my most memorable encounters with these gentle giants here.

If you are planning a trip to Maui and want my tips on the best ways to see humpback whales, read this article.

Conclusion

If I could live in the ocean, I would. The beach has always been my happy place. Playing in the ocean calms me and gives me peace.

I am fortunate to have had many close encounters with marine animals. Each one has filled me with awe and gratitude.

If you have never experienced the underwater world, I encourage you to find a way to do so. A wonderful adventure awaits! If you cannot swim or otherwise need to avoid being immersed in water, perhaps you can visit an aquarium. Another option is to watch online videos posted by divers.

The marine environment is incredibly diverse and unbelievably beautiful. I’m glad I have been able to experience it in a variety of ways and locations.

Thanks to Anne Bonfert and her wonderful article about her adventures in water for the inspiration to write about mine!