If you are sending your entering freshman to our west coast schools, advise your young adults to follow the rules and listen to lifeguards/rangers.
Yesterday, my dh and I walked along our shore and coastline and observed some wasteful, unsafe and (for lack of a better word) stupid behaviors. I’m guessing that many were tourists because they stuck out like a sore thumb. Swimming in the ocean is very different from swimming in pools or lakes!
**The ocean is unpredictable**. Let me say that again: The ocean is unpredictable.
Listen to the lifeguards. Watch for the flags!!! Swim with a buddy.
No matter how strong a swimmer you think you are, you are no match for the ocean. We have rip currents, wave sets, tangling seaweed, cold salt-water temperatures and sometimes, sharks. If you are not a strong swimmer, don’t turn your back to the waves. You will get a mouthful of saltwater. Don’t assume that lifeguards are posted at every tower during evenings or off-season. People got hammered yesterday because they weren’t looking and were swimming in the wrong areas. Lights are not posted at the ocean water, you cannot be seen in the dark, so don’t go swimming in dark water.
**If you bring it in, pack it out!** Don't contaminate our oceans more than they already are!
I picked up lots of small plastic waste, like the kinds you find on packaged bakery items (cookie packages, capri sun, water bottles).
**Learn to READ!** If it's posted, there is a reason it is posted. If is says to stay away from the cliffs, you need to stay away from the cliffs! If it says, Stay on the trail, stay on the trail! We have eroding cliffs and there is never a warning. If you step off the trail, you may end up falling from an eroding cliff. Don't play near the cliffs. The low and high tides are posted by the staffs.
There is always some sad tale about a student or tourist or who dies in the ocean or coast because they were doing something unsafe. (Falling on the cliffs at night, not having recent experiences swimming then going into cold water ocean waves, taking a dare.) People need to be aware and cautious. Mother Nature IS unpredictable.
And if you’re on a beach where there are logs near the water, stay away from the logs.
It’s fun to walk on them; it’s way less fun to be crushed to death by one. Water can easily lift a log and roll it over on you.
Riptides are real on parts of our coast. Usually there are signs. Too many folks don’t realize that if you can’t swim out of a riptide, you’re supposed to let the riptide carry you out until it tapers off and then swim parallel to the shore until you escape it. Instinct is to swim directly to shore.
Believe it or not, there are actually oceans and coastlines and lifeguards and rip currents in places other than the West Coast. All of these apply there too! Even to non-freshmen!
Every year, more than one foolish person stands too close to ocean waves in Maine and gets washed away. Others go kayaking in the ocean without proper gear and die of hypothermia after falling in. There are also mean rip tides up here.
Love the learn to read suggestion. If the sign says the water has high bacteria or that sharks have been sighted believe it. In my tourist beach town don’t go in the water for several days after a rain. The creeks drain into the ocean and bring with it lots of bad stuff that can get you sick. I can’t say that my ocean living husband always follows the advice of the signs. He went in the water last week the day a shark was sighted right off the beach he plays volleyball at. He told me that he was quick and didn’t go out deep. That night on the news they said the shark was sighted in shallow water.
It’s always good to know of the local “death traps” that you might not be aware of. I grew up near the ocean, but I had never heard of the “sneaker waves” that they have in Oregon. These are waves that are rare but exceptionally far traveling and can and will carry people off who are just wading in ankle deep water and not paying attention.
When I told a cousin I was going to visit Colorado, he had me on the phone for an hour talking about dangerous things. Bears are one thing we might be intuitively afraid of, but I had no idea that the high altitude can cause lightning strikes, out of a clear sky, every day in the summer by noon. The heat of the sun reflects off the rocky tops of the Rockies, and bounces back up into the atmosphere, causing thunderstorms. Because it is so high there, the heat doesn’t have to bounce back very far and thunderstorms form by noon. Hikers who have brunch and are caught out in the afternoon can be in trouble.
And in the DC area, many people vastly underestimate the Potomac River, especially at Great Falls. If you go in the river there, you’re not getting out. If you try to go over Little Falls in a boat, you probably won’t survive.
@greenwitch funny you should mention Colorado. We just had a friend from Boston visit for 2 days. Within hours of flying into Denver he came down with pretty bad altitude sickness. Woke up with a bloody nose due to the dryness here. Then drove from Denver to Grand Junction (5+ hour drive) during which he experienced a snow blizzard, a heatwave and got pricked by a cactus.
He later told us we live in way too dangerous a place for his liking
It’s funny to think there are places that have so few sharks they can actually post a sign about when one is ‘sighted.’
Although maybe this year we’ll be in that situation since the extended red tide last year killed so much of the sea life. We’re just now seeing more bait fish and dolphin activity. It’s gator mating season right now, though, so better to be in the salt water than most of the fresh…
I think my intent really was for both coasts, but for some reason, the image of “California” brings out a lack of safety in “paradise” for young people. I noted that behavior this weekend on the beach. Oregon, Washington can get the same lack of awareness-that Mother Nature is alive and well.
I think I previously mentioned that my dd, while at Davis (farm country), was asked by a girl (from OOS) in full bikini, how to get to the beach. The dorm mates from California laughed and thought that the girl was kidding.
(We are from SoCal, and the girl knew this.) My dd explained that it would take a couple of transfers on the trains, several hours, and, my as dd indicated, that she wouldn’t recommend swimming off the coast of San Francisco. DD explained that the girl was completely serious and completely aghast that all roads in California did not lead directly to the Pacific Ocean. SMH
When I went to school in Eugene, OR, folks would wear swimsuits and shorts and tank tops on the first sunny “springy” day, lying out on beach towels on the grass even if it was 40-50 degrees and they had goosebumps and caught colds.
When I went to the “beach” in Oregon (winter), we dressed very warmly because it was COLD. None of us went in the water.
Funny how where we live shapes our perceptions. When I think of lack of safety awareness , I think of all the suburban/rural students flocking to the cool urban campuses for the “excitement “. Well, some of those campuses are in sketchy neighborhoods - it can be a real shock for some. My suburban niece summed it up after the safety talk at Temple - “Who knew so many people wanted to hurt me!”
