Swimming in the Ocean

[Mark424]

First time I did it was 20 years ago on my first trip to Catalina - only 26 miles away, but was a big jump for a newbie skipper. Not a lick of wind, a great swim. An hour later, we passed a big shark sunning himself (herself).......The next time was in the central Pacific on the way to the Marquesas.....a wild experience to have your eyes at sea level with nothing for a 1000+ miles horizontally and 2 miles vertically. I vividly remember the sun streaks Ericka talked about.

[Aqua Vitae]

I agree with the feeling of being suspended. It's creepy as hell if you let it get to you. But, then again, I think that it is all merely in your head.

That said, my girlfriend (who lives aboard with me) will jump in at night and do a song and dance if the bioluminescence is good. If a girl disturbing the surface of the water, at night, while plankton lights her up, is not good enough for a shark, then I don't know what is! But I still refuse to join her.

[vegasandre]

Yes maybe its a 1 in million shot, but I still see this in my dreams or nightmares:

YouTube - Caught on Video - Girl Attacked By Shark!

[virginia boy]

I went swimming in the ocean one time at age 13 immediatly after watching the movie "Jaws." Needless to say, I went in only knee deep and have yet to step foot in the ocean again! Not gonna happen! Eric

[donradcliffe]

If your boat is not moving, it becomes a magnet for the curious denizens of the deep. I remember going swimming about 50 miles offshore during a calm day on one of the Mexican races. No one stayed in long, but within 10 minutes there was an 8 ft shark following the boat--that was the last time we tried it.

[Canibul]

Naked on a moonless night under a zillion stars as bright as alien diamonds with their own lights, stoned and making underwater trails in the bioluminescence in 12,000 ft of water and playing with a glow-in-the-dark Frisbee.....

yeah, that one stays with me.

[Sandyh]

Ye, it's magnificent!

Just make sure there's one competent crew member remaining on board!!

Cheers

[Blue Stocking]

Originally Posted by unbusted67

That is a beautiful and poetic description.

Isn't it though. In the Erika we have come to know and love, beats the heart of a romantic novelist methinks.

[sailorboy1]

What was the movie, Adrift II or something, where everyone went over for a swim with the broading ladder up and couldn't get back on the boat.

Funny that a few responses say they have done it a number of times, but it scares them real bad. Yet they kept doing it!

[Steve W]

and don't forget to drop the ladder...remember that movie where everyone jumped in and could not get back on the boat?

[LakeSuperior]

Originally Posted by Steve W

and don't forget to drop the ladder...remember that movie where everyone jumped in and could not get back on the boat?

"Open Water II" great haunting movie!

[Ocean Girl]

Thanks Bluestocking/unbuster67, I really needed that. Most of you have seen me put my foot in it (more than once!!), but when it comes to the ocean, my tongue gets unstuck from the roof of my mouth and I get all warm and fuzzy. My friends at work say I glow when I talk about the ocean, thats where the "Ocean Girl" name was started. So yes, hopeless. And yes, I am on my third romantic novel but its written under a nom de plume

Sharks tend to look for food where food is found, that is near shore (how do ya like my logic?). Offshore, fewer sharks are around BUT they are more likely to strike without hesitation due to the scarcity of food. I love sharks, I have ever since I was a kid. Been in the water with reefs, sand, and a big bull, I "accidentally" swam into a cave full of black tips, and had to run from a frisky nurse shark (of all things). I know they are harmless but he was just to damn interested in me. You should of heard the ribbing that night on the dive boat. I may of used up all my nine lives, but man what a ride. A few years ago I delivered a boat across the Gulf. It was a bad trip and one of the few times I thought I might not make it to land. Well, as I sat in the cockpit wondering what else could break or leak, I looked behind me and there in our wake was a big shark fin. I had a renewed energy to fix the leaks and breaks. So you see, they can really be a motivational boost to any offshore sailor.

Cheers,
Erika

PS. love the stories, keep em coming!

[captden]

Originally Posted by Canibul

Naked on a moonless night under a zillion stars as bright as alien diamonds with their own lights, stoned and making underwater trails in the bioluminescence in 12,000 ft of water and playing with a glow-in-the-dark Frisbee.....

yeah, that one stays with me.

I couldn't of said it better. Many years ago. My first delivery. A 50 ft concrete ketch some where in the middle of the Alantic, with a bunch of friends. What a flashback

Captden

[barnakiel]

Many do. I have not.

Make sure you are on the leash.

Can't see why not.

b.

[rustypirate]

We were becalmed for several days around Christmas 1983 in the South Atlantic en route from Cape Town to St Helena. There were two families of four on the boat, and all four of us kids went for a swim.

Everything was great, and uneventfull, but a wonderfull feeling being able to see so deep and not see the bottom.

On a sadder note I knew a wonderfull family on a large (50'+) cat out of Cape Town that took a young man on as crew. One day during their passage while under way the new guy thought it would be cool to trail a line from the rear, and jump off forward between the hulls to catch the line and climb back aboard.
Needless to say, he missed his rope. They were only a couple of miles from shore along the coast of what is now Namibia, but he was never found.