Why don’t Americans generally like swimming in the ocean?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am from the mid Atlantic, no way would I ever go swimming at a local beach. Now, when I go to Florida I do go swimming, but I feel strange doing it as it was really dangerous to go swimming at the beach in NC where I grew up. Like the pp said, the US is a large country, and only a small part of it has beaches that are really safe to swim.

I grew up in SC. We swim in the ocean and I feel ok doing it because I know how to handle waves, etc. You just go out past the breakers. If a wave is about to hit you and you are deep enough,, go under it.

But I grew up hearing to never go to NC beaches because they are dangerous. The outer banks for example has cold water and dangerous rip tides. I would never vacation there.

I grew up at the beaches in NC and very few people go out beyond the breakers to swim. The people who go out and swim usually aren't from the area and don't understand rip tides. We used to think they occurred once in a while but we know they are constantly there. People drown all the time at the NC beaches because of them.

A lot depends upon what is going on under the water as the topography (right word?) of the area which can shift after storms. Major storms changed our favorite beach and added a sudden drop off near the first line of breakers. We would see sharks and dolphins swimming in that and didn't feel safe. I see more swimmers at the beaches in Cape Cod. One of the places we go to never has swells and despite the sharks people actually swim a lot there. Our beaches in NC generally have much more serious surf.

SC person here. Can you name which NC beaches you’re referring to? Am curious.

My family for generations the rule is, go out past the breakers. The person a few posts above who said she stays on waist high water - no! That’s the most dangerous part! That’s where the break on you and it’s shallow enough that ducking underwater under the wave crest is too hard/dangerous because it’s too shallow so the wave breaks on you. But maybe the way the waves work in the crescent part of the SC beaches is different.

[Anonymous]

Rip currents are dangerous. The waves are crazy.

I have been swimming in the Baltic and Mediterranean Seas (calm) which is nothing like swimming off the coast of North Carolina or California/Hawaii.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rip currents are dangerous. The waves are crazy.

I have been swimming in the Baltic and Mediterranean Seas (calm) which is nothing like swimming off the coast of North Carolina or California/Hawaii.

We body surf and ride the waves in on rafts in NC, but don’t actually swim. The waves/currents too strong.

[Anonymous]

I think it's because the beaches around here are so regulated. You can't have any type of flotation device and you can't go past the break to the calm water to swim without being signaled to come in by the lifeguards.

I grew up in CA and love swimming in the ocean. There's nothing like it. The beaches in MD and VA are absolute trash compared to CA, I'm sorry.

The closest you can get to the freedom of a CA beach is in the OBX. No lifeguards to blow at you to come in closer to shore. No one to tell you you can't sit your happy a$$ in a float that's anchored and relax in the calm water.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's because the beaches around here are so regulated. You can't have any type of flotation device and you can't go past the break to the calm water to swim without being signaled to come in by the lifeguards.

I grew up in CA and love swimming in the ocean. There's nothing like it. The beaches in MD and VA are absolute trash compared to CA, I'm sorry.

The closest you can get to the freedom of a CA beach is in the OBX. No lifeguards to blow at you to come in closer to shore. No one to tell you you can't sit your happy a$$ in a float that's anchored and relax in the calm water.

I’m from SC. Been going to the beaches there my whole life. Never seen a lifeguard on the beaches there. No rules really since there is no one there to enforce.

[Anonymous]

I think Seinfeld nailed it:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ut8w1amZ7hc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am from the mid Atlantic, no way would I ever go swimming at a local beach. Now, when I go to Florida I do go swimming, but I feel strange doing it as it was really dangerous to go swimming at the beach in NC where I grew up. Like the pp said, the US is a large country, and only a small part of it has beaches that are really safe to swim.

I grew up in SC. We swim in the ocean and I feel ok doing it because I know how to handle waves, etc. You just go out past the breakers. If a wave is about to hit you and you are deep enough,, go under it.

But I grew up hearing to never go to NC beaches because they are dangerous. The outer banks for example has cold water and dangerous rip tides. I would never vacation there.

I grew up at the beaches in NC and very few people go out beyond the breakers to swim. The people who go out and swim usually aren't from the area and don't understand rip tides. We used to think they occurred once in a while but we know they are constantly there. People drown all the time at the NC beaches because of them.

A lot depends upon what is going on under the water as the topography (right word?) of the area which can shift after storms. Major storms changed our favorite beach and added a sudden drop off near the first line of breakers. We would see sharks and dolphins swimming in that and didn't feel safe. I see more swimmers at the beaches in Cape Cod. One of the places we go to never has swells and despite the sharks people actually swim a lot there. Our beaches in NC generally have much more serious surf.

SC person here. Can you name which NC beaches you’re referring to? Am curious.

My family for generations the rule is, go out past the breakers. The person a few posts above who said she stays on waist high water - no! That’s the most dangerous part! That’s where the break on you and it’s shallow enough that ducking underwater under the wave crest is too hard/dangerous because it’s too shallow so the wave breaks on you. But maybe the way the waves work in the crescent part of the SC beaches is different.

My cousin almost drowned in a rip tide when she and I were floating on a small raft beyond the breakers on Emerald Isle. We would slide off the raft and swim a little, and try to touch the bottom and she got dragged out. We had been in fairly calm water and it rapidly changed. She was a strong swimmer. I was the weaker swimmer but for some reason I was washed in by the now large waves. A female marine who had been a swim instructor saved her. It was terrifying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I learned people pee and poop in the ocean it lost its appeal for me, especially when visiting crowded beaches with lots of families with small children. Leaky diapers, snotty noses, urine - no thanks.

PP, I have some potentially distressing news to tell you about pools….

Lol!!

[Anonymous]

Thanks for everyone’s responses! Very eye opening. I didn’t realize that so many people are scared of sharks and riptides.

I live in the DC area and I’m talking about talking about east coast beaches (Md, DE, NC and NJ) are the ones I’ve been to. I don’t know how it is in the West coast or Hawaii.