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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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.[/quote]

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.[/quote]

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. [/quote]

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.[/quote]

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