My parents are not big beach people, so I don’t have a lot of childhood beach memories!
My first recollection of the ocean is from a trip we took with my aunt and uncle.
I think it was a day trip, and I remember being pretty amazed at how you could stand at the edge of the water and have your feet be buried in the sand because of the waves.
And I remember how weird it was to look down at a receding wave and feel like the ground was moving right before my eyes.
I also have a very distinct memory of my aunt bringing some containers of those canned snacks one could buy in the 70s and 80s.
And I remember her bringing red pistachios too.
Those both probably stuck in my memory because they were not regular fare at my house.
I also can remember being buried in the sand and crying because I was not immediately successful at freeing myself.
(If I remember correctly, one of my parents warned me that I might not like being buried. This has definitely happened with my own kids too; to some children, the idea of being buried seems more appealing than the reality!)
We moved to Hawaii when I was five, so I have LOTS. Poking washed-up man o’ wars (what we called them–a kind of small jellyfish) with sticks to watch them deflate. The feel of sandburn when boogie boarding. The loooong walk down to the Diamond Head beach.( I just looked that one up, because distances are sometimes not as long as a child remembers, but that one is a quarter mile, which is indeed a long way to haul all the towels and everything. To say nothing of climbing back up.) Eating so many carrot sticks on the drive home from Bellows Beach that our fingers turned orange. The time my mom forgot the bag with all of my clothes for a weeklong trip to Bellows and I spent most of the week in a swimsuit, which resulted in the worst sunburn of my entire life.
I’m glad I lived there when I was a kid so I can have the memories of the beach, anyway, because I really have zero desire to go to a beach now.
Oops. I meant the Diamond Head hike is three-quarters of a mile. Much more onerous than one quarter. 🙂
Ah, I grew up in Hawaii too. Closer to Hanauma Bay. I also recently looked up distances, we were less than 3 miles from the beach. So funny, we went to the pool at Kaiser High School more than we went to the beach. 😉 I also remember the Man of Wars, only got stung once, but I remember it. My elderly grandmother used to take us to Ala Moana Beach park, still makes me laugh as she was 74 when I was born and certainly could not have saved my brother and I had anything happened. We just hopped on our rafts and floated away and she sat under a tree and read a book! GREAT memories. I loved living there for my first 10 years!
The first time that I went to a beach was for a stop on a car trip with my father and sister when I was a teenager. That we had left our state was noteworthy in itself. I went into the Atlantic Ocean and got stung by a jellyfish. 🙁 The pain didn’t last but it really hurt in the moment. It was my first time seeing/being in the ocean so that wasn’t great. The experience has made me cautious on subsequent trips to the sea. On one vacation to the OBX, I packed rinsed water bottles with white vinegar to take when the kids were playing in the water in case someone did get stung. My son grabbed one to drink from before I could tell him that he shouldn’t. I think that I took two large bottles of vinegar with me that year. Still get teased about it from my family. 🙂
I was 2 and we went to Florida but I don’t really remember so I’m not counting it. When I wax 8 we moved from Illinois to Northern California. A few months later we took at trip to Southern CA to Disney and the San Diego Zoo and went to the ocean. Then a year or so later it was a shock to travel to freezing northern CA waters. But they are gorgeous and I love cool weather and don’t care about swimming so it’s refreshing to me.
I’ve been to the ocean twice (I’m 54).
The first time I was 39 & we took a family road trip following the Lewis & Clark trail. It was super exciting to see. My first thought was the terrible smell of rotting fish as we walked across the beach in Oregon.
The second time was four yrs ago when my husband & son were sent to San Diego for training with their jobs. My dil & I went along & we spent every single glorious day at the beach while the men were in classes. I loved San Diego.
Oh boy. I don’t remember the first time I saw the ocean. When I was 2, we moved to Lots Angeles, so…!
I remember the numbered lifeguard stations. My parents would say to stay near station number X, so we wouldn’t wander away.
I remember seaweed, sand castles, gulls, waves, and the odor of Copopertone.
We went to see our California relatives over Christmas when I was a sophomore in high school. We rode the ferry out around Alcatraz and back. To be truthful, I thought the Grand Canyon was much more interesting. I also flew over the ocean, to and from Montevideo in 2001, but there again, I thought Iguazu was much more interesting.
I think it was spring break in fifth grade when we went to Myrtle Beach for the first time. I loved that first view of the water that we got driving in.