My first real ocean view was Ocean Beach in San Francisco. I loved it. Of course in typical tourist fashion, we rolled up our pants and took off our shoes and socks and went wading. n knee deep water, when the wave was receding from the beach it felt like the ocean was making a serious effort to pull me out to sea.That's when I got my first real sense of the power of the ocean. I knew I was a strong swimmer but it made me nervous as hell just the same. Plus, it was summer and the water was frigid.
Ocean Beach SF Surf Cam. The surf is treacherous and as I said, the water is frigid. Plus, there is a great white shark breeding ground nearby, just outside the Golden Gate Bridge.
Mt next view of the Pacific Ocean was Half Moon Bay - a fairly typical state beach .It was a fun place with some great restaurants. The water was still frigid but at least we were further away from those pesky sharks.
We continued south down Highway 1 to Santa Cruz , which rapidly became my favorite ocean spot. I wonder why. Must have been that roller coaster - The Big Dipper and the Mad Mouse. Funnily enough I remember neither the water temperature or the distance to the great white breeding grounds. Must have been that bumper car ride.
A little furthersouth was the last stop on our ocean/beach tour, Monterey. The thing I liked best about the entire highway 1 trip was the ruggedness of the coast. There were normal beach places but th e coastline is basically rugged - and gorgeous.
My dad insisted we take the boa1t tour of Monterey Bay. When looking out to the bay and seeing nothing but whitecaps, I was not really interested but alas my 8y-year old vote was quickly smashed by those cruel parent types. If the Santa Cruz roller coaster had been on the water it would have only been half as scary as that darn boatride.Of course I asked if there were shatks on the bay. You bet said the cheshire cat-ike ggrinning captain. It just dawned on me that perhaps Mr Speilberg was also a passenger on the trip as I am sure I said something like "We need a bigger boat". The boat captain and my dad had a great time - me not so much. My Mom was somewhat neutral, perhaps fearing for the sanity of her firstborn child.
That day in Monterey ended my first exposure to the Pacific Ocean. I even stopped thinking about that boatride when we stopped at the Giant Artichoke Restaurant and I go-t myfirst taste of deep-fried artichoke hearts. It is true - everything is better fried.
The trip was a rousing success. The next summer we packed up our 1957 Dodge Cornet, loaded UHAUL trailer and headed off on the new life adventure in a land called California.
Besure to check Ramana's Musings to check on Ramana's first encounter with an ocean.
Great blog and trip back down my favourite parts of California's coast. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteAnything to make you smile
DeleteThank you for your post, mate. It brought back fond memories of the first time my brother and I saw the beach at Redondo Beach, CA. I was 5 years old. Back in they day, the South Bay beaches were pristine and a very fun place to be :-)
DeleteThanks for the fun trip .I enjoyed myself ! Jim B, MT E 68
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed it Jim - thanks for reading. Did our paths ever crossatMEHS? I had several good friends in the 68 group = and dated Eileen Hopper for a whlle - played football with Ted Taylor
DeleteSounds like quite a memorable trip at your young age. My husband and I enjoyed the West Coast ocean views and I still do.
ReplyDeleteMy first ocean view was when I was 17 yrs on our senior class trip. I’ll never forget the white sands at Florida’s Daytona Beach our bus finally stopped at so, like you described, we could rush into the surf. There were few people on the beach. I looked up to see an entourage moving en masses across the sand. I recognized Groucho Marx as one of his group noted they’d been spotted. His protector looked at me and shook his head”no”, but I had no intention of accosting the comedian and the others in our group paid little attention to him..
It was a great trip - but the water was sooooooooooo cold LOL
DeleteYou would have been much older than I was for the experience. That makes for more vivid descriptions and memories. From my post you would see that I was born in a city on the West Coast and my first memory of the ocean is of the ocean on the East Coast of India. Much later in life, I was involved with the fishing and shipping businesses which took me to many more experiences about which I have posted elsewhere. http://www.rummuser.com/fishy-business/
ReplyDeleteHawaii was eve better but the first time was quite memorable.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed both of yours and Rummy's posts today! and yes.
ReplyDeletethose were the good old days!