# Favorite Body of Water **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 19, 2005, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-body-of-water/295241 "2005-03-19T00:29:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-body-of-water/295241/1 "2005-03-19T00:29:43Z")
Ok, let’s hear it. Sound off on your favorite wet place. Anything from the puddle outside your house to the Pacific Ocean. Oceans, seas, bays, lakes, rivers, creeks, anything you want to name. For me, it would either be Lake Superior. For it’s vastness and it’s chillyness or The Bay of Fundy. It’s just so bizarre. Honorable mention to Isa lake. This is a very small lake (basically a pond), but it lies right on the Continental Divide so that run off from this lake leads to both Pacific and Atlantic oceans. It only gets a name because of this unique feature. ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-body-of-water/295241/2 "2005-03-19T00:51:01Z")
This’ll probably sound predictable given my location, but Shag Harbour. Part of it may be because I went to school in the community, and we’d go on field trips along the beaches near the school. But there’s something about it that I love, even when the waters are choppy (although since they built a fish farm there, it’s lost some of it’s appeal). You can never get an unbroken view of the horizon from the shore, there’s always islands in the way, so it feels really closed in. And I know a good place to get an awesome view of the sunset. Honourable mention goes to Clyde River, which agains brings back fond childhood memories. It’s a fairly wide river, so the waters are always pretty calm. I’ve been up there hunting and fishing with my dad since I was a kid. It’s absolutely gorgeous in the fall when the leaves turn, and there’s several small off-shoots where we’ve gone fishing before, one of which runs right past one of Dad’s friend’s hunting camps where I spent a lot of time when I was little. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-body-of-water/295241/3 "2005-03-19T02:13:39Z")
The Atlantic Ocean. I was just down at the shore yesterday: it’s nice enough to _almost_ make me regret going to school in the middle of the desert. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-body-of-water/295241/4 "2005-03-19T02:41:09Z")
It’s a tie between the Saguenay river and the Pacific Ocean. Both are incredible for different reasons. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-body-of-water/295241/5 "2005-03-19T02:41:18Z")
Puget Sound. I was born in a hospital that overlooked Commencement Bay. 48½ years later and it still give me chills. One of my favorite spots is located in Northeast Tacoma. Look one way and you have a majestic view of Puget Sound. Turn around and you can see Mt. Rainier from sea level to the very top. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-body-of-water/295241/6 "2005-03-19T02:47:45Z")
Lake Michigan! It’s the best. Oh, and I guess San Francisco Bay. Nothing beats driving over the Golden Gate Bridge. Although driving over the Bay Bridge comes close. The Pacific is too big, it doesn’t care about my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-body-of-water/295241/7 "2005-03-19T03:43:01Z")
The Atlantic ocean, specifically around rocky beaches on the New England coast. I just love seeing all the critters that live there. And the critters you folks out west have, just don’t seem as good. No Horseshoe crabs, even? Pikers. ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-body-of-water/295241/8 "2005-03-19T04:27:33Z")
**OtakuLoki** , whatever you need to take away from the fact that the water is freezing year round 😛 A tie. Monterey Bay California for the otters and whales and Wailea Beach, Maui for having the most beautiful view and clearest, warmest water I’ve ever swam (swum?) in. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-body-of-water/295241/9 "2005-03-19T04:35:37Z")
I would have to say the critters I saw in Monterey were much cooler than the critters around New England. I even had a harbor seal attack me when I was diving. (Loose seal! Look out for the loose seal!) ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-body-of-water/295241/10 "2005-03-19T05:25:05Z")
I have to go with the Carribean. It is hard to top the blue water, tropical fish, and white sand beaches. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-body-of-water/295241/11 "2005-03-19T05:45:25Z")
Sydney Harbour, running neck and neck with Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong. I can’t decide. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-body-of-water/295241/12 "2005-03-19T05:54:24Z")
Camden Harbor, Maine and the view of Penobscot Bay from the top of Mt. Battie behind Camden. But the Oslo Fjord is mighty fine too. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-body-of-water/295241/13 "2005-03-19T06:21:09Z")
Monterey Bay. The rest of the California coast. Wild, yet utterly peaceful. ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-body-of-water/295241/14 "2005-03-19T06:26:43Z")
Narragansett Bay is quite a nice little estuary. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-body-of-water/295241/15 "2005-03-19T14:20:01Z")
The Saint Lawrence. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-body-of-water/295241/16 "2005-03-19T14:37:10Z")
My favorites are the smaller rivers and streams in the Texas Hill Country. I have many favorites. The water is generally from a spring and is clear and cold. Sometimes it can be a 105 degree day and the water will be almost too cold to get into! The streams frequently have a green tint from the alge that grows on the rocks. Cypress grow right up to the waters edge adding to the greenish tint. Sometimes you can find a travertine pool where the water is clear like glass for eight or ten feet or more. The stream beds are usually sandstone and frequently as smooth and flat as a roadway. The sides of the streambeds can be littered with smooth round stones from pebble size to boulder size, all having been ground smooth by the water and then bleached white by the sun. Where the river edges are cliff-like, you can see drippy moss and fern covered areas where the water is leaking out between rock layers. If it’s deep, you can climb the cliffs and jump off. In the larger rivers there can be sandbars made of smooth rocks. If the sandbars are big or long, they make great “tubing” runs and can be very exciting. We have spent hours building dams and pools for our basking pleasure, just to tear them up and start over again, and countless more hours drifting down the slow moving rivers in tubes doing nothing more than having your toes nibbled by curious fish and tipping ourselves over occasionally to cool off. In a few places, enterprising people have thrown picnic tables in the river as a signal that beer and tacos can be had up the hill from that spot. And if you suspect a flash flood for any reason, move far away from the river very quickly and don’t look back until you are on very high ground. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-body-of-water/295241/17 "2005-03-19T14:48:18Z")
Lake Superior. No other body of water is quite so clean and clear; I’ve been out in boats where you can see to the bottom, thirty feet below. The lake is tricky, too, and you have to watch out that it doesn’t get the best of you. I talke to it when I’m out in my Kayak. Sometimes it answers. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-body-of-water/295241/18 "2005-03-19T15:06:50Z")
Nearby: Lake Temagami, stunning, just stunning. Far off: The South China Sea, I almost wept the first time I had to leave the seaside after spending a month there. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-body-of-water/295241/19 "2005-03-19T16:13:02Z")
Places you probably never heard of: Little Susitna River, AK Kluane Lake, YT Others: Zambezi River (with Victoria Falls) Oregon Coast Pacific ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-body-of-water/295241/20 "2005-03-19T16:20:18Z")
Lake Michigan. I’ve spent at least part of every year for the past 47 by it. Today the waves are crashing, and the snow is falling. Tomorrow she may sparkle like diamonds. And it usually doesn’t smell bad. 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-body-of-water/295241.md?page=2)