I grew up in the southeast Alaska archipelago and on one of the Hawai’ian islands, and then moved to the NW I-5 corridor, which was a bit dry for my tastes but at least a river cut through town; then I moved to Indiana and was totally disoriented-- I’ve always reckoned directions in terms of water and to realize that I was hours and hours and hours away from real water disturbed me greatly. Now I live inland but a block from a real lake, so that’s good.
Exactly! I love the ocean, and the mountains. I missed seeing the mountains when I moved only 3 hours away from here, but it was further away from them so I couldn’t just hop a bus and get a nice view as I travelled around the city. I can only imagine I’d miss them more being even further away from them, except it would be offset by the nearness of the ocean.
Move to where I grew up in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Under the shadow of the mountain and in the cradle of the sea
Maybe one day I will 
Well, Calm Kiwi, i’ve spent most of my life just a short jump across the Tasman Sea from your Shaky Isles.
I was born in Vancouver, and we emigrated to Sydney when i was about 4, so i spent all of my formative years near the Pacific Ocean, and i think it’s still my favourite body of water. The Atlantic, which is right near where i live now, just seems too cold and grey.
Of course, that’s largely due to the fact that my whole experience of the Atlantic is restricted to the north-eastern United States, the UK, and France. I guess if i made a trip to Florida or Brazil, i might feel differently. Yes, i know that there are some lovely beaches in Maryland and Delaware and the Carolinas, but the Pacific Ocean just feels somehow different.
Did it?
Do you think your ocean has a different type of water than my North Sea? It’s salty, yes, but I’ve never felt it burn? [yes, I swim in the sea, even when the water is chilly]
Well my only true love is and will always be the mountains. But I have had an occasional affair with the sea. I grew up in the mountains, and they are always missed when I can’t see them. (And they’re supposed to be on the west dammit, anywhere else and something just isn’t right.)
But I have traveled to the ocean several times, and I must say I can see what you’re talking about. I have done a fair amount of sailing in the little Colorado lakes. It’s a pretty strenuous activity, having to tack and go back to the other side of the lake every 3 minutes. But on the ocean, oh man. Just set the sail and let her run. Two or three hours with out adjusting a damn thing. Did it once off the Keys, on smooth sapphire water under the sun. Did it a couple times in the Bay off Sausalito, where the sea lets you know it is there, and the water sprays up to keep you awake. I even had that little voice in the back of my head saying “Come on man, do we ever really have to turn around and go back? Can’t just let the boat run forever and see what’s on the other side?”
Well, it really does burn if you’ve been silly enough to shave your legs (or any other body part) directly before heading to the beach. I’ve only done it once, but I learned my lesson.
I love the Pacific Ocean. Especially in the winter and especially near Monterey Bay.
Hehehe Qadgop, did you hear that? It’s your own fault. You shouldn’t have shaved your legs.
You were a remarkable little boy, hmmm? Did you borrow your daddy’s razor?
Rhiannon8404.
I grew up on Eastern Long Island, so saw a lot of Long Island Sound, Southold Bay, and Jockey Creek (a saltwater estuary that ran by our house). We did, from time to time, go to the south shore to swim in the ocean. I’ve also been in the ocean in Daytona, Miami Beach, Lahaina, and Honolulu.
I prefer lakes these days. The ocean is dull. Lakes in the Adirondacks are surrounded by mountains, so the view it much more beautiful.
I’ve usually lived within a couple hour drive of the ocean. There have been low points in my life when driving to the ocean and hanging out changed me from suicidal to ready to face the worst life can throw.
The sea is awesome. Just spent a week in Vancouver, and while I didn’t get to the ocean, just to feel it nearby and smell the air was heavenly.
It sounds like I’m gum’s mirror image…
I’ve grown up with the North Sea as part of the landscape. It’s not within sight, but it’s within a few miles. And it’s best seen when the winds are changing, when things aren’t predictable.
Of course, Gum’s photo is presumably sunset, whereas such a view would be sunrise here …
I grew up about 30 seconds away from the sea, so to me it’s nothing special. It was cold, windy, and rough, and generally unpleasant.
Now I’m in Australia, it’s very strange for me to get my head round the fact that the water is usually warm and inviting. Shame I’m allergic to seawater, really.
I grew up by the sea. I fell asleep every night to the sound of crashing breakers. The beach, cliffs, ocean, and rock platforms with their teeming life were my backyard. Unfortunately, crippling real estate prices killed that and now I live miles from the coast in suburbia. Going to the beach inow is a nightmare of traffic, parking, crowds, and expense. But it used to be mine. 
There are special schemes in Australia to bring outback children to the sea, because they’ve never seen it. Onm a related note, my aunt went to a city boarding school from the age of five, and one time it rained there, a seven year-old who had come from a remote desert area, ran inside the schoolhouse crying with fear at this water from the sky. She’d never seen rain before.
It’s so bizarre to me that some people haven’t seen the sea… But then I’m a “bronzed Aussie” ™. Would you be scared to swim in the waves and current? Do you know what being “dumped” is?
I just gotta look out the window.
If the Gulf of Mexico counts as the sea, then yes, I’ve seen it.
I hated the GOM. It was hot and sunny which = sunburn for me. My cousins took me out into the water and I was scared the whole time that I’d get eaten by a shark (hey, I was 7). I had sand in every crevice of my body and when I got out of the water I felt dirty, all that salty gunk on me. I couldn’t wait to get in the shower.
To me the sea means danger, hurricanes, dead fish and a nasty smell in the air. Once was enough for me.
Now the sea in the Caribbean, OTOH, I could probably handle. But around here? Icky.
Like calm kiwi, I’m an Aucklander. Born and bred on the Auckland isthmus, lived here all my life, I’m between two great harbours. The sound of water and waves etc. is comforting to me.
But, my heartland is the Volcanic Plateau, especially Rotorua, which has a lake, but it ain’t the sea. Yet, I’m at peace there, because it isn’t the ocean that means home to me, but the land, the volcanoes, this country’s heartbeat.
And, as a non-swimmer, I don’t have to worry too much about drowning while on dry land.
I grew up on Long Island, a few minutes away from the Atlantic, so I saw it often during the summer. I’ve seen the Pacific from Hawaii, I’d like to see it from some mountains in California. Eventually I made up some symbolic meanings for the sea, my favorite thing about it being how totally huge and overwhelming it is. It’s in my name twice (the first half of my first name and the first half of my last name), so I thought it needed to mean something a little extra.
When I was in 7th grade I went to visit my sister, who lived in Biloxi, Mississippi. We spent some time on the beah while I was there. When I turned 18 and left for college I lived with her whenever I wasn’t in my dorm, and her apartment was right across Hwy 90 from the white sands (and the casinos). It never really affected me at the time. Oddly enough I was more affected by the hugeness and symbolism of it when Gunslinger and I stopped there on our way to Disney World last spring, although that might’ve been because I’d spent the intervening years watching Pirates of the Caribbean and reading epic Age of Sail novels.