Love of Sea...

Whitby, North Yorkshire, UK
Photo by Mark Kirby

So I've been re-reading one of my all-time fave books, Bram Stoker's Dracula. Today I chillaxed with the character whose name I ripped off for my pseudonym, Mina (while she was still a Murray and not a Harker) during her time in Whitby, in which a portion of the classic gothic/horror novel is set. Even though there's this undertow of uneasiness, what with Mina's fiancé Jonathan being MIA, and her BFF Lucy sleepwalking like a mo-fo, I realized I smiled as I read along on my Kindle (free version!). Once I realized that, I wondered if I'm actually more of a monster than I even knew ('cause some shit's 'bout to go down with Lucy that ain't no smilin' matter). BUT then it dawned on me: I've been smiling because Whitby's a coastal town, and I'm a veritable fool for the sea. (OK, I'm a fool in general; I own it.)

I know loads of folks share these feelings for the sea and ocean; it's this profound connection to a mystery you never want to solve, because it just feels so right exactly the way it is: unknown, unknowable, unconquerable. Maybe I feel it because I've got the blood of generations of "heroes of the sea" coursing through my veins. Or maybe it's 'cause I've got, like, three planets in Scorpio in my natal chart. (Venus, Mars, and Jupiter. Dudes, when it comes to love, sex, and luck, I don't play.) (Oh, and Scorpios jones for the ocean.)

Can ye fathom the ocean, dark and deep, where the mighty waves and the grandeur sweep?
~ Fanny Crosby

Port Isaac, Cornwall, UK
Photo by Hugh Craddock

A few years ago I got really into this British TV series, Doc Martin. This quirky, long-running show features a pernickety surgeon, Martin Ellingham, who discovers at the height of his brilliant medical career that he's actually a bit blood-phobic (the contrast to the titular character of the above work of fiction amuses me no end). Ellingham relocates to fictional Portwenn (in reality, Port Isaac) to practice general medicine, fall in love with feisty school teacher, Louisa Glasson, and attempt to get around this career-crushing phobia (as well as his complete social awkwardness). I adore this cozy show, folks; it's dramatic, it's funny, and the views of the ocean are stunning. You can currently watch this series (for free!) on Hulu.

But more wonderful than the lore of old men and the lore of books is the secret lore of ocean.
~ H. P. Lovecraft

Other ways in which I endeavor to satisfy my as-yet-unfulfilled-dream of living by the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea are: watching movies like Something's Gotta Give (a rom-com partially set in Long Island in a friggin' gorgeous beach house that I covet like a...well, like a chick who'd really dig having a friggin' gorgeous beach house of her own) and Psycho Beach Party (a pretty surreal, but hilariously funny, send-up of 60s beach party movies), and grooving to some reverby surf rock like Dick Dale's Misirlou, or, if I'm feeling all romantical and whatnot, dreaming along to this video...

Last November, I was in Orlando, FL for a work conference being held at a fancy-schmancy resort hotel. My last night there, a former co-worker (there for the same event) and I dined and gossiped together, then as we made our way back to our respective hotel rooms, he left me to my own devices in what I'll lamely refer to as the "backyard" of the hotel, which was right on the water. The hour was late and I was tired, but that didn't keep me from standing by the railing which separated the resort from the beach proper for over half an hour, under a black-clouded sky, through which a creamy white waxing moon peeked coyly now and again as I communed with the rushing waves and the pounding surf. Le sighs.

What about y'all? What sorta landscape thrills you, as the ocean does me?