Redheaded Jill

The fear of the ocean (or other large bodies of water) is called Thalassophobia.

I have been to the Pacific ocean one time. I touched the water and walked on the beach. I was in high school. It was cold. We didn’t swim.

In grad school I visited Dauphin Island, in the Gulf of Mexico. I did swim in this water. It was after an oil spill. Everything was brown. I didn’t see anything that could kill me, but on one visit there was a dead baby shark on the beach and lots of jellyfish.

Any large body of water scares me, especially if it is deep and you can’t see through it. Clear lakes, small ponds, small lakes… I can handle it. But there is nothing scarier to me than the ocean. First of all, we have no idea what is in it. There are creatures living in the depths that have likely never been discovered. They can survive in places so dangerous we don’t even have the tech to get down there.

Eels can shock you. Sharks can eat you. Even the cute little fish that we find on the beach can end up being super poisonous. I think if God wanted me to be in the water he’d have given me gills.

I really like the idea of visiting Hawaii or Jeju Island and swimming in the water. Or the tropics where the water is cerulean blue and clear and if a shark is hunting you it will at least be seen before your leg is taken. I don’t like the thought of traveling via boat because what if the boat sinks. Being lost at sea is the scariest thing imaginable. Cruise ships? You mean nightmare ships.

My fear is only being fed by social media. Do you guys see those videos of the North Sea on IG or TikTok? The music used is that ominous pirate song from Pirates of the Caribbean. They show the huge waves that crash over the boats and people getting swept away by the currents. Boats floating right by giant whirlpools and men going down into the water under oil rigs for maintenance?

The only thing that might be scarier than the ocean is the creatures that THRIVE in that insane environment.