This May Be Deep, This May Be Drunk...

I've really been enjoying the RV lifestyle since I packed up what I thought I needed and left Kansas about three months ago. I've cooked a whole hog in Georgia. I've seen the chicks on South Beach in Miami. I explored the Everglades. Even went down to Key West and man, the sunshine was incredible there! Then to Panama City Beach, where I'd planned on spending Christmas week with relatives. But that didn't pan out, so I ended up at Hunting Island State Park, SC for Christmas week with Sis and her family. But I did learn that Panama Beach is where I want to be come March! 

OK. Since then, back to Georgia for a bit, then on over the great basin in Louisiana (the Atchafalaya river basin, I think. Pretty awesome swamp/bayou or whatever), through Houston and on down to where I am now... Goose Island State Park, right close to Rockport TX.

I saw the big tree a couple of days ago. Purportedly the largest live oak in Texas, and it was big. Trunk must've been 8 feet in diameter. I went over to Aransas Federal Wildlife Reserve and saw big gators, unique landscape, everchanging from hurricanes and such, and even a couple of whooping cranes way off in the distance, as seen from the 40 foot tall lookout tower situated at the end of the reserve's road.

I've seen a lot in this last 11 weeks. But tonight I experienced something that literally perplexed me.

After going into town, hitting Walmart for water, wine and bread, and going to the laundromat (and drinking a few beers during the wash and dry cycles), and eating at a nice little Mexican restaurant...

I made it back to my TT, set my padded lawn chair next to Aransas Bay (beer in hand) and pondered.  Whatever I wanted to.

And what came to mind was, What Does The Ocean Smell Like?

I sat there for 10 minutes, breathing the scent in deeply. Tonight it's foggier than $**t, and the wind is very calm, so maybe I'm experiencing unusual atmospheric conditions, but anyway...  I got a whiff of the salt air.

I've smelled the ocean a few times since growing up in Kansas, but tonight it seemed particularly fragrant. And that brings me to my question.

What does the ocean smell like?

When I breathed deeply I got whiffs of fish, salt, and I don't know what else. I reminded me of a great swordfish steak I cooked and ate up in St. Augustine, FL.

So tell me. What's the ocean smell like to you?

And I don't think I'm that drunk. I can still type pretty well. 

Have a good one,

Bill

Having just spent 9 weeks on the California coast, I can say with absolutely authority that the ocean smells like.....THE OCEAN ! Salt and fish and sunshine and foam and seaweed and sand and more. Don't analyze it, just suck it up and enjoy it.

Wendy
sunny so Cal

Being a Canadian prairie boy I've never spent that much time near the ocean.  An hour or two maybe.  So I have no idea.  However this will be high on my priority list. 

Thanks for posting, Tony

The ocean can smell differently depending upon where you are. The smell of the Atlantic is quite different from the Pacific. The smell in Hawaii is so much sweeter than the others it's hard to explain. Regardless of where you are, that smell is better than most.

I am enjoying it, Wendy!

Tony, I know the lakes in Kansas sure don't smell like the ocean. It's totally different.

And Jim, now that you mention it, I do recall that the waters around Beaufort, SC smelled different. A little ranker, if you know what I mean.

And regarding the headline of my original post, it sure wasn't deep!  My aching head and churning gut this morning tell me my post was the latter!  Is there an icebag-on-head icon floating around here somewhere?  :-[

Have a good one,

It wasn't the drink.  It was the intoxicating salt air.

It's not just the sea that has a distinctive aroma, the land does as well (which is probably why one poster remarked about how wonderful Hawaii smelled, it wasn't the surrounding sea, it was the land).

I remember sailing for the Dominican Republic.  I was out of sight of land, perhaps 40+ miles away, and downwind.  My ship's dog suddenly lifted his head, his ears sprang up, and he went to the bow of the boat and begin sniffing the air.  It was then I realized he was picking up the scents of the approaching landmass; the dirt, the flora, the fauna, the people, exhaust fumes, and cooking fires, all of which the human crew wouldn't begin to pick up until much later.

I crossed both major oceans with the US Navy and can say, yes, they do smell somewhat different anywhere you go.  Clean open beaches smell pretty similar, but sea ports are another story.

I take my old dog with me when I go surf fishing along the Carolina coast.  If a pod of Dolphin happens to pass (sometimes several hundred yards off shore) he can smell their breath and it drives him crazy.  He can't see them, but will try to swim to them.

This all brings back a memory of how my dog taught me to smell squirrels. He was a beagle-collie cross and really smart, and good at finding squirrels in trees. After hunting with him many times, and if the conditions were just right- calm and humid, or even better with a gentle drizzle coming down- I began to be able to smell the squirrels in the tree tops myself.

[quote author=SmokerBill ]
.......... I began to be able to smell the squirrels in the tree tops myself.
[/quote]

and just what is it you are smokin' there, Bill?

I think probably what landsmen identify as the smell of the sea, is actually the smell of the land, to a sailor, which relates to why it is different in different places.

In August of 1949 we were sailing toward Japan in a converted troop ship, courtesy of the U.S. Army of Occupation.  Before even catching a glimpse of Mt. Fuji we noticed the smell change from that of the ocean to that of the landmass.  Once on land we saw one reason for its distinct odor - honey wagons which were all over the place transporting human waste.  We had never smelled that particular "fragrance" before in such mass!  It floated well out to sea.

ArdraF

aka Porky said:

and just what is it you are smokin' there, Bill?

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Usually brisket, ribs or chicken. But other things are good smoked too. Smoked crawdads, anyone?

But seriously, squirrels have a distinct aroma, and you get to know it after you've, uh, prepared a few of them for the pan. It's a true story, Porky, believe it or not. 


ArdraF, was the aroma of clover honey or orange blossom honey?

I was watching the movie "Good Morning Vietnam" and was remarking how that the movie really looked like Vietnam but that something was wrong. Then it came to me.... I could not smell the "smell"!

The smell also changes when you get closer to a fish plant.  Part of the smell is the decomposing debris that the tide brought on the beach and can vary from seaweed to dead fish or crustacean.

In the Saint John Harbour, we have the pleasure to also smell sewer at low tide.

I am just oh so homesick for the Caribbean, where I lived mostly at sea or on sea or  by the sea, for 22 years until the end of 2009.  Living  in America is akin to stepping out of a spaceship, I am so lost.  (Some say I need GPS...)

The ocean smells like heaven in the Caribbean.  :'(  (Typed with moist eyes.)

SmokerBill said:

This all brings back a memory of how my dog taught me to smell squirrels. He was a beagle-collie cross and really smart, and good at finding squirrels in trees. After hunting with him many times, and if the conditions were just right- calm and humid, or even better with a gentle drizzle coming down- I began to be able to smell the squirrels in the tree tops myself.

Click to expand...

Here we go again............................ Tomorrow he will be taking about ice-packs again.

geodrake said:

Here we go again............................ Tomorrow he will be taking about ice-packs again.

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He's  pretty funny, isn't he. 

Nope, no ice pack today. Learned my lesson (again) for a while.

I live on northernt ca coast 1 hour south of oregon, I allways thought it smelled like raw clam chowder. Its a smell Im used to since I have lived here all my life
Edit: Removed long quote.

My dog isn't worth a crap when we go hunting Maybe I can go with you Bill