A Glimpse of the Ocean

I am entering this photo into the Depths of Perception Ocean Photoblog Competition being run by Cruise.co.uk

This photo was taken in St Ives when we were on our summer road trip. We were fortunate enough to experience the beauty and wonder of the ocean in many places on our road trip from the golden beaches of Bournemouth, seeing the Fowey Regatta in full swing at Fowey in Cornwall, then stopping at Clevedon for Sunday lunch overlooking the Bristol channel whilst en route to Wales. When staying at West Usk lighthouse in Newport we were utterly astonished at how the landscape changed with the fast tide coming in. We experienced this phenomenon again at Portmeirion having previously imagined the tide being something that slowly goes in and out - it was incredible to see it rise at such speed to totally transform the view and demonstrate the ocean's speed and power.

So I had lots of photos I wanted to pick including some adorable ones of the seals we saw also in St Ives. The sea there forming a perfect habitat for them.

But in the end I chose this one which I think of as 'A Glimpse of the Ocean'. Before we got down to the main part of the beach, we spotted this gap between the walls and rocks and it gave us promise and hope of what was out there.

I love the contrast between the darkness of the rocks and the bright blue sea beyond. And then there's the hues of blue and green in-between.

Regular readers of our blog will probably have spotted me mention on more than one occasion that I grew up by the sea and it means so much to me. As a child it was a place to escape to - whatever the season, whatever the weather - in fact the stormier the better as far as I was concerned.

The sea was a place that was reliable - it was always there. Yet at the same time unpredictable and changing - like having a volatile personality. It was at the same time both a calming place to be (yes even in the stormy weather) and an exciting place to be - How I loved finding 'treasures' that had been spat out by the sea after high tides and storms.

It was a place of discovery where you never got bored.

And because the ocean means so much to me, whenever I get a glimpse of the ocean - my heart fills with excitement, hope and memories.

As we no longer live near the sea, I try to make those moments matter whenever I take the kids to see the ocean and I hope that one day, they will love the ocean as much as I do.