Lots of people having fun on the beach. Brilliant sunshine! Children and their parents digging in the sand, building sandcastles, tunnels and bridges. Some playing ball games, others flying kites. Many heading to the water with bodyboards under their arms or surfboards balanced on their heads, wet suits clinging to the brave bodies braced for the icy ocean.
Yes, wet suits! Because this is not Silver Sands Jamaica in the Caribbean, this is Polzeath, a very popular beach in Cornwall England.
Polzeath Beach (above left) and Silver Sands Beach (above right)
I suggested to my sixteen year old daughter who was being grumpy because she did not want to go into the cold ocean that she should make the most of the beautiful day and take the opportunity to get a surf lesson. After a few minutes of my dismissing her excuses, she told me with great finality in her voice, “Dad, understand this! I am a city girl - I don’t do surfing or any of that stuff. Besides, after being accustomed to the Caribbean Sea, I can’t go into that freezing water!”
But, I still had some fight left in me and I pointed out that her mother grew up in Cornwall and always went into the sea on visits to the beach, regardless of the weather. Unfortunately, then her mother chimed in that since she swam in the Caribbean Sea, she has never ventured into the sea in England again!
So, as usual, it was my fault - I had spoiled her. If my daughter had not spent her very early years in Jamaica living at Silver Sands villas and returning for vacations, she would not know any better and would quite enjoy the Polzeath Beach. I know when I have lost an argument, so I pondered - do people who have experienced the Caribbean Sea give up swimming in their cold waters back home?
I tried to think of other people I know and what their behviour can reveal. My unscientific sample leads me to conclude that people who have enjoyed the turquoise Caribbean Sea shun their alternatives in colder climes unless they must accompany small children or they know that they will not be going to the Caribbean again for a long time. It seems that if another Caribbean vacation is pending, they will wait for that next opportunity to go into the sea.
My daughter said, “I’ll swim in the sea when I go to Silver Sands Jamaica next year!”
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