I love the ocean and her changing ways. One day it can be calm and peaceful and other days so violent you know you wouldn't stand a chance if you were caught in her wrath.
The ocean scares me to death and it excites me at the same time. Whenever I see huge waves crashing in, or strong currents that you wouldn't stand a chance against, it makes me realise how insignificant we humans are compared to Mother Nature. Yet we continue to disrespect this wonderful unique part of planet Earth by pollution.
When I was a child, we sailed from the UK to Australia on a Greek ship called the Achille Lauro. This ship has quite a history and I can remember as a young girl aged around 7, the ship almost tipping on its side. It was terrifying watching the cups and plates slide off the tables when we were in the dining room at the time and the waves crashing on the portholes. That memory has stayed with me all my life and I think it has contributed to my fear of drowning.
I also had a warning in the water a couple of years ago, when I got caught in a rip tide in Tuncurry Rockpool giving me an even bigger respect for the ocean.
Sometimes I gaze at waves that are so huge on the beaches here on the Mid North Coast and stop and stare at the power these waves have. Other times, it is so calm that I walk along the beach following the dolphins that swim closely to the shore and watch them ride the waves.
I've found a number of treasures washed up by the ocean including a replica Viking sword! Most of my treasures are beautiful shells.
My respect for the ocean is enormous. It provides us with food, transport and entertainment. However Mother Nature can also use her force to destroy as we have witnessed by numerous Tsunamis. We need to respect our ocean and not pollute it with our rubbish and chemicals.
How humans are destroying the oceans
Oil spills compose around 12 percent of the oil damaging our oceans. What is more alarming is that three times as much oil ends up in the ocean from the runoff of rives, roads and drainpipes.
Plastic is a huge enemy of our oceans with 8 m metric tons ending up in the water each year. According to Conservation.org that equates to nearly 57,000 blue whales every year and by 2050 ocean plastic will outweigh all of the fish.
The ocean has so much junk in five places around the world that is so massive they are called 'garbage patches', one patch known as The Great Pacific Garbage Patch that has an estimated 1.8 trillion pieces of rubbish. A huge issue with this is that ocean trash gets broken into smaller microplastic bits caused by sun exposure and this process can find its way into the food chain. The degradation process also releases chemicals that contaminate the ocean more (and that is after 400 years for most plastic).
The main pollution culprits are China and Indonesia and combined account for one-third of plastic pollution in the ocean.
Read an in-depth article on how overfishing is destroying our oceans.
The following gallery are photos I have taken of the Pacific Ocean for one of my blogs North Coast NSW Leisure and Life.
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