I’m So Scared of the Ocean

Aquaphobia is the fear of water and people who suffer from this may have extreme fear or anxiety when seeing or even thinking about water. In severe cases, people may stop showering, bathing, or using water from the sink to wash their faces or brush their teeth.

Between 2% and 3% of Americans have aquaphobia and it impacts children more than adults, which makes sense. The phobia can stem from past traumatic events, negative stories about water, family history of panic or anxiety disorders, or modeling which is when you see a person with aquaphobia or hear someone talk about their fear of water which leads you to develop the same phobia. 

Thalassophobia is an intense phobia or fear of large or deep water. This is very specific to being afraid of the ocean or large lakes. This phobia affects 5 to 10% of people in the U.S. Genetic, environmental, and biological factors all contribute to this phobia.

Scientists suggest that a fear of the sea may be primal rather than irrational, especially when thinking about the deep sea. They suggest that when thinking about places people haven’t experienced, like the ocean and the deep sea, imagination can take over.

There are effective treatments for both aqua and thalassophobia including cognitive behavioral therapy; medication; virtual reality exposure therapy; and natural remedies like meditation, and journaling. 

Stranded at Sea

Most of these people fall off their boats while fishing alone or hit unexpected bad weather while traveling. The fishing industry itself is extremely dangerous with more than 100,000 fishing-related deaths occurring each year.

In a 2005 episode of 60 Minutes Australia, reporters told the story of three men who sailed straight into the storm off the coast of Australia. They survived the storm but got pushed off course and had no compass to steer. 

These men were on the boat for about six weeks and they had enough water and food stored up to last them a month or so when another storm came along. In the dark, a giant wave tipped over their tiny boat and it capsized. They lost everything and they were hanging on to the boat with their feet in the water. In the dark. They were able to overturn the boat, but it was filled with water and they couldn’t get it out.

Finally, after 46 days at sea, they saw another ship. So, they started screaming for help and the boat came to save them. They drifted 250 nautical miles from their intended location.   

A more recent 60 Minutes Australia episode from 2022 featured a solo sailor named John Deer who has been nicknamed the “Fall Guy” after falling off his sailboat. He fell off his sailboat when he tried to throw a line out to catch a fish. He was overtired and not paying attention when he tossed the line, so he slipped and fell into the water. 

The motor was on and the sail was up so the boat just continued going as he swam in the water. He knew exactly where he was because he checked the GPS right before falling in and he was 17 kilometers (about 10 miles) off the coast of Panama. So he started swimming.

The nearest town was called Cabo Tiburon, which translates to the Cape of Sharks. He was lucky because there were no sharks. At least no sharks that bothered him in this cape. He was lucky because not only were there no sharks bothering him, but the current was going in his favor and the water was warm. Not saying swimming over 10 miles to shore is easy, but the odds truly were ever in his favor. 

He reached land, but the beach was full of giant sharp rocks and the land surrounding the rocks was a jungle. Even if he got out of the water, he wouldn’t be able to walk to civilization. Luckily he saw boats in the distance so he grabbed a branch, tied his shirt to it, and went to the highest part of the hill. 

A boat saw him, waved, and kept going. He says in the 60 Minutes interview, “What do you think I’m here on holiday topless?! There’s nothing around! There’s no villages or anything!” Another boat came along so he screamed and they finally came to help him. 

There is a National Geographic show called Extreme Rescues and there’s an episode called “Lost at Sea” that takes place in Costa Rica in 2015. A large catamaran was traveling 17 miles between two islands off the coast of Costa Rica. The boat was carrying about 110 people and about halfway through the trip, it began to get very rough. So rough that water broke the windows in the hull of the boat and water started flooding in which caused it to tip to one side. 

This episode has real footage from the incident in this episode and it’s terrifying to watch. The boat tipped over and fully submerged with people stuck underneath it. In just 90 seconds, the catamaran sank and the passengers were stranded in the open ocean about nine miles from the nearest shore. The camera still works in the water so you can hear everyone yelling for their families and pointing out people that have died or were injured. 

Luckily, right before going under, someone on the boat was able to call someone on shore who was able to notify everyone that the ship was going down. But they have no idea where the boat went down. About 15 minutes after the boat sank, a freight boat came toward the stranded passengers. But, the boat couldn’t come close enough and was about 500 feet away so only a few could swim to the boat. About 80 people are still stuck in the water when the freighter starts honking its horn in the SOS distress signal.

The boats from the marina finally heard the signal and were able to start taking trips to get people to safety. It was probably about an hour after the boat sank until everyone was able to get on boats and be brought to safety. Three people died in the wreck. 

My fear of falling off of ships or being on a sinking ship in general stemmed from the story of the USS Indianapolis which is a true story. It was also talked about in the movie Jaws by one of the creepiest characters ever, so there are many reasons why this terrifying incident is imprinted in my brain. 

The USS Indianapolis was a Portland-class heavy cruiser of the United States Navy. In other words, a giant ass Navy ship. This ship delivered the crucial components of the first operational atomic bomb to a naval base in the Pacific only two weeks before that bomb destroyed Hiroshima. 

Before that bomb went off, the USS Indianapolis was sailing from Guam to meet the USS Idaho in the Philippines’ Leyte Gulf. Shortly after midnight on July 30, a Japanese torpedo hit the Indianapolis, ripping off its starboard bow and igniting a tank containing 3,500 gallons of aviation fuel into flames. Then, another torpedo from the same submarine struck closer to the middle of the show, hitting additional fuel tanks and powder magazines which set off a chain reaction of explosions that effectively ripped the ship in two.

The ship took on massive amounts of water and in just 12 minutes the ship sank. Of the 1,196 men aboard, about 900 made it into the water alive. Sharks were drawn to the ship by the sound of the explosions and the thrashing and blood in the water. Most shark species don’t care about humans in the water, but the oceanic whitetip and tiger sharks are known to swim in the Pacific waters and be incredibly aggressive toward humans. 

On the fourth day in the water, a Navy plane flying overhead happened to spot the stranded sailors. The pilot radioed for help, and within hours, a separate seaplane returned to the scene, where it dropped rafts and survival supplies.

Of the Indianapolis’ original 1,196-man crew, only 316 remained. Estimates of the number who died from shark attacks range from a few dozen to more than 150. Although this is the worst shark attack in history, the majority of the sailors died of exposure, lack of food and water, and injuries from the explosion or exhaustion. 

In the aftermath of this incident, the Navy court-martialed the Indianapolis captain, Charles B. McVay III, for failing to save his ship. Officials wanted to blame McVay instead of taking responsibility for or even acknowledging the series of errors that led to the wreck. 

There are those errors. First off, the USS Indianapolis wasn’t provided an escort. The Navy also failed to warn the captain that he was traveling directly into the path of an enemy submarine. 

Also, when the USS Indianapolis didn’t show up at its intended destination, no one reported the ship missing. It was only by chance that a passing plane found the surviving sailors. 

At McVay’s trial in December 1945, the Navy convicted the captain of “hazarding his ship by failing to zigzag,” a technique used to avoid torpedoes. The court arrived at this decision despite the testimony of Mochitsura Hashimoto, the commander of the Japanese submarine that sank the Indianapolis. 

Hashimoto testified that zigzagging would have had little effect in preventing the attack. However, McVay was still convicted and this conviction effectively ended his Navy career, and he died by suicide in 1968. According to reports, he took his own life while holding a toy sailor that his father had given him. It was only in 2001 that the Navy exonerated McVay, adding a congressional resolution clearing the captain’s name to his official file. Over 30 years since he ended his life. 

Creatures in the Water 

I only really knew about the shark part of that story because of Jaws. One of the characters that hunts the great white shark hunting humans explains to the others that he was on the USS Indianapolis and watched his fellow officers be eaten alive. This is why he hates sharks so much and is doing everything he can to hunt the great white shark currently hunting humans in his tourist beach town. 

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, Jaws is a novel by American writer Peter Benchley, published in 1974. It tells the story of a large great white shark that preys upon a small Long Island resort town and the three men who attempt to kill it. The novel grew out of Benchley's interest in shark attacks after he read about Frank Mundus and the sharks he caught off of Montauk, New York, in 1964. 

Steven Spielberg directed the movie adaptation of Jaws which was released in June 1975. The film version of Jaws is credited as the first summer blockbuster and was the highest-grossing film in motion picture history at the time of its release. Three sequels followed the film, which were met with mixed to negative responses. 

In my opinion, bull sharks are the scariest sharks in the sea and that’s because they can travel to and through many bodies of water. Bull sharks have a unique ability to tolerate freshwater and saltwater, meaning they can be found traveling through rivers and into lakes. To top it off, they prefer to swim in shallow, warm coastal waters, so basically exactly where people like to swim. 

They are also highly territorial creatures and opportunistic feeders. Their diet typically consists of fish, rays, sea turtles, birds, dolphins, and even other sharks. While humans are not part of a bull shark’s usual diet, they’re known to be aggressive towards humans and are thought to be one of the most dangerous shark species in the world. 

I would like to point out that shark attacks are extremely rare. There are fewer than 20 fatalities caused by sharks each year. Most of the time, shark attacks are just confused sharks who swim away the moment they realize they chomped or bumped a human and not a fish.

Sadly, as of 2020, bull sharks have been classified as vulnerable and their population is decreasing. So while I’m terrified of these divas, I’m devastated that their population is decreasing. 

I need to stop the shark propaganda because, in the grand scheme of the large, vast ocean, sharks are not the scariest thing swimming around. I watched an episode of World’s Deadliest called “Underwater Killers,” which, you guessed it, talked about killer creatures underwater. Here are just a few divas from this episode to get you scared of the sea. 

The electric torpedo ray looks like a shark, stingray hybrid and it kills with electric shocks. I didn’t know that was possible, did you? The electric torpedo ray can unleash up to 50 volts and electrocute a human. 

Another terrifying fish I didn’t know existed is the stonefish. This fish looks like a stone and is considered the most venomous fish in the world.

Another poisonous fish is the lionfish which starred in an episode of New Girl. There are 40,000 cases of lionfish poisoning every year. 

Since we are on the topic of poisonous fish, let’s talk about the box jellyfish whose venom is among the deadliest in the world. When someone is stung by a box jellyfish, the venom attacks the person’s heart and nervous system which can cause them to drown from shock or die of heart failure. Beaches in Australia are sometimes forced to close because of these jellyfish. 

Australia also has sea snakes. There are about 15 species of sea snakes down under, but I am mostly terrified of the banded sea krait which are found in shallow waters around coral islands, reefs, and mangroves. These snakes are more deadly than most cobras. 

They are descendants of the same ancestors, but these snakes are made for life in the water and can hold their breath for up to 30 minutes. You would think being in the ocean you would only have to worry about aquatic animals: sharks, fish, whales, sea lions. 

Something that will drag you under and drown you, but you can get away from them. Not the sea snakes that can also go on land. 

My true respectful fear of the ocean doesn’t stem from the creatures, but rather the fact that creatures live in the incredible depth of the sea. I literally can’t comprehend how large and deep the ocean is and the fact that animals live down there. 

The average depth of the ocean is about 12,080 feet. The deepest part of the ocean aka the deepest point known to Earth, is called the Challenger Deep and is located beneath the western Pacific Ocean in the southern end of the Mariana Trench, which runs several hundred kilometers southwest of the U.S. territorial island of Guam. Challenger Deep is approximately 35,876 feet deep which is about seven miles. 

There is an episode of Netflix’s Our Planet called “The High Seas”. This episode explains that while the oceans cover two-thirds of the globe’s surface, humans are limited in their exploration because of the crushing pressure.

Humans have to utilize special submarines and devices with cameras to explore the deepest parts of the ocean because of the pressure. 

There’s also not enough light for plants to grow below 200 meters or 650 feet so deep-sea animals depend on food sinking from the surface which looks like snow. Yeah, it snows in the ocean. 

Since no light penetrates below thousands of meters, animals create their own light with bioluminescence. These animals include the dragonfish which has terrifying teeth. The deep-sea angler fish also have a little light in front of their face. I’m sure we all cried at the angler fish who saw the sun before she died. 

Scientists used to think the deep sea supported little life, but now it's believed that there are ten times more animals living here than previously thought. And there are many yet to be discovered. The deep-sea plains cover more than half the Earth’s surface, and yet we know more about the surface of the moon. That’s scary! 

Leave Her Alone 

Humans have only explored 5% of our world’s oceans and scientists know more about the seafloor than the animals and organisms in the ocean. That’s because about 26% of the global seafloor has been mapped by scientists. These maps provide information on underwater habitats, but not the species living in those habitats. 

Scientists estimate there may be between 700,000 and 1 million species in the ocean, excluding most microorganisms. More than two-thirds of these species have yet to be discovered or officially described, with almost 2,000 new species accepted by the scientific community each year.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and its Ocean Exploration Program is the only federal program in the U.S. dedicated to exploring the unknown ocean. According to their website, this program explores previously unknown areas of our deep ocean, making discoveries of scientific and economic value and supporting innovations in exploration tools and capabilities.

Ocean exploration isn’t just cool, it helps ensure that ocean resources are managed in a sustainable way. Ocean ecosystems can reveal new sources for medical therapies and vaccines, food, and energy. 

Most drugs in use today come from nature. Aspirin, for example, was first isolated from the willow tree. Penicillin was discovered from common bread mold. To date, the majority of drugs derived from natural sources come from land-dwelling organisms. 

However, with an increase in demand, researchers are looking toward the ocean. Systematic searches for new drugs have shown that marine invertebrates produce more antibiotic, anti-cancer, and anti-inflammatory substances than any group of terrestrial organisms. These ocean creatures could cure cancer! 

But they can’t do that if they are living in a dirty disgusting ocean. There is a part of the North Pacific Ocean called the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch.” The term “garbage patch” is a bit misleading, making it sound like this is a large island of visible trash. In reality, the debris is spread across the surface of the water and to the ocean floor. 

Most of the debris in the “patch” is thought to be small plastic pieces, not always visible to the naked eye. The exact size of the Garbage Patch has not been studied, but scientists are aware it’s there and that it’s bad. 

The world produces around 400 million metric tons of plastic waste each year. Every day, 2,000 truckloads of it are dumped into oceans, rivers, and lakes. 

Besides throwing garbage in the ocean, there are other ways humans are ruining the ocean. More than 3 billion people rely on fish and other marine species as a significant source of protein. In return, overfishing devastates fish populations and wildlife. It also breaks down the food web and degrades habitats, significantly increasing climate change. 

We owe it to the oceans to keep them clean because they help us live. Phytoplankton are microscopic drifting plants. They combine nutrients in seawater with energy from the sun to create the critical food chain in the ocean. It also creates half the oxygen in the air we breathe. They also play a vital role in cloud formation, which in turn helps protect the earth from rising temperatures.

Oceans, especially shallow waters, are very important in fighting climate change. Seagrass absorbs 35 times as much carbon dioxide as the same area of rainforest. Although it's gross, kelp and seaweed are as important to the ocean as trees are to the land. 

But humans aren’t being so kind to trees either, are we? We aren’t. We are not.

Even though humans and the ocean have also been connected. There are several cultures that have a spiritual link to the ocean and water. Indigenous and Polynesian cultures share a sacred connection to the sea and its animals. Sea monsters have been depicted in various Greek and Hindu mythologies and African folklore. It’s important to culture because it’s a powerful resource that has been sustaining the world for its entire existence.