The ocean is one of the greatest things nature has to offer. Southern California alone sees over 130 million individual beach visits every year, and beach vacation destinations like Hawaii see upwards of 8 million visitors annually. While the ocean provides countless hours of enjoyment for tourists and water enthusiasts alike, it also has the potential to turn into a powerful and dangerous force of nature in the blink of an eye. The millions of people planning to visit the beach and swim in the ocean every year should be sure to have a basic understanding of ocean safety before doing so.
Drowning has consistently been one of the top causes of death in Hawaii, with an average of 57 deaths per year. It is by far the top cause of death for tourists, causing almost 50% of fatal injuries for non-residents between 2010 and 2014. Non-residents also saw considerably more drowning fatalities due to leisure activities such as snorkeling and swimming, whereas residents saw more drowning fatalities in particularly dangerous ocean activities such as freediving, opihi picking, and shoreline fishing. I believe this is because many visitors to Hawaii lack an understanding of basic ocean safety and awareness that many residents do possess. The dangers encountered during swimming and snorkeling, such as rip currents, high winds, and passing waves actually pose little threat, but only if approached properly and handled correctly.
Even if you aren’t planning on visiting Hawaii anytime soon, there are still reasons to pursue a basic understanding of ocean safety. Every year, beach lifeguards perform almost 90 thousand ocean rescues. Anyone who finds themselves in a sticky situation but can get themselves out of it not only helps reduce this number, it also allows beach lifeguards to focus their attention on others who may need help. Also, ocean sports are some of the quickest growing sports in the country, with surfing in particular seeing over 75,000 new participants annually and stand up paddling showing a 120% increase in participants over the past three years. As friends and family join these trends, you never know when an opportunity to get in the ocean will present itself. You will be able to approach all these new challenges and opportunities with confidence and from a safer standpoint if you already have a solid understanding of the ocean.
Don’t wait till it’s too late to practice swimming and learn about the more dangerous aspects of the ocean, because trial and error isn’t a valid learning method when error can result in drowning. This blog will cover the basics of ocean safety and educate readers so that they will be able to enjoy everything the ocean has to offer without putting themselves, or others, at risk.
Know Before You Go 
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