Atlantic Ocean, NL - Lauren Stokes
My Watermark is the Atlantic Ocean in St. John’s, Newfoundland, which is the most eastern laying point in North America.
My waterbody focus would definitely be the Atlantic Ocean. I always grew up a five minute drive away from the Atlantic Ocean, so it really had a big impact on me in that sense.
Our beaches in Newfoundland are not really the same as the beaches in Ontario, where people go as more of a family outing. In Newfoundland, you can’t really go swimming on the beaches because the Atlantic Ocean is around -15 degrees. For us, it’s more about going out to the Atlantic Ocean to see the ice bergs every year. My family especially; we all get together to go and see the ice bergs. Usually when the icebergs are melting into the Atlantic Ocean, you can take the boat out on the tours. That is when the whales come out too!
When you mange to go out, you’re in between the icebergs and the whales. It was really a foundational memory of my childhood. We don’t really have any lakes or anything you can swim in, like most of Central Canada. We just have the Atlantic Ocean.