#kapiti

When you grow up somewhere and have lived in the same spot for 14 years, you never really appreciate what’s always there and not anywhere else. 

I lived on the Kapiti Coast (pronounced cap-uh-tee) in Wellington, New Zealand in a big house with a big family. I lived a mere 15-minute walk from the ocean (pictured below), though to be honest I hardly went there. On a small, isolated island like NZ, the ocean is just there. Most people there don’t understand just how fortunate they are to be living so close to such an insane natural phenomena as the ocean. In fact, you’re never more than 120 kilometers (75 miles) away from it when your feet are touching Kiwi soil. My newly found appreciation for the ocean didn’t actually happen when I moved to Wyoming, but rather while I was leaving it.

I wasn’t too phased by the landlocked-ness of Wyoming initially, I mean at the very least I could see the northern horizon from Casper College. There are eastern and western horizons as well, but no southern one - the Rocky Mountains in Colorado make sure of that. These horizons were made of dirt, dust, and more goddamn dirt. Did I mention that there’s dust everywhere here? Anyway, rant over - I actually wasn’t too bothered by the lack of water, not until I was flying back to New Zealand to see my family over Christmas. I was travelling with my brother Davis, who heard me literally gasp aloud when we flew out of San Francisco and I saw the big blue Pacific for the first time in four months. I see plenty of shades of blue every day, but there’s no words to describe the blueness of the ocean. I hadn’t seen such a deep blue in over 120 days, so my eyes essentially forgot what that color looked like. Seeing it again hit me, or rather hit my eyes, like a semi-truck. I almost wept; I had realized exactly what my parents meant those many times they told me I had no idea how fortunate I was, being able to live so close to something as invigorating and alive as the ocean.

I’ve met people in Casper who have never seen the ocean, people in their 30′s or older. Just do it. One way or another, get to California or Florida or Oregon... or hell, even leave the country! No photos or videos do justice for the ocean, you really have to be there to experience it. Life on this planet began in the ocean, we all have a connection to it. There is a spiritual link between us and it. If the opportunity arises, do not turn down a visit to the sea. We all started there, and we were always meant to return to it. ~ Dev