Few things in nature are as intimidating as the sea.
Despite its destructive capabilities, the sea is one of the most beautiful marvels of the world. But all of the endless water stretching into the horizon can be intimidating to face.
Redditor u/YerBuhdFinn wanted to know what it was like to travel the vast seas by boat, and so asked people who regularly travel by ship... "What is something strange or haunting that you have witnessed while out at sea?"
10. Amazing sea critters
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"Whales got too close for comfort a few times.
I had auditory hallucinations several times due to sleep deprivation (downside to sailing solo), that was always a bit scary.
Weirdest was sailing between BVI and St Martin, moonless night, pitch black, total flat calm (flat seas are rare in that area). the ocean lit up with what I could only assume were some sort of glowing jellyfish. These globes in the water would flash bright green for a second, then vanish, hundreds of them."
9. A very fishy diver...
"Growing up, my family had a cottage on a small island in the Baltic Sea, off the coast of Sweden. This happened in the late 70s, during the Cold War when Russian subs were often observed in Swedish territorial waters. Our island did have a military installation on it and was off limits to foreigners.
My dad and I were fishing from grandpa's old wooden rowboat, just drifting along a couple of hundred yards off shore when all of a sudden the head of a diver slowly rose to the surface a couple of yards off the side of the boat. He slowly turned around, spotted us and disappeared beneath the water again. We saw divers on several occasions but never that close and once we also saw the conning tower of a submarine."
8. A mysterious fire ball
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"On Deployment, observed a fireball in the Indian Ocean. 100% convinced it was a larger meteor, but it remained solid until it disappeared and it abruptly angled like it it something, albeit at a very shallow angle.
When I say fireball, I mean, fireball, not a shooting star like you can see on a typical dark night not in the city."
7. A most superior wave
"I was in a 40-some foot boat in my teens. I know next to nothing about ships, but I commuted by boat almost every day so I've been on them a fair amount.
This was in Lake Superior, where I never knew the waves to be very big and they would usually cancel the ride if that were the case.
One day, we had a single, massive wave come out of nowhere and nearly flip us over. It was taller than our boat and drenched everyone. But I had been looking in the direction where it hit and there was nothing. Just a momentary 15 foot wall of water which hit us and the lake was calm agian."
6. I wouldn't stare into those lights
"We would sometimes see lights out in the distance at night. I had a few people tell me that some of these lights were so bright that it felt like it was like the sun had come up. I haven't seen a light like that but I have seen what looked like a plane flying at night. It would change directions and fly the other way. This happened 5 times in the span of about two minutes. This is something I cannot explain logically. How can something change directions that fast, at that speed, in that kind of movement. Oddest thing I have ever seen."
5. Sounds gross, glad it swam away
"My dad caught this huge arthopod during our time out at sea when we went to go and catch crabs close to a Florida coast. It broke free from the net and swam away. No clue what it was."
4. Dolphins are amazing
"was a watchman on a dinner cruise vessel. Watched as dolphins encircled a school of bait fish, drawing the circle tighter and tighter until they ploughed straight through the ball and nailed the fish. Did not understand how sophisticated and murderous dolphins were, or how well they planned their attack."
3. I hope they reported this
"I was in the middle of the ocean on a sailboat several years ago. It was the middle of the night and I couldn't sleep, so I decided to sit up for a little while. After a couple minutes staring idly at the ocean, I see something a couple hundred feet away. It's drifting closer and closer. When it's finally close enough for me to see what it is, i see it is a life preserver with a tennis shoe stuck to it. I know there was probably an explanation but it still creeped me to see in the middle of the ocean"
2. A ghostly shipmate
"When I was in the Navy I was stationed on a cruiser and that ship was certainly haunted. More than once I shared a smoke late at night with someone vaguely familiar, but no one knew who I was talking about and the description didn't match anyone. We never really talked other than mention the quality of the seas at the time ('It's a nice night' or 'Looks like a storm is coming') and just watch the horizon or the night sky, a couple times commenting on the constellations that were out.
Never anything malevolent, but a little unnerving when I could never find that dude and people thought I was too sleep deprived."
1. Who knows what's really hiding down there?
"The only strange thing that ever happened was on Lake Texoma (Texas/Arkansas) with my dad and a friend of his. We were fishing and didn't catch anything, so we went to another part of the lake to swim. We ended up seeing this huge shadow under the water about six feet long perhaps. My dad noticed it first and caught me before I jumped off the boat into the water right next to it. Ever since then I've been scared of the water. Not so bad I can't swim, just that it makes my skin crawl to think of what might be under me."