Sea literacies?

Gold Coast 10th March & still no net connection available

Info literacy for the land, and now the sea … lifesavers’ information literacy pathways must surely be comparable to that of Bruce’s firemen, although lifesaver action focuses often on individual initiatives, rather than primarily a team effort.
Visiting the Gold Coast with friends, we observed that we used to be able “to read the sea” and her moods and dangers … not to the expert level required by sailors, fishermen and lifesavers, but from the basic user’s perspective. We both spent a lot of time at the beach when younger, and even at unfamiliar beaches, knew we could read the currents and surf fairly competently. Now we had both reached the same conclusion … we had lost the familiarity (certainly) and perhaps the knowledge (how did we acquire it in the first place, other than by observing the sea and the red and yellow flags every long summer). Neither of us would be happy to judge the surf these days without reference to the lifesavers’ information board as well as those flags. Children learn so much by osmosis! Not all adults, but maybe the majority, learn more confidently when they understand the learning structure. To regain our ability to read the sea we would have to learn what to notice, what to ask, how to seek a proper understanding of the local and ever changing environment. We would have to arrive at a fluid and flexible understanding and knowledge of how to maintain constant updates.