Can you see the divide between oceans?

[Backdrifter]

Didn't know whether this should be a science or people/places question, but anyway.... I wondered about this after reading the Jonathan Coe novel The Rotters Club (currently being televised) which contains a passage describing a place on the Danish coast where the narrator could see the actual dividing line between two seas (can't remember which two). He describes it as the very weird site of two separate sets of waves coming in at different angles and a clear dividing line between them, which in the novel is said to be a frequently fatal lure for overambitious swimmers who are tempted by the thought of swimming along the "join" between 2 seas.

 

Does anyone know how much truth there is in this? Can this phenomenon be seen elsewhere?

[Dacetine]

I think this phenomenon is true as far as separate currents can be said to delineate different ocean masses. I believe a similar effect occurs around the Cape of Good Hope whether the Atlantic meets the Indian Ocean.  It may also happen at Cape Horn where the Pacific meets the Atlantic at the southern tip of South America. Certainly these areas are reknowned for their dangerous seas.

[Bonzo 2000]

I would imagine there are places where the phenomenon could be witnessed where seas or oceans meet.  In my local area in Argyll, there are aprts of difficult waters for sailors where open sea meets narrower sounds alongside islands. Even on calm days, there is an area of extremely restless water where the various tidal currents meet

[thekraut]

been there, seen it myself. The place is called skagen, at the northert tip of Denmark where the north sea and the east sea meet. and you can actually see the small ripples (when I was there) come from both sides and meet in the middle. Don't ask me why, though.

[Backdrifter]

Thanks, guys. Skagen, yes, thanks thekraut, that's the very place described in the book. I'd love to see something like that, it sounds slightly freaky. I used to naively think oceans were arbitarily assigned, like land borders, it never occurred to me that they were defined by regions of currents, but of course that makes sense.

I'm into notching up experiences of odd, naturally occurring things. Having once witnessed a 2-hour display of aurora, other things on my "to-do" list include seeing this oceans divide thing, and experiencing the permanent night time of northern europe in December.

[landie]

I can't even see the oceans.