CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — “We are tied to the ocean,” an avid sailor and president named John F. Kennedy once said. “And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch, we are going back from whence we came.”

Humans have an affinity for water. It is in the genetic makeup of a species first nurtured in the watery womb. We evolved, scientists tell us, from the primordial deep. In America, it is clear: We instinctively find comfort where water flows over the earth.