Natural processes created rock pools and sites for future ocean pools along many surfcoasts.
Indigenous peoples created and used fishing traps at some of the sites later used for ocean pools on colonised coasts.
As seabathing became a fashionable health practice in late-eighteenth century England, seaside resorts developed on England’s coasts. Other countries began to adopt and adapt English seaside practices.
Most colonising populations lacked both water skills and water confidence and sought protected sites for their seabathing.