You're never far away from the sea or ‘môr' in North Wales, and we've been traversing the big blue for longer than you might think. Legend has it that in 1169 Prince Madog ab Owain set sail from Rhos on Sea in search of new horizons and found America. Columbus didn't get there until 1492.

But forget sailing the Atlantic. Just crossing our coastal waters can be perilous. Lord Horatio Nelson described the Menai Strait as ‘one of the most treacherous stretches of sea in the world'. And there's another dangerous stretch of water just off Holyhead, where South Stack Lighthouse first cast its beam in 1809.

Fierce waters can be found all over our coastlines. So it's a good job we've got lifeboat crews like the ones at Moelfre Lifeboat Station – braving the waves since 1830. Richard ‘Dic' Evans was a member of the crew for 50 years – you can see Sam Holland's memorial sculpture of Dic on the shore at Moelfre. And climb aboard a real-life lifeboat at the Seawatch Centre - one of Anglesey's most visited sites. Underwater, we've more shipwrecks than anywhere else in the UK, including the wreck of Resurgam 11 – the world's first powered submarine.

According to legend, North Wales had more pirates per mile of coastline than anywhere else in Europe. Among those wreaking havoc on the high seas were Tomos Prys of Denbighshire and Edward Eaton of Bangor – heir to the Penrhyn Estate. Looking for something a little less cut-throat? At Llandudno. Menai Bridge and Caernarfon you can hop aboard The Balmoral - cruising the British coast since 1949.

Related Links:
www.attractionsnorthwales.co.uk