First time at the ocean

We had such a great vacation in Block Island (off the coast of Rhode Island), the weather was perfect, we had lots of hands to hold Elliot, and the fresh seafood was delicious! As previously mentioned in relation to swimming lessons, Elliot doesn't seem to be a natural in the water so far - and I suppose it makes sense being that he's a Leo born in the year of the tiger and in some ways has been raised by cats! Josh and I are both water signs so of course the universe had to balance this by procuring a being that is opposed to that. Anyway, I'm not really into the whole astrology thing, what I'm getting at is that he didn't quite love the beach at first. He was frightened and uneasy. The first day I tried to approach the ocean just to put his feet in the water he fervently clung to me and began to whimper. After some playing in the sand we tried to walk in the tide pool that was shallow and warm and that went over pretty well.

After a few days of seeing the ocean from afar he did finally allow himself to be held by dad as they went in waist deep (dad's waist), and then was ok walking on the shore when the whole group us was with him. I'm not quite sure how he'll feel the next time we go to the beach but I like to hope that he conquered this fear permanently. I sometimes have an unexplained guilt of raising my child in such an urban environment with rare grass to run around in and always surrounded by exhaust and concrete, my own fear is that he'll have a fear and disconnection to the natural world. He's a kid though, so I'm sure he'll get used to it and will eventually run around screaming like a maniac like most kids and will refuse to come out of the water even when his lips become blue and trembling.

While there, he also started eating seafood! We had tried giving him some in the past and for a while it was the first and only food he refused to eat but I suppose he thought 'when on an island, do like the islanders do' and he was eating mussels, shrimp, lobster, and other fish. However, now something has changed yet again because he has become a very picky eater. If it's not sweet or savory, he spits it out. He no longer eats any veggie combos, or beans, or really anything that isn't cracker, cookie, fruit, or chicken. You can imagine how frustrating this is, he just spits it out and turns his head, or swipes the food off his tray. Then he cries if we dare try to give him another spoonful. I'm not quite sure how to get around this, he acts very terrible-two-y in these instances, plus it kind of hurts my feelings because I spend a good deal of time and energy making wholesome and tasty food just for him. My approach now is to stop feeding him and do something else until he gets hungrier, and then we'll try again. Any recommendations welcome!