Hiya Rab, you've definitely captured a scenic spot.
I reckon what people are picking up on with the photo is the difference between looking at a photo on screen (or even printed) and seeing the actual scene in front of you. Even up close on a big monitor, there's simply no substitute for having that full field of view that you get from actually being there. For me, this makes locations like the one you've chosen really jump out and make us go "wow!" I'm also a big fan of water (fortunate, living on the coast) so I get what you mean. It can be hard to convey that sense of openness with a photo though.
Photos are trickier, because we tend to look at them a bit like looking through a window: we only see what's in frame and it's difficult to take in the whole expanse of everything outside that frame. In a funny kind of way, we need to find ways to keep people wanting to look inside the photo, rather than start wondering too much what's outside (although sometimes that can be powerful too, but for different reasons). It's for this reason that there are quite a lot of rules of composition for landscape/scenic shots which help make a nice picture into an interesting photo.
If you're interested, have a bit of a google on "landscape composition". It probably explains what I'm trying to say better than my ramblings above!