Open Water Swims in West Crete
A very nice beach I haven’t visited for quite a while.
I went swimming with Fiona. Unfortunately the Gps battery went flat on the way back, so the track is not complete.
Today I tested the other new wetsuit that I just bought. This is a full, Orca brand wetsuit. It was quite easy to put on and it feels very comfortable, maybe a little too big for me but I did enjoy the comfort after the struggle to fit into the tight sleeveless one the other day. There’s quite a bit of extra material in the legs, arms and body, but it did cover me nicely. Arms are very stretchy, and I didn’t have any feeling of excess compression or constriction. I could do my stroke freely. Float balance in the water was also great, probably helped by the calm sea. I found a good balance right from the start.
Now the only real test left is the winter, when the water gets cold. Will this wetsuit keep me warm? The neoprene does look pretty thin. That test will have to wait about 6 months anyway! The sea temperature doesn’t really drop until December.
Fiona came with me, and we set off from the end of Viglia beach. Beautiful still sea, clear water. We took some breaks and chatted along the way, but when swimming I was trying to push quite hard. We were aiming to go check out the little beach by the Balos road toll, for a potential beach cleaning. I did get there, the beach was clean, and swam a bit beyond Meri’s well as well.
I wore hand paddles for most of the swim, except the beginning and the end. I didn’t really get tired, probably the frequent breaks helped, still a good general feeling.
This is my first real swim after my chest infection was almost gone. I took it very easy, and still found it hard to breathe. With Fiona.
On the way back we saw a female turtle, and followed it for a little while doing breast stroke.
A swim in Mythimna, with Fiona on the kayak following me.
We tested the camera attachment to the kayak, which worked, so Fiona filmed me swimming almost all the way.
The kayak also had the GPS, so I didn’t drag the buoy on this swim. The sea was kind of wavy and it was windy though.