I went on an open water swim trip last year that a friend and I organised ourselves. It was fun and full of water-based challenges, but there is nothing to replace the company of others when on holiday. Sharing a swimming experience with others who have the same water driven passion is irreplaceable and bonding.
This year we booked onto SwimTrek’s Mallorca Escape mid-week four day trip at the beginning of October, their penultimate Mallorcan escape of the season. I think the weather starts to change and the sea cool as October gets underway. However, stepping off the plane at Palma we had the welcome wall of heat as we crossed the plane’s threshold, a quick easy taxi ride to Blau Hotel, our home for the next few days, a German owned hotel where you could book in for yoga classes in German (as a non-speaker it did wonders for my international sign language).
A glass of champagne at reception then tottered to a kart that drove us across the sprawling site to our hotel room that overlooked a beautiful rocky bay.
We soon met our fellow swimmers, flown in from Israel, Paris, Nottingham and Pembroke and two charming guides, Huseyin and John. They bought us all drinks and covered the next few days including the important health and safety briefing. They had also booked a local restaurant with pimientos, calamari and all good garlic infused foods. A wonderful start.
I don’t want to go on too much as you’ll only get envious, but the swim days I felt like a millionaire, being greeted at the harbour by Sebastian, owner of our charter, sitting at the front of the boat while we sail out of the cove and along Mallorca’s southernmost coast of yellow cliffs and blue water. Our group of swimmers were split into two groups according to ability and we were guided and observed by Huseyin and John, who would stop to give us welcome bottles of juice. The water temperature was perfect, around 22, and its clarity extraordinary, where silver whirlpools of tiny fish would spin around you as you investigated the coves, arches and depths of the coast. So, yes, that millionaire feel, again, as we are served lunch on the boat and look over at another beautiful bay Sebastian has moored up in.
