It's the first day and all swimmers gathered at the end of the jetty after breakfast. Our guides, Trish and Soarla, were at the boat - Mia - with the captain, Tom. Everyone seemed pretty excited to get going. We headed across to Zlarin for the start of our swimming. We were divided up into 2 groups. First group has some pretty solid swimmers in it. Rob, UK, a good 1500 specialist. Stephanie and Mary M, Tennessee USA, open water swimmers, Nicolas, French living in London, done English Channel team crossing and preparing for a Gibraltar swim. Lisa and Teresa, San Francisco USA, Masters buddies, Mary J, ex Sth African living in London, regular open water swimmer in preparation for Scilly island event 15k swimming and 10k overlandđł. And last but not least, Viki!! The second group was made up of Lozza, Nicola (triathlon and open water) and Daniel (supportive husband) Perth WA, Suzanne (open water) and Richard (another supportive husband who would rather be riding bike), UK ex Perth, Julie (supportive wife of speedster Rob) and Pia, Munich Germany, looking for an adventure holiday.
The morning swim consisted of mostly coastal hugging with one short crossing (600m). Water clarity is amazing and saw some good size shoals of fish and more variety than before. Sea bed formation was very different, a steep drop off with rock plates rather than pebbles. Groups stayed together, waiting for slower swimmers when ever necessary. Reminds us of Hash House Harrier runners, being very supportive of each other. Moored in the village of Zlarin, where we had lunch and then took a stroll into the village for coffee. Also took advantage of the ATM, which was rather challenging with some language issues. There were videos taken of our swim strokes for later analysis and then a short swim before returning home. This swim was into the chop which quite a few found rather challenging. Rob has been put into a group of his own, the speedster in the pink cap! Arrived back in Prvic Luka at around 4pm, time for a shower and relax before video analysis discussions. We were very impressed with the feedback given by Trish and also impressed with the individual strokes. Think we are very lucky to have such a solid group. Others went of for a group dinner, we joined up with Jenny and brought along Nicolas. Tried to get into a grill but was fully booked so returned to the pizzeria from yesterday. Yet again, Jen got a dud! Great conversation was had, I think we might be able to save the world by the end of this trip.
Now for some ice cream and then off to bed!
