Crete Swim visits Xerokambos on the Greek island of Crete
Here is the spectacular view after an 800m swim and a little climbing. I'm standing on a little islet opposite Xerokambos called Kavoloi which hosts Eleanora's falcon. This bird of prey spends its winter in Madagascar and then travels up to 9,000 km northward to breed on Crete. Amazing!
#openwaterswimming #seaswimming #wildswimming #crete #greekislands
Petros Parthenis of We Swim mentions Crete Swim on SKAI TV
Many thanks to Petros Parthenis for mentioning my guidebook on the SKAI TV program called Newsroom. Petros did a live interview about the importance of swimming for well-being, then talked about his 8K swim on the south coast of Crete, and graciously concluded that he was inspired by Crete Swim!
Petros and I have known each other since last June when I went to Athens and suggested that we swim together under the Temple of Poseidon at Sounion. He created Weswim and I highly recommend that swimmers check www.weswim.gr for their events, which include group swims once a week, as well as gastroswims, which are excursions around Greece to amazing swim locations that are also paired with excellent food and wine. Yum!
#openwaterswimming #gastroswim #crete #greekislands #SkaitvGR
This was our starting beach just east of the small town of Agios Ioannis on the south coast of Crete.
Swimming from the shipwreck at Agios Antonios beach.
We discovered a beautiful little cove with a small, black-sand beach to rest at.
The lead swimmer going upstream very close to the riverbank of the Seine River which has strong current.
Chapter 4 describes a fun swim-run course at Agios Pavlos which I enjoyed recently.
It starts from the beach seen in the first frame with a clockwise swim for 1 km around a peninsula called Cape Melissa which on the other side has tall sand dunes. Along the way there's a large sea cave to explore as well.
The run part is a 100m dash up the sand dunes. Without footwear in the summer, you'll want to do this in the morning or late afternoon when the sand is cooler.
At the top I enjoyed a view of the sunset then walked back down (barefoot) to the starting beach which has a nice taverna for food and drink.
In my swimmer's guidebook I also recommend timing your visit for a magical full-moon night swim.
😃🏊
The 2K race with a left turn around the first buoy at 500m.
Crete Swim visits the beautiful town of Chania
I'm excited to swim the 5K at the open water races in Chania, Crete, June 21-23, organized by TRIMORE Sport Events and Constantinos Mitropapas.
The town of Chania is such a beautiful place too. The final sunset clip in this video shows the swim course westward and the likely northwesterlies that will be pushing swimmers towards the coastline.
To enjoy more than 20 hand-picked swim routes all around the island, see my guidebook at www.creteswim.com
Near Chania I have a nice 600m swim to a beautiful islet, a 350m swim through scenic fjords, and a 150m swim over a World War II shipwreck from the 1941 Battle of Crete. 😊
#openwaterswimming #triathlon #wildswimming #seaswimming #crete #greekislands #guidebook #Adventure #mastersswimming #schwimmen #natacion #kreta
Crete Swim at La Jolla Cove
On Sunday I swam this race in southern California which was first held in 1916! As you know from my guidebook, I’m an outdoor adventure swimmer instead of a competitive swimmer, but I liked how the registration fee supported drowning prevention programs. In Chapter 2, I gave 13 safety tips for open water swimming, and the very first one was about learning water safety.
One big difference between Crete and California is that California has massive marine mammals called sea lions. The lead swimmer came very close to one. That has happened to me - you have to stop swimming for a moment to let them get out of the way. For the race I stayed to the right, mainly to avoid my fellow human mammals.
The course was straight to a pier 2.4 km away, around two buoys, and back to the starting beach. There were no intermediate buoys, so this was an excellent test of a swimmer’s ability to swim a straight line. Chapter 1 has my navigation tip on how to sight forwards and backwards to avoid swimming off course.
Amazingly, the race winner was not some Olympic athlete, but a 53-year-old called Alex Kostich, who swam 4.8 km in 61 minutes! That’s gods-like fast. It turns out he’s one of the best open water swimmers in the world. As a mere mortal, I finished 12th out of 24 in my age group, with a time of 91 minutes. Overall, it was a diverse group of people and it's fantastic that swim gods and swim mortals can swim together on a beautiful day such as this one. 😃🏊😀
Swimming against the strong current of the Kourtaliotiko Waterfall
Swimming up Crete's Kourtaliotiko Gorge to face the formidable water current at the main waterfall. 😮
For more information on how to enjoy this amazing swim and more than 20 others all around the island, check out http://www.creteswim.com
#openwater #creteswim #crete #creteisland #eaulibre #wildswim #swimming #visitcrete #kreta #swimbikerun #schwimmen #zwemmen #eaulibre #freiwasserschwimmen #κρητη
Time traveling to ancient Greece with Crete Swim
Swimmers exploring this island are time-traveling to 5000 years ago when the Minoan civilization built its first settlements on Crete. On Monday I’ll be joining Petros Parthenis and Weswim for a sunset swim at Cape Sounion in front of the Temple of Poseidon, the ancient landmark that has guided sailors for thousands of years!
Official site: www.creteswim.com
#openwaterswimming #wildswimming #ancientgreece #visitcrete #greekislands #freiwasserschwimmen #greecetravel #adventuretravel #dronestagram #dronelife #creteswim #creteisland
"Crete Swim: An insider's guide to sightseeing from the water" is an adventure guidebook for swimmers
