Almost all of the best swims of my life happened in Sweden, lake of 100,000 lakes.
Category: Sea
Clarity
18 Oct 2023 Weds, sunny, 57 F, water = cold Today at the sea, it was sunny, unseasonably warmish, and the water was super clear and flat. A big contrast to the huge waves from a few days ago. I had arranged to meet some Swedish swimmers/dippers via the local FB page, but I got the instructions confused. When I arrived at the jetty, nobody was there, so I went ahead and walked to the other jetty, thinking that they had walked ahead since I was a wee bit late. Actually, I was exactly on time, but that’s sort of
Lake Connection, Robots, Flowers, Vikings
Today at the sea the wind was whipping across the water, making it little furious waves that came at me too quickly. I was smart and swam with the wind, and I made it to the diving platform faster than I usually do. I swim to the ladder on that dock to remove the extra belt I was wearing. I stupidly thought that I could use one belt to extend the range of my swim buoy so it would float farther away from me. It didn’t work. Instead, my foot got tangled in the extra length, and I had to
The Swim I Needed
Monday, September 11, 2023, 7:22pm Today at the sea, the water was choppy, the sun was shining, and the jellyfish were nowhere to be seen. Or so I thought. When I walked up to the dock I was excited to see a man swimming in the water. I shouted out to him and asked how the water was, and he said it was quite nice, not too cold. I asked about jellyfish, and he said he hadn’t seen any. I looked into the water near the ladder and didn’t see any. I looked into the shallow kiddie swim area and
Danger! Jellyfish
Today at the sea, there were so many jellyfish and new jellyfish. As I was walking to the dock there was a man taking a photo of the area. I asked if he was going to swim, and he said yes. So I said, “yea, I’ll swim with you.” He is visiting Sweden from the Netherlands with his dude. When we got to the dock he did not like the look of the many jellyfish. There were maybe ten of them floating just near the ladder. I assured him that it was safe, that I had been swimming with them
Jellyfish, Ahoy
Saturday, Sept 2 Today at the sea it was gloriously sunny, and the water was flat, calm. There were loads of jellyfish out, so I knew I was going to have a lot of company. I was the only person at the beach again. I didn’t see anyone on the campgrounds or near the cabins. I hope they were out having fun somewhere. I miss swimming with my swim buddies back home. I love swimming no matter what, but it’s more enjoyable when I can share it with others. I took my time getting my gear on because I knew the
Swedish Ducks
Saturday, August 26, 2023 Today at the sea, it was windy, so the water was choppy. It rained all day yesterday, and it was still grey today, so I was alone at the beach. There were a few campers over by the diving platform; looked like they were fishing. I was excited to see four ducks enter the sea as I rolled up on my bike. I miss my home lake ducks, and wondered if Swedish ducks give an f*cks. I’m pretty sure they don’t, and that’s why I wanted to meet them and swim with them. By the time
Hammarsbadet
August 23, 2023 Weds, 5:22pm Today at the lake, I swam in the Baltic Sea for the first time. I’ve been so antsy to swim the past 10 days, while also knowing it would be a wait because of traveling and because of jet lag. Now that I’m at my residency I can swim whenever I want. I really needed a swim because I’ve been a little uptight about some of the details here. Helps to get some exercise. First, I had to bike to the Hammarbadet, the beach, on the three-speed bike my residency has for me to use
Today, I was more lake bitch than lake witch
Temp 70 F, water Temp 67 F. Today at the lake it was sunny but not too hot, and the water was perfect. I’ve had two horrible days, all related to three healthcare cockups. I was beside myself with rage and frustration, and really needed to exercise. Still, I wasn’t feeling it was the safest choice to head to the lake. Maybe I was too upset to drive….and even to be in the water. Then I noticed text from my neighbor, S, about meeting at the lake LATE. That was all it took. I grabbed my gear and tossed it