Swimming

i snorkled for the first time (in hawaii too!) a few months ago and i'm a strong swimmer - it takes a bit of getting used to because of the waves and making sure you keep track of where you are in the water, but it's soooo fun and cool. just remember that you can take your mask/snorkle off at any time you feel anxious. it's an easy learning curve though and you just breathe in and out through your mouth and blow water out when it gets in, no prob. also, wearing a t-shirt is a good idea at first because your back will get burned...

thanks for the advice. Another tricky challenge will be keeping track of my 9 year old son who has really never been in the ocean much before.

Most of my swimming is actually in a boring (but wonderfully clean and smooth) indoor pool, although it is 50m x 8 lanes wide, and has a big water slide, two hot tubs, and (my favorite) a 10 meter (33') diving platform which I've never actually dived head first off of, but love to jump from. Not as much fun as real cliff diving from a choice spot along the Billy Goat Trail near Great Falls in Maryland where the view is amazing, but much more convenient (and probably more safe, and definitely more legal). I just like dreaming of cooler pools.

Moodles, be sure you understand how rip currents work before swimming in Hawaii beaches. They are very strong in some areas at some times. Basically if you keep moving further from shore, swim sideways until you're out of the rip current, then swim towards the shore. If need be, float on your back using elementary backstroke (which moves you adequately fast and doesn't wear you out much). Fortunately, salt water is much more bouyant. The rip tide at Waimea Bay in the winter could knock me over even when the water is only just above my knees. I wore a personal floatation device part of the time I was so nervous, which keeps your head afloat.

Thanks, my goal is to stick with beaches that have fairly calm currents this time of year. I have a pretty good idea of where those are, but I'm still feeling wary and hope that there will be clear information available about this when I get there.

Generally from what I understand - northern beaches calm in the summer, southern beaches in winter. I was there in December and Waikiki was calm, Waimea had 20+ foot waves (whose swells I swam up and down, out past the breakers, easily one of the most thrilling and bazarre sensations I've ever known - it's like you're swimming uphill for four seconds, then downhill). Just when I had come to accept that the water surface always stays more or less flat. (don't try this if you're sane). Although I was astonished to find little kids out there playing around in the water and surfing those huge waves. I guess if you live in Oahu, you learn to surf as a kid the way I learned to play soccer.

Is snorkle the American way of spelling it, or is it just that I'm the only person annoying enough to point out that it's 'snorkel'?

i am not the best speller with words i hardly ever use :/

and with -el/-le words

Sorry, hope that wasn't snarky - it sounds fun, anyway!

My friend taught me to dog-paddle when I was 19 so I can get around in a pool. But I'm not really a swimmer. My goal for the next year is definitely to learn how to do it properly. I think it's the one form of exercise that could actually be FUN for me.

My friend has a pool in her backyard and tbh that's my new material dream. It's fucking awesome.

better than swimming = snorkeling

^^^^

> Is snorkle the American way of spelling it, or is it just that I'm the only person annoying enough to point out that it's 'snorkel'?

I was going to say it's "snorkel" in the US too. It is, but wuzziss?

Snorkeling
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Snorkeling (British spelling: snorkelling) is the practice of swimming on or through a body of water while equipped with a diving mask, a shaped tube called a snorkel, and usually swimfins.

Americans learning to swim are usually first taught the front crawl (freestyle); from what i understand in UK and elsewhere in Europe you're more likely to start out with breaststroke.

all those infinity pools make me want to learn to swim properly!

That's why I go st georges always empty

what times you been going? you have me considering this now. i could run there and back fairly handily too.

I spell it "Snorkelle"

swimming is the best. i go swimming every day if i can. i like swimming outside the best. i swam in the ocean a few weeks ago and pretended i was a fish. i also like jetskis, jetskis are cool.

bliss:
http://mountsplashmore.tumblr.com/

That looks v cool - never seen one shaped like that.

Tall, steep water slides are IMO the most thrilling way to experience a freefall that doesn't require skill. Sure, cliff-jumping or roller coasters give you the same negative g's, but on a water slide you can feel your body rushing unprotected through the water and there's the distinct sense that you are moving at 60 mph, not just the car or boat you're in. Not like in a roller coaster where you can grab onto the handlebar during the scary parts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fCREx96JEg

doing London swimming is one of my big ~lifestyle~ plans over the summer, probably the Kings Hall Leisure Centre in Hackney since it's a couple of minutes from my house. What's been deterring me from swimming for ages is that I'd be going alone, my eyesight is atrocious and I struggle with contact lenses, so I'd be anxious about wandering around not being able to see for shit. But now, I've discovered the wonder of PRESCRIPTION GOGGLES! (Though not actually tried them yet.)

Also, adult non-cyclists unite. I learned when I was about 12 (already v late) but stopped pretty much as soon as I was competent, so despite certain similes I'm going to assume that all my muscle memory will have dissipated.

I've gone to st George's at different times as I have a variable schedule, i tend to go mostly mon-wed after 7 but also on a sat it was good, been both am and pm

It's almost a two hour drive from London, but I had a couple of friends who raved about swimming near Lechlade-on-Thames in Glousestershire, the upper reaches, one of these quiet river stretches surrounded by bridges, pubs, swans gliding by, and friendly people in little boats. Something very elemental and poetic about it, a world apart from the chlorinated confines of an artificial pool.

Justin Beiber, you incompetent nihilist! what do you care!

Highgate Men's Pond was a pleasant 17 degrees yesterday. Ducks, coots, dragonflies. You can lie on your back and watch the planes pass overhead.

Lechlade-on-Thames

I used to live near here! I'm not sure Lechlade contains anything to make it worth the trip from London but then I never went swimming in the river, because I don't go swimming. Have a pint for me at the Trout just outside town though, many youthful summers spent in that pub garden...

(also on the river, but you need to go into town for swimming, the pub's beside quite a fierce weir)

I ,must needs aqua socks to withstand the horrible pebbles underfoot at willard beach!

I was trying to find this the other week but couldn't. LOOK AT THIS FUCKING PLACE:

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2e4u5I2uW1qe7v9do1_400.jpg

bah, I've seen better

lol

my pool looks like this by J-Lo is constantly swimming in it and its filled with Tang

lolll

where is that, E, and how do i make it happen

Rrrobyn it's in the Maldives and I'm trying to figure the second part out myself.

ah the maldives...
that is very far away...

sadly :(

http://www.dusit.com/dusit-thani/en/maldives-gallery.html

wowww
want to go

ugh i want to live there forever

Also many xposts but there is one of those steep-ish drop slides in my hometown. Not as vertical but it's always intimidated me, I'm so much of a wuss I've still never been on it. Maybe this summer...

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QC9UO85-cAA/TiYt5zzf16I/AAAAAAAAADA/u_MyhUP494Y/s1600/100_5562.JPG

I want to go to a waterpark so much right now

Two of my friends went to the Maldives on their honeymoon and stayed in a little hut that was literally out on the water. They had to walk out on a little walk way to get to it and there was nothing around them but that water. I can't even imagine. The only thing they said was that there isn't much there which is great but they stayed for a whole 2 weeks. I guess you would if you took all the time to fly there. Anyway, by the last couple days they were getting a little antsy.

Good lord that resort is AMAZING.

as a dude that pretty much hates swimming (i can do it, i just dont dig it) i just wanted to say that snorkeling on the other hand is like the best thing on the planet

I only like to swim in places hwere people still wear 19th century outfits

http://www.gentlemansemporium.com/store/mens_swimwear.php?gclid=CKjlkZ2x8bACFcXe4AodF173vQ

Oh, no big deal just hanging out in my private pool looking out over the most beautiful ocean in the world which I'll take a dip in next.

I too could never make sense of having a pool overlooking the ocean. That is, except this one: the Bondi Icebergs in Sydney, Australia:

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2272/2059440302_f760cbe99a_z.jpg?zz=1

It's a gorgeous pool overlooking a gorgeous ocean. What makes this one stand out above all others is that when the surf is up, the waves crash right over the wall and into the pool:

http://img.opentravel.com/blogs/travel-blog-magazine-883_3.jpg

http://www.okeanosgroup.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Bondi-Icebergs-Pool-Design.jpg

http://farm1.staticflickr.com/28/54724182_fced431f07_z.jpg?zz=1

http://img.traveldudes.org/files/imagecache/gallery_full/tips/sydney-bondi-beach-icebergs-pool_0.jpg

And if the feel of the ocean isn't enough, you can always jump off the rocks on the south edge of the pool right into the Pacific:

http://farm1.staticflickr.com/191/518470208_39579bea14_z.jpg

Only $5 for admittance; there's also a resort club, pubs, and a live music venue. Will an Aussie ILXor please swim here so I can live vicariously through you?

I stand to be corrected, but I think I've walked past that pool!

I wouldn't be able to walk past it without diving in.....

I'm prob gonna die from radiation or some shit but I'm in the ocean like every other day

OMG that is so amazing.

living the dream imo

xp
i want to swim in all these pools and oceans and lakes

just in case i haven't made that clear enough already