Sea Swimming Blog #14

Day 51 Sea Swimming.

#14 of the blog.

Met Jason in the dark at Havre Des Pas at 7:30am following another frosty evening.

Though I went for a swim I primarily went to take some photos in the dawn light - it’s eerily beautiful down there at that time.

Jason went about his normal swim whilst I carefully made my way around the pool trying to avoid slipping in on the notoriously dangerous seaweed-covered stairs whilst trying to find the best angles for shots.

It was unbelievably still, clear & moody… I didn’t want it to end… I wish the twilight of dawn had stayed a little longer and in retrospect I regret now not getting in the water to shoot from the water level or with the underwater camera but this window of opportunity was about 10 mins so I had to make do with the set up I chose and get what I could with what I had… in these conditions I knew it’d be more than likely that I got some nice images and I wasn’t disappointed.

Whilst we were there a group of girls joined us for a dip themselves so I asked them if they minded me taking a few photos of them too… thankfully they said yes so I was able to capture a few more images.

After shooting, I couldn’t resist getting in and doing a couple of ‘lengths’ across the pool in what seemed like crystal clear water.

I must say, it’s probably the coldest water I’ve been in so far!

Apparently the overnight frost coupled with the fact that the water was undisturbed by the tide meant that temperatures in here are often below the actual sea temperature.

It felt bitingly cold so I wasn’t in for too long.

Just after I finished, the sun began to rise and the grey darkness was illuminated by a touch of pink, producing a lovely landscape image of the Harve De Pas pool and surrounding area.

“But my glory, it doesn’t happen in front of a crowd. It doesn’t happen in a stadium or on a stage.

There are no medals handed out. It happens in the darkness of morning. In solitude. Where I try...

And I try. And I try again. With everything I have, to be the best that I can possibly be.”

- Jocko Willink