Naturally enough, after having moved to a tropical island, (more on that soon - we're very behind in blogging!) I've been thinking a lot about swimming. Specifically, I've been comparing the wonderful beaches here with some of the very questionable places I've jumped into in my travels overseas. So, for fun, I pulled up a retrospective of the good, the bad, and ugly swimming spots we've encountered.
Russia, Moscow River, 2006
We encountered a massive heat wave in Moscow when we took our first trip together there in summer 2006. To escape the heat we went up to Moscow's famous "beach", Silver Forest, located on a bend of the Moscow River. Disappointingly, we discovered that there was no sand; everyone was laying out on towels in bare dirt under the pines, and the river was... how to put this diplomatically... disgusting. Browny-green, lots of floating trash, etc. We were so hot we dipped in to our necks, but no further. We still shudder to think about this decision.
Iceland, Blue Lagoon, 2009
April in Iceland, swimming outdoors in a geo-thermally heated pool... bliss.
Ukraine, Dnieper River, 2009
Similar to Russia above, we were in Kyiv, it was beastly hot, and all of the locals were getting in the river! We knew that the river has radioactive silt, since it's downriver from Chernobyl, but we calculated that swimming once or twice wouldn't kill us. We haven't grown any extra limbs yet!
Mongolia, Khokh Nuur, 2011
We went camping at this spot where reputedly Chinggis Khan was crowned back in the 1200s. After a run, the lake was the only way to get "clean". We looked around for any wandering horsemen, and then did a quick rinse off.
Mongolia, Khuvsgol Nuur, 2011
We really wanted to go swimming in this lake, the 2nd deepest in the world and so pretty. Unfortunately, even in July, it was also really cold. The locals told us that the ice had only just melted the week before our arrival. Instead, we entertained ourselves by timing each other to see who could stand in it the longest. I think I won with a time of 2 minutes.
Australia, Shark Beach, 2012
We did tons of great swimming in Sydney, but this beach wins just for the name. It's located in Sydney Harbor, rather than on the coast itself. It also was apparently a favored place for sharks to munch on (or at least scare) local swimmers. Hence, the net. It made me feel better, but when snorkeling I was pretty afraid of what I might see on the other side....
Australia, Wineglass Bay, 2012
Even after a quick and strenuous hike up and over the mountain saddle to reach Wineglass Bay in Tasmania, we were still not nearly ready to get in the water. The only guy managing to swim had a full-body wetsuit. Too bad, as the location was perfect!
Thailand, Karon Beach, 2012
The beaches in Phuket are such a cliche, but for good reason. Palm trees, soft sand, and an ocean like bath water. If I hadn't had pneumonia I may have enjoyed it more, but Andy spent hours every day in the water.
Trinidad, currently!
And that brings up from memory lane up to the present. We've done 4 beach days in the last 8 days, so we're doing our best to soak in everything we can here. We've come a long way from the Moscow
River....
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