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

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