Today marks Day 5. We had to do 2 swims today because we missed the mark yesterday (I am grateful that I do not need to do the maths to figure out all of the GPS points). Yesterday, we, unfortunately, missed 8km. Therefore, to stay true to my plan of swimming the entire coastline to Cape Town, we went back to the missed spot and swam 8km to tick that section off as complete. We then jumped on the boat and travelled another 33.5km South for me to swim another 12km. The South-North current meant that the swim would be 20km in 3 hr 20 min in total.
Along this journey, I am learning to be very adaptable. We are constantly making calls on how to be most efficient and maximise time in the water without over swimming me. I feel super comfortable in the water, and I feel like I can swim all day at the pace I am swimming.
The team is getting more efficient at packing and unpacking, and we are settling into a good routine.
We are all puzzled by the current, but we will eventually get to the Aghullus current and finally start swimming in the right direction. For now, I am happy that we have covered just over 70km, and we are making decent progress. At this rate, we hope to reach the Transkei by the end of next week latest.
Today, I woke up with a slight tweak in my neck so the swim was less comfortable than I would have liked. Yet, we had perfect conditions for the second swim of the day. There was zero wind, calm seas, a strong current and a gentle rolling swell.
When we launched, the swell was massive. We had launched just in time because we later heard that the launch site was closed due to a boat capsizing! Luckily, we have amazing skippers, and everyone was okay.
We spotted dolphins twice, which was a blessing and treat but only off the boat. They were pretty shy, so they did not want to play with us. There was a great deal of plankton in the water today (many people call this ‘gorilla snot’).
I am curious to know what all of the different types of jellyfish are. I will be making it my mission to find this out and learn more about them.
It was wonderful having Wofty on board with his camera again. Wiaan also joined us as our guest.
The day ended with fish and chips from the best spot in KZN in Scottburgh before heading home to unpack, repack, recover, eat and sleep before another day tomorrow. We still have no idea what the current will do. So we will assess on the day.
Tomorrow we will be launching at a new launch site in Scottburgh. It’s going to be so fun, and I am excited.
Day 5 stats:
Start time: 7:05am
Total swim time 3:20:57
Pace: 10min/km
Distance: 20.25km
Start location:
End location:
Water temperature: 26 -27 degrees
Water quality: clean most of the way 10m vis?
Sights seen: jellys and blue bottles dolphins out the water, plastic x 3
Stings: 1 blue bottle and a few stingies
Calories: 4265 (5420 for the day)
Strokes: 5229
Weather: sunny calm zero wind. Very little to see. Lots of plankton
