It's our last full day in Kona and I couldn't leave here without swimming at the pier (the swim course for the IM Championship). I tried to go on Tuesday, but there was a big cruise ship in from Canada and I just wasn't up for dealing with the exhaust from the boats shuttling passengers back and forth. So last night, we met some friends from my high school for an awesome home cooked Hawaiian dinner (thank you, Christine!) and her husband, Mike, said there was a big group that would be swimming the half distance at the pier between 7:30 and 8:00 this morning.
So after staying up until around 2am to watch THE wedding (loved it, by the way), we got up at 6:15 to make the trek down to Kailua Kona. When we got to the pier someone mentioned that Chris (Lieto) was already out there. As soon as we dive in, I was giddy because there were just so many colorful fish and coral everywhere for the entire time! Mike mentioned the water wasn't as clear as usual, but I saw the bottom the whole distance, so I can't imagine how even more beautiful it could be on a "clear" day!
This was my first open water swim in the wide open ocean. In Honolulu, I swam within a reef, so I was protected by the big waves. Luckily, a bunch of fresh water dumps in to this part of Kona, so it wasn't as salty as Honolulu. The fresh water is about 10 degrees cooler than the salt water so it literally went from warm to cold to warm to cold every few strokes in some spots as the fresh water mixed in. The waves were tough. Trying to swim straight, when the waves push you sideways definitely makes this swim a challenge, but I was happy with my time despite fighting those waves. When I got to the turnaround, about 10 other swimmers were just hanging out there. Apparently, they were just chatting away with Chris Lieto who was finishing his second lap of the FULL distance (going for a 4.8 mile swim?!?!) and telling them how a bunch of dolphins were circling him out there. I was beginning to feel sick from fighting the waves and told Nick that I was just going to turn around there and not join the little doggy-paddle party they were having. I sighted off Chris for about 15 seconds (yes, that was awesome), but he swims twice as fast as me so I lost him pretty quickly.
A few minutes from the turnaround, I was really feeling awful and ended up giving the fish my breakfast (I hope they like pineapple). I've never been seasick and I got sick twice on this trip (something else I need to experiment with before the big day). So there went the good time I was making as I side kicked and paddled my way back until I felt ok to swim again! But, it was still a great experience to swim there and pretty miraculous to see all those fish with just a cap and goggles!
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