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"Crete Swim: An insider's guide to sightseeing from the water" is an adventure guidebook for swimmers

04/04/2026

Did you know the southern coastline of Crete is closer to Africa than to Athens? The sandstorm this week that made Crete look like Mars certainly reminded us!!

The Agiofaraggo swim from Chapter 4 of my guidebook will take you to this southernmost coastline. It's a remote area with shifting winds that will certainly evoke a sense of exploring places that few swimmers have ever seen. 🏊😮

To learn more about this amazing swim and many others around the Greek island of Crete, see www.creteswim.com

14/01/2026

It was a real pleasure to meet legendary swim coach Bob Bowman on Sunday. He coached Michael Phelps 🥇🥇🥇and currently coaches Olympians Leon Marchand 🇫🇷 and Summer McIntosh 🇨🇦. In the video clip he has a funny story about coaching in France and training Leon Marchand.

I uploaded his entire training talk on the Crete Swim YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/SFwnYQvDCes

Bob presented his philosopy of training swimmers in all strokes and this aligns with what I wrote in Chapter 2 of Crete Swim. I suggested that swimmers learn other strokes to "give those freestyle muscles a break." For example, breaststroke is helpful because the head coming up and forward allows for sighting and breathing, and it is a natural and powerful stroke for swimming underwater. 🏊😃🏊

If you have any questions about swimming technique, feel free to ask me in the comments and I'll do my best to answer. I am Level 2 certified coach, which means I have up-to-date training on the correct technique for all four strokes.

01/01/2026

2025 was full of many wonderful open waters swims around the Greek island of Crete. For the “Swim of the Year” I chose the event which had the largest participation 🏊😃🏊, a late afternoon and night swim at Treis Ekklises, which is one hour south of Heraklion. I was genuinely surprised at how many swimmers showed up since I organized this just a few days earlier!

We started with a 1km swim as the sun was setting and then returned to the beach to wait for the sky to become dark enough to see the stars of the Milky Way Galaxy above and the flashing lights of bioluminescent plankton below. We then got back into the water to enjoy the peaceful and awe-inspiring Galactic Night Swim. I also brought a laser pointer to give a little tour of the constellations and talk about the wonders of the universe. With our swim buoys lit up by flashlights, the entire experience both in and out of the water was truly magical!! 🏊✨💫

For more information on this swim and many others, check out www.creteswim.com

10/10/2025

Chapter 6 of Crete Swim covers open water swim competions. Here I raced the 3km event at the 2025 OWS Masters Championship of Greece, winning a bronze medal with a time of 46'42.6. 🥉

My team from Heraklion is called Orionas but swimmers from foreign teams are also allowed to compete at the Greek national championships.

I prepared for this race by swimming 3-4km daily from the beaches of Paleokastro and Karteros (Amnisos) described in Chapter 3 of Crete Swim. I also trained with my team in a 50-m pool.

Chapter 6 has my tips for competing with an emphasis on sighting for straight-line swimming. During the race I saw many swimming off course at the beginning of each 600m leg because they aimed for the wrong buoy.

But that's OK! As I wrote at the end of Chapter 6, every competition will teach you something new and make you a better swimmer. 😊🏊🏊‍♂️🏊‍♀️

Visit www.creteswim.com for more information and resources on open water swimming.

22/09/2025

This stunning spot for swimming called Vathi lies in between my guidebook's Matala and Agiofaraggo excursions. The long dirt road makes it a slow and challenging drive, but then it all seems worth it when you finally arrive. The pristine beach has fine sand and a few trees for shade.

My swim buddy Michael Nathenas recommended it and you can see him in the drone video and next to me. The geography resembles a fjord like Seitan Limani because the open sea is not visible from the beach. Make sure to bring your own food and water - it's isolated and magical!

22/06/2025

Today I brought my swim friend Stavros to Kaminaki Beach and this spectacular hidden beach half-way between Kaminaki and Sfakidia Beach. Stavros was amazed by the beauty of this entire coastline. Here I'm holding a selfie stick with a GoPro in my left hand while doing some one-handed swimming with my right.

For more information on how to get here, see www.creteswim.com

19/06/2025

In my 2025 updates for Crete Swim, I split my descriptions of the Treis Ekklisies swims into two parts, east and west of the village. This allowed me to add a more detailed map for the swims eastward of Voidomatis Beach towards Aspes Caves.

The lower left photo shows my drone shot of Voidomatis and the two short swims east and west of the beach. The other panels show the stunning beaches and caves farther east. I described the 1-km segment between Kaminaki and Sfakidia beaches as having "a rugged beauty, magnificent geological features, and an extreme isolation that you might remember later as a surreal experience rather than just a swim."

Of course at these greater swim distances one needs to bring water in their swim buoy (tow float) and possibly gel packs or other snacks. Sometimes the westerlies are a bit too strong and I prefer to stay close to Voidomatis. Afterwards, I might drive back to Treis Ekklisies to sit at the nice tavernas right on the beach. For more information on these swims and many others, check out www.creteswim.com

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