The alarm went off at 5am, much to the disgust of my body. It was too early to take my medication but I was up and moving around increasing my pain as I went. Despite that, I was actually pretty excited about the day ahead, we would be doing 2 swims one in Zanjice bay, which including swimming round Otočić Gospa, which was 4.1km. Then after a short break (depending on how fast you swam the 4.1km) we would set off from Zanjice bay and swim around the coast to Rose, including swimming into the bay at Dobrech beach, which was where the feed station was as it was a 6.1km swim.
I met Vincent at 5.30am to go through the plan accessibility wise for the day and I was told I was I was going to be given someone specific to help me during the day would look after my wheelchair and crutches and make sure everything was where it should be, when it should be there. This was totally bizarre to me and a little unexpected. The wheelchair would come on the transfer boat with me so I could get as close to the start of the swim as possible. It would also mean that I would have the wheelchair for between the 2 swims. At the end of the 2nd swim I was also going to need my wheelchair as that was where we were having lunch and where my sister would be meeting me. I okayed the plan and headed off to breakfast.
Its sometimes difficult to know what and how much to eat before a swim, but I just had some cereal like I normally do and an added slice of toast as I knew it would be enough energy to get me through swim number 1.
After breakfast we headed to pick up my tracker and made our way to the jetty, like the previous day. I was introduced to Nanad who helped me onto the boat and then had my wheelchair passed to me. We took the wheels off and put the chair on the seat between myself and Nameed so that we could keep hold of it. Once the boat was full of swimmers we started heading to Zanjice.
One bonus about starting so early was that the sun was only just coming up and the view of the sunrise between the mountains was truly breath taking.
As on the previous day, we were updated about conditions, things to look out for when swimming and I had a quick read through the briefing from the night before to remind me what i was meant to do and of the all important cut off times!
We arrived at Zanjice and I was glad I had my wheelchair. It was quite a walk (for me) to get to the beach from the jetty, however, i got on to the jetty there were gaps between the planks of wood that my castor wheels would get stuck down, the planks of wood were just a tiny bit too far apart for my chair. Instead I decided that I would walk to the end of the jetty and get in my chair from there.
Nanad pushed my chair along so it was waiting for me. It was a very slow, careful walk ignoring everyone around me and just focusing on not falling over as my legs were already a little wobbly and sore. I was glad to sit down when we made it to the concrete shore. Nanad had all my stuff so I could focus on getting to the start.
There wasn’t much room and with the amount of swimmers it was a bit of an obstacle course so when I saw a little gap to stop in, I did. I got changed, sorted my tracker, hat, goggles and greased up. A few others had forgotten their grease so used some of mine.
To get onto the beach were a couple of big steps down. I really didn’t like the look of them and was nervous getting down them. In the end I had a swimmer stand in-front of me, one to the side and Nanad was behind me and I made it to the shingle.
I sat on the step for a short break whilst James was going through the race briefing and when he gave us the couple of minutes warning for the start I walked down the beach using my crutches and into the water before passing them back to Nanad, then a swimmer helped me far enough into the water that I could doggy paddle to the invisible start line.
The excitement, chatter, last minute hat and goggles and tow float adjustments were all going on and I just told myself don’t push it on this swim, the next one is longer and harder. We set off and all the fast swimmers sped into the distance whilst I ignored everyone else and stuck with my own pace.
The swim started well, the water really was crystal clear and I was starting to get a little distracted by the huge shoals of fish that were swimming underneath us. I followed the rest of the swimmers round the corner to the first buoy before swimming towards the monastery/island.
We had been told that there was a single monk that lived there and if you visited you had to have a shirt on. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought of this poor monk enjoying the beautiful sea when suddenly 200 swimmers that most definitely didn’t have shirts on and a load of kayakers and boats effectively started swimming round his home!
I got quite close to the rocky shore and could feel the waves, not only was I being pushed towards the rocks but I was then being pushed away by the ones that were deflecting off the rocks. When I got round the corner and saw the buoy I realised I needed to move a little further away from the island. The next bit of the swim was across the top of the bay.
It was a straight swim but as the water was so deep there the organisers couldn’t place a buoy in the middle meaning everyone was relying on their sighting skills. We had been told to aim for the red-ish rock face but we obviously had to take the current and swell into consideration. Thankfully, my sighting skills are pretty good and on the boat on the way I’d taken note of not only the red rock face but what the rock face near there looked like too, meaning I had a bigger area I could aim for.
I picked my spot and stuck to it. It was about 1km across the top of the bay, so quite a distance without a marker but I was absolutely loving it. The swell, the clear water, the fish, other swimmers around me with the sun in the sky too. I made it to the other side without any issues and in a pretty straight line too. The next bit of the swim was the most beautiful bit of swimming we had done so far, at least in my opinion.
I used to have a fear of swimming by rocks and cliffs, I was worried I would get too close and end up on the rocks but perhaps for the first time, I really, truly was enjoying it. The sky was no longer blue, it was grey and cloudy, but the water was almost glistening and the amount of fish I saw was amazing, I even saw a dark red starfish, the first time I’ve ever seen one in the wild.
I felt a bit like I was swimming on my own but I knew there were at least a couple of people behind me and I was still within the cut off time so just kept plodding on. All of a sudden there was sand just a few feet under me and I realised id been pushed into the shallows and I needed to head further out to actually go through the finish arch!
They were ready for me with my crutches and Nanad helped me up the beach. Rather than celebrating and feeling great about the swim I was automatically focused on the next swim and getting some nutrition and medication on board. I joined another group of swimmers sitting on a large picnic bench and Nanad got me my bag so I could get warm, dry and eat. There was some food and drink available at the finish so Nanad went and got me what I needed on top of what I had already brought with me. I started refuelling, at which point there was a huge rumble of thunder. All the swimmers glanced at each other and I think we all had the same question in our eyes – is the second swim going to happen? At the same time the final swimmer crossed the finish line to a huge cheer and round of applause.
With thunder, there is normally lightning and lighting, water and swimmers don’t mix very well. Straight after the thunder the heavens opened up and I mean there was a complete down pour, torrential rain. I figured I might as well just take my robe off and sit in my swimming costume since I was getting soaked anyway. It was announced we were still swimming but the start was delayed by 25 minutes, which I imagine was a blessing for the swimmer that had only just got out of the water!
We waited around for the storm to pass, turns out it was the other side of the mountain because of course you can have a thunder storm on one side of a mountain and not the other…when we finally got the ok to get ready it was all hustle and bustle to get in the water. This was the longest swim so far, it was swimming the other way round the coast and if the day before push from the current was anything to go by it would be tough.
We all set off back along the beautiful coast line. We swam round the first buoy, past the red cliffs that we were told to aim for on the first swim and round the corner out the side bay, which was actually much easier than I thought.
The next bay we were swimming into was the feed station where I had some more painkillers waiting, which I admit I was grateful for by that point in the day. After getting nutrition and a decent drink I headed along the otherside of the bay back into the open Adriatic sea. It was like all of a sudden I swam into a brick wall. My arms were still moving but I’m convinced I wasn’t moving anywhere, at all. A small bit of reassurance for me was that no one else seemed to be moving either. Swimmers that left the feed station as I had arrived at it were suddenly only 10m in-front of me and were clearly struggling.
I realised that now was the time to stop looking at the fish and beautiful surroundings and instead put my head down and swim hard. I reminded myself to swim long and strong, make the most use out of my stroke as possible, each catch and pull had to be strong and powerful to move me forwards. I felt myself start to move forwards so I decided to shut everyone and everything out and just focus on one arm stroke after another. Was my hand entry correct? Was I catching the water at the optimal position? Was I pulling the water all the way back as far as I could? Soon enough I spotted the round buoy and knew I had made it round the first headland.
From that buoy I was able to see the next one too, which was reassuring. However, I remembered that this part of the swim was where there was often a lot of boat traffic, partly due to people wanting to see the ‘Stairway to Heaven” which we had to swim past. I was starting to feel a bit fatigued, but reminded myself it was natural since I had already done a 4km race and had swum at least a further 4km to get to where I was!
It was just a case of hugging the coast line for the rest of the swim. We were swimming round a small headland again and I felt the stronger current again but just kept reminding myself of my technique which took away and distracted me from the feeling of fatigue.
I then spotted the black and white lighthouse that we had swum past in the other direction the previous day and I remembered that as we came round that corner the previous day it was like going down a water slide. It was a similar situation to getting round the headland after the feed station – people not moving anywhere. I knew that lighthouse meant we only had 1km to go meaning I had already swum nearly 10km so I decided the last 1km wouldn’t beat me.
I ended up swimming past quite a few people that were clearly stuck and tired and pushed on till I came round the corner and saw the giant cube buoy – the last buoy meaning I was almost there! I decided to give it one last push, whilst keeping an eye out for boats, I passed on the inside of the cube and headed for the finish gate. It was a beautiful area and when I swam through the gate I could hear my sister cheering for me which made me smile.
Once I had taken a breath I discovered I was in a little cove area and the way out was up some stairs. As a result I bobbed for quite a while trying to get some normal sensation back in my legs and just to have a bit of a rest as I knew getting up the stairs would use a lot of energy. I was looking at the stairs wondering how I could get up them and decided the safest way would be to crawl.
There was some carpet near where Zoe (the commentator) was and so the volunteers used that to put over the steps so that it wasnt rough on my knees and legs when I crawled up. With help, I managed to get to the top where my sister and Zoe were waiting with my wheelchair. Nanad had got all my stuff to my sister so once I was in my chair we could move over to the side and she could help me get organised. I was struggling, I had been up since 5am, swum over 10km, some of which was against a very strong current and some big swells I was exhausted.
My body hurt from top to toe, my legs felt like they had carpet burns on after crawling up the stairs, my left ankle had twisted inwards, swollen and ‘locked’ in that position but despite all that, i felt amazing and was buzzing from the atmosphere created by Zoe at the finish! Once my sister helped me change i noticed Zoes epic sunglasses and wanted to steal them, we tried to take a selfie but were helped by the official photographer to get this epic shot instead!
My sister had made friends with another swimmer’s partner and the swimmer (Katrina) was still in the water and appeared to be stuck where I had been 30 minutes earlier, less than a kilometre to go and sadly she was pulled out of the water due to the time. However, the amazing thing was that the boat stopped just before the finish line, let all the swimmers they picked up get back in the water so that they could cross that finish line! It was such a small gesture but I think it meant the world to the swimmers. Katrina got changed and sorted and we started heading round to the boat that our lunch was on, I stopped suddenly because I thought I saw a huge spider crawling across the path in front of me. It took a second but I soon realised it was a crab!
We got to the boat and I saw the metal steps to get onto it and there was no way on this planet I would have been safe to go up them. The lunch was all aboard the boat and I was starving! Eventually the staff onboard brought a table out to me on the jetty and then brought out my lunch, however, they refused to bring my sister or anyone else’s lunch out so I would have had to sit like billy no mates eating on my own. My sister ended up staying with me, despite it meaning she didn’t get any lunch.
Once we were done the boat came to pick us up and I ended up with the same boat as the day before. Once again, I had a graceful roll and flop into the rib boat, the difference being that this time I had a wheelchair which was also passed onto the boat along with my sister – it was a pretty unique sight having a wheelchair at the front of the boat leading the way!
It didn’t take us long to get back, once we were we went back to the hotel room and I had a shower. There was a walking tour of Herceg Novi, which my sister went on but it wasn’t accessible so instead I stayed at the hotel and slept, which being honest was what I needed.
The evening included the briefing for Day 3 – Marathon Swim Day followed by a huge bowl of spaghetti carbonara at the local restaurant before returning to the hotel, whilst rocking my wheelchair lights (watch the video below with the sound on). We packed and organised everything for the next day, which was Marathon Swim day, before heading to bed for some seriously needed sleep!