A good friend of mine from CICESE and I have been braving the frigid waters of Playitas since the beginning of April to go swimming. Granted, in April we went weather permitting and without regularity and nearly froze to death each and every time. Starting in May, once the weather was much friendlier, we devised a fixed swimming schedule, which we refuse to waiver from, that includes trips to Playitas three times a week for an hour of swimming. Currently, we are swimming two kilometers in approximately 50 minutes and we hope to increase that distance to three kilometers in the month to come. My friend loves the water just as much as I do and swimming gives her the same happiness and satisfaction that it gives me. It's been a pleasure to have her as a swimming buddy. In fact, last year, she and I and Evaristo participated in a swim event from Playitas to El Mosquito and have been wanting to establish a swimming schedule together ever since then.
In the summer there are lots of swimmers that go regularly to Playitas to train, Evaristo and myself included. One of the most common swimming routes to take is "The Triangle", which as you may have guessed, is a triangle formed by the points delineating Playitas. The Triangle starts at the entry, beginning with the first 250 meters along the breakwater and ends back at the entry (see: diagram below).
There are some who think that swimming triangles is the way to go and hard core or whatever, but I prefer to swim up and back along the breakwater because I have a ridiculous, unfounded and irrational fear of sharks that seems to rear its ugly head around the second leg of the triangle. Plus, along the breakwater you can see a whole community of rocky-reef organisms while you swim, from different species of seaweeds, sponges and encrusting algae to colorful fish, like the Garibaldi, as well as bat starfish, ochre starfish and sea hares, which are kinda fun to pick up and play with once you get over the slime factor. In any case, there are lots of things to look at along the breakwater and it makes swimming just that much more enjoyable.
Part of the benefit of having a fixed swimming schedule is that you can open it up to other people who can plan their other activities around the swimming hour. According to his crazy math, Evaristo declared that as of the 15th of this month the Playitas swimming season was officially open and that he was now free to join the group. Another friend from CICESE has swum with us without fail for the past week and so now we are a group of four. Little by little, more people are showing interest in swimming with us and our small, stalwart group is growing, making the whole experience that much more enjoyable. It's going to be a great summer.
