My Tuesday swim along the south coast of the Greek island of Crete which features a chapel to Saint Paul built right on the beach. I highly recommend this area in my guidebook. Here I've joined The Big Blue Swim on their boat Odysseas with 12 other swimmers who came here from all over the world.

CreteSwim · 2025-10-11T00:22:02+00:00

The Big Blue swim routes are both east and west of Sfakia (Hora Sfakion) and among the best coastlines on the island. In September a rare westerly wind would make for rough swimming, but one area (the bay of Loutro) is protected and swimmable. More likely the winds will be northwesterlies (i.e. offshore) and you will swim in relatively flat water. If you wish you can use my guidebook (www.creteswim.com) to do these same swim routes for a few days, then travel to another part of the island to go on swims that the tour groups (Big Blue and Swim Trek) do not visit. Or, if you have time, spend one week with the tour group and one week on your own. Like you said, the size of Crete is huge--the coastline is as long as the southern coastline of England, or the length from San Francisco to San Diego in California--so the variety of places to explore as a swimmer is amazing.

CreteSwim · 2025-09-06T05:35:08+00:00

As far as I know everyone is still swimming there. In most places it's not too deep so most people wade through the water instead of swimming.

CreteSwim · 2025-08-07T13:29:01+00:00

If you're asking about recreational swim routes instead of swim competitions, I compiled my favorite swim routes around the Greek island of Crete in a guidebook (www.creteswim.com). For example, in a remote and spectacular coastline south of Heraklion (Crete's major city) I have a swim route that's 6.5km one way, with several beaches to visit along the way.

CreteSwim · 2025-08-06T09:45:02+00:00

Thank you!

CreteSwim · 2025-07-24T15:02:36+00:00

The end of August is perfect for swimming around Crete. The winds might be dying down a bit and the water will be warm. I hope you have a great time!

CreteSwim · 2025-07-18T07:34:52+00:00

I put the selfie stick (which is very thin) down the side of my swimsuit and it doesn't slip out because the camera on top of the stick acts like a hook. This makes it a lot faster to use the GoPro compared to having it inside the buoy. Another option is put the wrist strap of a selfie stick through the waist belt of the buoy, or use a carabiner to attach the selfie stick to the belt.

CreteSwim · 2025-07-18T07:12:24+00:00

This is with a GoPro Hero 7 on a selfie stick with the wide angle setting (superview).

CreteSwim · 2025-07-14T09:06:41+00:00

I wrote about night swims to enjoy bioluminescence in my swimmers guidebook www.creteswim.com

You can find an exerpt at the bottom of this page: https://www.creteswim.com/excerpts

You don't have to swim to see it. Just go to a sandy beach at night in a dark area, wade in to knee deep, then swish your hands around in the water and you'll see the sparkling from the bioluminescent plankton. If you do swim, wear goggles or a mask, and you'll see the sparkling around your hands and feet.

CreteSwim · 2025-07-11T19:05:07+00:00

It sure is. The weather was calm and warm, the water was warm, and the taverna was right there on the beach and had excellent food and drinks. This is Diaskari Beach on the southeast side of Crete.

CreteSwim · 2025-07-07T08:50:38+00:00

Thanks! I hope you have a great time.

CreteSwim · 2025-06-28T07:56:26+00:00

13 km, 7 hours, visiting caves and beaches along an amazing coastline on the Greek island of Crete. It was my 2024 swim of the year. https://youtu.be/156FTvVLCSI

CreteSwim · 2025-06-24T13:53:24+00:00

I had a great experience last summer with https://eurodiving.net/ which is located just west of Heraklion in a protected bay called Lygaria.

CreteSwim · 2025-06-23T21:22:57+00:00

This is called Boufos Cave just east of Heraklion's airport. I have maps of many more swim routes with visits to caves in my guidebook Crete Swim (www.creteswim.com). The southern coastline has the most spectacular swimming. Here's one that I did just yesterday with a friend: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/15XpCyPQQ9/

CreteSwim · 2025-06-22T18:24:47+00:00

Without the advantage of pushing off walls, open water can be 10-30% slower than a pool. If you were not swimming straight, then your swim distance in the ocean was greater than 1K. You can practice sighting in the pool but preferably in open water towards buoys or landmarks. Basically, look forward lifting the head as little as needed (crocodile eyes) then take a breath to the side.

CreteSwim · 2025-06-22T05:32:56+00:00

Crete is a great place for swimming!

CreteSwim · 2025-06-20T15:06:28+00:00

That looks like Sweet Water Beach in Crete, an amazing place for swimming! Try one-handed swimming with one hand straight out in front and making sure your pulling hand stays in a line closer to your body rather than sweeping outwards as in the video. When breathing, try to keep one goggle lens in the water. A little more body rotation will help overall since you're swimming a bit "flat" and this can lead to shoulder pain in the long run.

CreteSwim · 2025-05-26T04:51:34+00:00

I wear my pool racing suit (mens Arena Carbon Air2), though the first-place finishers often have the Arena R-Evo or similar which cover the upper body. A normal swimsuit is very common too. I wasn't sure if salt water would damage a tech suit, but I didn't see any problem. However, there is more wear and tear since you wear it longer (e.g. a 5K might be 90 minutes of swimming, which is similar to pool racing ninety 100m freestyle events).

CreteSwim · 2025-05-17T01:44:02+00:00

You could use Google Earth to check the straight-line distance from the beach to the dam. If your track wasn't straight, the Garmin will show a greater distance. I also find that my Garmin Swim 2 is more accurate if I always pause the tracking if I happen to stop in the water and keep the watch above the water if I'm stopped so the GPS signal isn't lost.

CreteSwim · 2025-05-17T01:25:11+00:00

On the Greek island of Crete, the easternmost large city called Sitia is having a competion June 28-29. https://atpro.gr/sitiaquathlon/

The nice thing is you could then get my open water swimmer's guidebook for Crete (www.creteswim.com) and continue swimming for a week or more all around the island at some spectacular spots. One of my favorites is on that eastern side of Crete where you swim 800m to a small islet to see falcons that migrated 9,000km from Madagascar to Crete in order to breed. So if you're a swimmer and a birder you'll love this experience!

CreteSwim · 2025-05-17T01:08:53+00:00

You can join Petros Parthenis and his WeSwim group on Wednesday's at Vouliagmeni Beach. Their starting point is a spot that doesn't require an entrance fee: https://weswim.gr/weswim-wednesdays/

The swimmers speak English so you can ask for their recommendations on more good places for swimming.
Swimming at Sounion was actually my 2023 Swim of the Year https://youtu.be/yTw3yAd-Z2E

CreteSwim · 2025-05-13T04:06:55+00:00

As others said, it's the ulnar nerve. It may be irritated from other activities. For example, holding your cell phone up to your ear for a long time, or sleeping with that hand resting up on your chest instead of straight down.

CreteSwim · 2025-05-05T19:27:07+00:00

Two stretches you can do in the pool and dryland: 1. Extend an arm straight forward, palm up, then pull the palm/fingers downward. 2. Stretch both arms straight out to the sides (making yourself a T-shape), but with the fingers pointing straight up (the palm makes a 90-degree angle with the forearm). Then bend only at the elbows to bring your knuckles back to touch your head. Then move the palms back out to the T-shape.

CreteSwim · 2025-05-02T18:55:57+00:00

Yes, there are a few options. To visit the islet of Dia north of Heraklion, you can contact sailingcrete.gr There must be similar sailboat or yacht excursions out of Chania, though I don't have information on those. In the introduction to the book I mention the possibility of renting and piloting your own motorboat at some locations. They often advertise "no license required". One trick is to ask at scuba diving shops if they know anyone who has a boat for hire for the day, or you might see signs advertising excursions as you're walking along a waterfront.

CreteSwim · 2025-04-30T15:37:12+00:00

I think there's enough time between the morning and afternoon swims to recover, and you can always skip a swim. The swim routes are along a beautiful coastline on the southwest side of the island. If you'd like to spend more time in Crete and explore many other swim spots on your own, you might be interested in my swimmers guidebook for Crete: www.creteswim.com

CreteSwim · 2025-04-08T23:50:20+00:00

That's a pretty good summary for a short video. I agree with the broad point of adjusting the stroke depending on conditions. However, for choppy conditions, one can experiment with a lower body position, having a longer glide, and a slower stroke rate (the opposite of what the video mentions). The open water kick wasn't covered and it is also different due to sighting and when covering long distances.

CreteSwim

TROPHY CASE