Day 1 Malta

Saturday April 11, 2009

After a long 24 hours of travel (Fort Collins to Denver to Washington DC to Frankfort to Malta to Gozo with long layovers in Washington and Franfort), I am finally at the hotel for the swim camp. The swim camp is actually based out of Hotel San Andrea in the quaint town of Xlendi on the Island of Gozo in the nation of Malta (that is a mouthful). The drive (Eliz did it) from the airport to Xlendi was "interesting". With the British background, they drive on the left side of the roads. There were a lot of traffic circles to make this more challenging as well as very narrow roads since they were built in the 15th century, a few years before cars, especially large tour buses existed. The town of Xlendi is basically a set of buildings around a cove. At the base of the buildings are about a half dozen little restaurants. After doing a quick unpacking, Eliz, Jim and I walk down to the water front to grab a quick pizza. We notice a couple of Swimtrek swimmers (no one else was brave/stupid enough to get in the water) doing laps in the cove. I was not very hungry and had not had a chance to hit the water yet so I head back to the room to change quickly. The swimmers were out drying off when I got back but we talked for a while. They gave me heads up on an area that were full of Jellys to avoid. I jump in and the water feels cool but not painful. I hang in there for about 5-10 minutes to loosen up while wearing a watch to get the actual temperature. In the cove it was about 61-62F (16C). I was warned that the water was colder out of the cove. As I did my quick swim, I stopped to chat with Eliz who was sitting at a table by the water. She warned me not to get pysched out by the scuba divers that were wearing dry suits due to the cold water. I had quite a few tourists pointed and commenting on the crazy swimmer.

We gathered for dinner that evening with the Swimtrek guides and the rest of the swimmers. It was basically an intro dinner with the presentation for the logistics for the week.

Cove

Jim and Eliz by restaurants by the waterfront