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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsYour choice to swim in--fresh water--lakes.etc. salt water-ocean, swimming pools, or I don't swim.


Jilly_in_VA
(12,061 posts)I was born near one and it's my happy place.
debm55
(45,466 posts)
k_buddy762
(638 posts)I nearly drown in the ocean some time ago and have always had a mild fear of it anyway.
I do like swimming in lakes but only after I've worked up a good sweat on my kayak.
I am fortunate enough to have a pool and am in it most days of the year for cold plunges in the winter and cool downs in the summer.
debm55
(45,466 posts)
AllaN01Bear
(25,498 posts)i have no preference to where i would have swam.
debm55
(45,466 posts)
genxlib
(5,915 posts)Central Florida has a number of springs where recreational swimming, tubing and canoeing are available
The water is clear and refreshingly cold. Unlike pools and beaches, I actually come out of it feeling clean.
One of the most popular is Itchetucknee where you can rent an intertube and float down a gentle river for hours.
?itok=cZ86TXXZ
My heaven.
debm55
(45,466 posts)
flvegan
(65,051 posts)Ocean has sharks (among other things). Lakes, rivers and springs have gators. As they are much higher on the food chain than I am, I'll just avoid them altogether thank you. When I was younger and living in a gator-free environment, I preferred fresh water lakes/ponds.
debm55
(45,466 posts)
Diamond_Dog
(37,257 posts)I hope they never close! I know they are funding challenged all the time. They are part of the school system. Besides the exercise I have met so many nice people there.
debm55
(45,466 posts)
Onthefly
(910 posts)debm55
(45,466 posts)
Onthefly
(910 posts)Cold water is painful.
debm55
(45,466 posts)
A good Riesling before a cold dip really warms you up! At least it worked in high School.
debm55
(45,466 posts)
Wolf Frankula
(3,749 posts)without a boat between me and it.
Wolf
debm55
(45,466 posts)
quaint
(3,897 posts)Wild Willy's Hot Springs may be my favorite, along with more natural springs in the same Mammoth are.
debm55
(45,466 posts)
LoisB
(10,725 posts)LoisB
(10,725 posts)debm55
(45,466 posts)
LoisB
(10,725 posts)I have not been in a large body of water since.
debm55
(45,466 posts)
Dorothy V
(330 posts)Some things need to stay covered up!
debm55
(45,466 posts)
Niagara
(10,729 posts)It doesn't matter what size I am but I generally always have a swimsuit called a tankini.
It has a flowing top that covers everything that it needs to cover including the tummy. I always have a swim skirt with built in shorts with the top too. They might not always be together as an outfit and sometimes I have to purchase them separately.
Just because if I did get invited somewhere I'm a little self-conscious.
ProfessorGAC
(73,008 posts)Not that I swim much, but I also preferred a pool.
My parents had a pool, but it was only 28' across, so it was a pool but not much of a swimming pool.
debm55
(45,466 posts)around in and keeping cool. Swimming , not really.
ProfessorGAC
(73,008 posts)...the front left tire of my dad's semi came off (a state trooper was an eyewitness) & his truck rolled over in the median.
As he got bounced around the cab, he broke his kneecap, so no vacation that year.
They took vacation savings, had an above-ground pool installed & paid it off (and then some) with the settlement from the maintenance company's insurance company.
SheltieLover
(69,379 posts)
debm55
(45,466 posts)
OMGWTF
(4,752 posts)The ocean shore is nice, but swimming in it makes me nervous.
debm55
(45,466 posts)
kimbutgar
(25,253 posts)Swimming pools, dont have to worry about being attacked by sharks or water moccasins !
debm55
(45,466 posts)
It reached 80 today.
Going for a swim after gardening.
debm55
(45,466 posts)
CanonRay
(15,325 posts)But I'm a terrible swimmer. The ocean off Oregon is a big no no. Too cold and always rough.
debm55
(45,466 posts)
Niagara
(10,729 posts)Being in a body of water that has dead bodies, dead fish and both fish and human waste are not my idea of a good time.
It really depends if a pool is actually clean or not if I'll get in it.
I've gotten sick from swimming in a dirty pool as a teenager and I got sick from lake water about 20 or so years ago so I'm really funny AKA cautious about this type of thing.
debm55
(45,466 posts)Water.yuk
TommieMommy
(2,034 posts)debm55
(45,466 posts)Pool. I appreciate your honesty. Love ya
TommieMommy
(2,034 posts)We both went under. My silly husband was laughing pulling the dog out of the water and I grabbed the float. Our dog never did that again. I was so happy we didn't drown. A memory from the old days 💙
debm55
(45,466 posts)
applegrove
(126,250 posts)debm55
(45,466 posts)
Emile
(35,022 posts)
debm55
(45,466 posts)
PufPuf23
(9,425 posts)Have swam in swimming pools and reservoirs but learned to swim in wild and clean water because of where grew up and now live within Six Rivers National Forest. Many lakes in nearby wilderness areas: Marble Mountains, Trinity Alps and Siskiyous. Frequently backpacked and volunteered many weekends as wildness ranger in Trinity Alps when a USFS employees 40 plus years ago.
Skinny dipped but in private too.
debm55
(45,466 posts)Thank you very much for sharing your post with us.
markodochartaigh
(3,002 posts)A couple of decades ago a friend and I were swimming in the ocean in Galveston. After a while we noticed a crowd gathering on the beach maybe 100 feet away. We got out and walked over. A fisherman had pulled in a shark that was at least 12 feet long.
debm55
(45,466 posts)Galveston. Never worried about creatures, only worried about staying on the skies Would I do it now? no way. .
Dulcinea
(8,490 posts)I love being around water. It always relaxes me & makes me feel better. I grew up boating & miss it so much! Before I depart this life, I want to live where I can see water every day. Ocean, lake, river... Nowadays I belong to the neighborhood swim club. A pool will do.
debm55
(45,466 posts)
rickyhall
(5,269 posts)debm55
(45,466 posts)
JMCKUSICK
(2,626 posts)debm55
(45,466 posts)
greatauntoftriplets
(177,726 posts)debm55
(45,466 posts)
Jack Valentino
(2,233 posts)debm55
(45,466 posts)
Luciferous
(6,427 posts)one in Wisconsin though!
debm55
(45,466 posts)
discntnt_irny_srcsm
(18,652 posts)...whichever one is paying me more to swim.
debm55
(45,466 posts)
Dem2theMax
(10,705 posts)I probably started swimming about the time I started walking.
Very strong swimmer in my younger years.
Favorite place to swim was a place called Rainbow Pool, near Yosemite National Park.
There's a waterfall there, and you can swim behind it. The locals know that, but the day visitors have no clue. So all of a sudden you disappear behind the waterfall and they wonder where you went!
There's actually a perfectly formed rock cut out where you can sit. But you have to swim in behind the waterfall to find it.
debm55
(45,466 posts)
electric_blue68
(21,669 posts)We had a big pool about mile or less away in Washington Heights as a tween, young teen.
I used yo love to "dive down" and skim along the bottom.
Best experience was an organically shaped pool at a nice hotel in Puerto Rico (a gifted trip) instead of a boring rectangle! Palm trees all around.
Then I'd go, and lie in a hammock between two palm trees, watch, and listen to the ocean! Wonderful!
And of course that gorgeous teal, turquoise water! Even the deep waters further out were a dark but vivid blue.
debm55
(45,466 posts)
amerikat
(5,121 posts)I'll take the Atlantic Ocean in September.
amerikat
(5,121 posts)The air has a hint of salt. The tourists are gone. The restaurants are still open and the locals are thankful for a good summer season.
debm55
(45,466 posts)
stillcool
(33,978 posts)I used to call it God's bathtub.
Ocelot II
(125,096 posts)The ocean is a thousand miles away and salty and there are sharks and squids and stuff, though I've been swimming in the Gulf of Mexico (which is not the Gulf of America), and it was OK except for some creepy crab-things. Although Lake Superior is cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey I've been swimming there, in the Apostle Islands, though not for very long. Otherwise fresh-water lakes are great - the water is pretty clean and there aren't weird creatures in them except for regular fish. These days I don't swim anywhere, though; I'm too old and wrinkly for a swimsuit and I don't want to scare anyone.
debm55
(45,466 posts)
Bobstandard
(1,911 posts)MIButterfly
(552 posts)If the sight of me in a bathing suit wasn't so frightening, I would like to swim in the Caribbean. The water there is so beautiful.
debm55
(45,466 posts)for the full figured woman. Just do it and bring out your inner child
MIButterfly
(552 posts)But who knows? Someday I may throw caution to the wind and dive right in! I was never much of a swimmer but I did love splashing around in the water.
Water has always had a calming effect on me. That's probably why I love cruises and boat rides so much.
marble falls
(65,927 posts)... I've tried cruises. By Thursday, I'm ready to get off the boat. Don't drink or gamble, avoid the buffets.
I have a bathing suit I've had for thirty years. I may have worn it twice. Maybe got it wet once.
debm55
(45,466 posts)
marble falls
(65,927 posts)... when I was fourteen and trying to sweep the pool, the wind kept rilling the surface and I couldn't make out where I had swept and where the dirt was.
Being clever and stupid at the same time, I came up with a plan: I'd jump in the pool with goggles and sweep underwater!
I needed air, so i got a hose. I needed to be less boyant, so I put a heavy steel stake through a couple of belt hoops. And grinning over my brilliance jumped in at the 12ft end by the diving board.
Hit bottom and tried to take a breath and had a practical lesson in the 8 pound weight of a gallon of water increased by the fact there was around 14,000 gallons in that pool. My lungs were NOT going to draw against that many tons of H2O. I could not get the the stake out of my loops. I had to walk up the incline out of the pool up into the shallows where I pondered while breathing heavy siting on the steps out: how ill thought out my plans were and how close I came to dying. How little traction my feet had on the concrete bottom. How I was never going to let people know stupid I was. What in the world people would think I had been up to when they had found my corpse.
I don't want to be young again. I want to be smarter.
debm55
(45,466 posts)