As a Canadian I find it really challenging to train in the tropics. No matter how many years I’ve worked in the tropics whenever I’m back from a run or a ride people ask if I’ve been swimming.
I was in Vanuatu for a few days of meetings and decided that if this was what people would think I may as well just do brick workouts by having a swim after my run. It would make no difference with regard to how wet I’d be, and at least the water would cool me down a bit.
I was staying at one of my favourite hotels Chantilly’s which is right on the water. So after my run I grabbed my goggles and swam across the bay. It was about 06:30 so nobody else was out there. I’m very comfortable with open water swimming and sighted myself against a large white mansion on the other side. Got into my Ironman rhythm of sighting every 5th stroke and with my MP3 player keeping me entertained I got into a good zone.
I was shocked out of my zone when my hand hit something! It seems that the bay is quite shallow about half way across. At least it was that and not a fish. Based on my time I estimated that it was about 1.5 km across and back which was confirmed by my GPS track. I so enjoyed the brick that I did one every morning I was in town. I’m going to make it a habit when I stay at Chantilly’s since there is no excuse not to make use of the bay.
Chris Bennett's Bikepacking and Triathlon Blog 