Or, how the clear water and profuse marine life of the beautiful Togean Islands in Indonesia inspired me to conquer my fear of swimming in the ocean.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am not a water babe! For various reasons, I never learned to swim when I was a kid…or as a teenager… or as an adult. On the other hand, Laura swims like a fish. Her high school record in the 200 Medley Relay was recently broken after 18 years, but this was testament to her swimming skills from an early age. Laura was determined not to travel with an aquaphobic hubby so over the past two years I have been doggedly learning to swim at our local pools. Still, I only swam in the deep end a couple of times.

Over the years, my fear of water and lack of swimming skills have gotten me into a few dumb situations. I have photographs from a trek in Colombia where I am being helped across a 10’ wide and 2’ deep river by two guides. In the Pantanal in Brazil, I went on a 3 day trek, which mainly involved wading through wetlands but at one … Read more