Swimming in unfriendly waters

[Trade Winds]

I'm curious if this is a me-thing or if there are others as comfortable in these conditions as I am? I'm talking 50 to 60 (aka cold) water, rough water with huge waves; wicked rivers that will carry you away if you screw up, that sort of thing. Conditions where you are unlikely to find the majority of swimmers. I grew up on a lake and spent almost all my life around some form of water, so this all comes naturally for me. I prefer dark, murky, cold, and rough waters if I can get to them. (Or still and dank pools along creeks too...) Wearing a suitable monofin in these conditions is a great help, of course, and helps adds to the image of a real mer (or hippocampus, in my case).

Anyone else share this love and strength?

[Mermaid Saoirse]

My family used to do this thing at a lesser known swimming hole in North Carolina where we would race the current of a waterfall to touch the back wall. It was too cold for me to participate but my brother who's a pro lifeguard managed to do it without any fins or gear :o

[Takahao]

I wouldn't say I'm near that. I haven't had a chance to swim regularly for a few years, though I can handle myself decently in lakewater, though I haven't been in the ocean in a while. Only in places with large flat beaches like Oceanside CA where hardly any waves break. Stick me out in a super rough wave pool, or ocean without flotation? That's probably 2-3 minutes away from drowning, which has happened to me before.

[Trade Winds]

I won't lie, I haven't been in the ocean in over a decade. It would make me a bit nervous to swim alone in a tail. But in freshwater, I am the king seahorsey.

[Mermaid Alea]

I wish I could say I prefer the brackish water here on the bay...But after swimming into logs underwater I would have to say I am not a fan of water that isn't very clear. Plus ever since I went swimming at a spring that kind of spoiled it for me because it is hard to beat that crystal clear blue water. I like the cold water because I feel like I can swim a lot deeper/hold my breath better when the water is cold.

Rough waters are pretty fun! I don't go to the beach often but when I did go for the first time as a mermaid I realized getting past those waves was going to be very different since I was low to the ground and couldn't just easily walk through them. I actually find it super fun to be in a tail amidst the waves crashing ashore - although here we don't have rocky shores so that helps. It is exciting to get past those first waves because you are so low to the ground they appear even larger than they really are and then you just duck under the waves until you reach open water. Once out in deeper water you can catch the waves rolling in if you time your monofin kicks just right you can rocket in on one of those waves which is REALLY fun! I have never been really far out in the ocean though.

[Keiris]

I love the warm salty water of the ocean! However, I would never swim in it alone in a tail.

[MermaidAiera]

I took a swim off the shore of NC a few days before a hurricane was rolling in--the waves and undertow were something fierce! Mermaid Alea hits the nail on the head though--the waves are hard to maneuver when you're so close to the bottom and don't have room to swim. I took a short video of me getting through the breakers, you can see just how much I get tossed around, even with a competitor! Once I got past the brunt of it and had more room to swim though, it was a lot easier and much more fun Also, dealing with the seawater in my eyes was BLEH

See it here: