I'm taking a casual poll of the "Best Places to Swim in the World" for a freelance story I'm working on. The topic is very open-ended: I'm looking for anything from the best place for an open-water swim, i.e. La Jolla Cove, to an olympic pool with an amazing setting, i.e. North Sydney Olympic Pool.
Your ideas would be most helpful to me; from the well-known watering holes to off-the-beaten spots, from swimming holes to hotel pools...And please note why you love swimming there.
Many very arid deserts have pools of water that are present all year. The ones I am thinking of are pretty big, at least as large as 25 yard pool, and very deep, and surrounded by rocks, sand, and scrub. Often the rocks are large, and provide a lot of shade. I once was in Australia, near Alice Springs. We rented a jeep-like car and drove four hours to a couple. The quiet, peace, and serenity made it clear that these were holy places. I did go swimming in one - it was not clear to me if I was defiling a spiritual place or being baptised. I will never forget it.
Closer to home, there is a pool above one of the waterfalls at Yosemite; you can reach it by a moderately vigorous hike. It is best to go in late summer, while there is still plenty of water to swim in, it is not so fast and deep that you have to worry about being swept over the falls. This pool is a gently curved, very smooth bowl of granite, surrounded by tall pine trees. The water is cold. The stream into the pool runs across the ganite surface, and makes for a great water slide. There are always people there, but everyone knows the place is special.
Many very arid deserts have pools of water that are present all year. The ones I am thinking of are pretty big, at least as large as 25 yard pool, and very deep, and surrounded by rocks, sand, and scrub. Often the rocks are large, and provide a lot of shade. I once was in Australia, near Alice Springs. We rented a jeep-like car and drove four hours to a couple. The quiet, peace, and serenity made it clear that these were holy places. I did go swimming in one - it was not clear to me if I was defiling a spiritual place or being baptised. I will never forget it.
Closer to home, there is a pool above one of the waterfalls at Yosemite; you can reach it by a moderately vigorous hike. It is best to go in late summer, while there is still plenty of water to swim in, it is not so fast and deep that you have to worry about being swept over the falls. This pool is a gently curved, very smooth bowl of granite, surrounded by tall pine trees. The water is cold. The stream into the pool runs across the ganite surface, and makes for a great water slide. There are always people there, but everyone knows the place is special.
