So, while I don’t want the website to be given over to my holiday snaps plus flying as a substantial part of Europe is burning in the summer is not the best idea, I did go to Menorca with swimming in mind. It is a fantastic place to swim. OK, so it might be seen as a bit of an upmarket playground with yachts everywhere, but for swimming it offers a choice of quiet little inland bays or longer sandy beaches.  Warm water and excellent visibility.  All relatively clear and clean.  I want to record two swimming-related observations made there. 

The first is from Cala D’ Algariens & Platja des Bot. These two adjacent beaches on the north side of the island are not given over to a particular category or label like ‘family’ or ‘naturist’ beach.  They are though filled with a variety of people: young and old, single, pairs or families. All with an abundance of approaches to swimming and swimwear or simply ignoring clothing all together.  At one point there was a woman laughing and playing in a fully covering swimsuit standing beside a pair of men holding hands who were without clothes.  No one seemed to bat an eyelid. It certainly hadn’t become a political debate.  Everyone was too busy having fun. Refreshing.

The second impression is how my swimming changed in the short time I was there. On the first day, I headed down to our closest bay and charged in, swimming like I was in the local 25 metre lap pool.  By the third day I was spending most of the time floating in the water above the rocks simply looking at the fish and the scenery below.  It was a reminder of how quickly our environment makes us adapt.