Used to love to ocean swim after long runs, or to supplement fitness.
I should have come much closer, loved ocean swimming so much, done some dumb things.
1. Swam across the harbor in Acapulco during a shark alert - was told after by a captain, who knows...
2. Water surfing in rough Pacific nearly broke my shoulder blade or worse.
3. Got caught in a tide dragging me out in the Canaries. Was scary, hairy and a hard freaking truck back in. Innocent-dumb.
4. Different Canary Island... Swimming back and forth in a small bay. Starts to rain. Suddenly the beach is empty. Then lightening starts moving in. I get it in my head to finish my work out. Till I got scared.
5. First surf lesson. Another "surfers" board drilled me in the back of the head. Was totally lucky it was a glancing blow.
Don't mess with the ocean. Always felt a lot safer on long swims in a lake...like Lake Tahoe.
And don't ocean swim during stinger season in Australia. On the other hand the death is supposed to be under 90 seconds.
Be careful out there...triathletes...etc.