We take sea swimming to the next level by heading to Italy

Termoli is a fishing town complete with ancient fortress facing out to sea (Castello Svevo) at the edge of the old town or Borgo Antico di Termoli. The town centre is full of Italian families on a busy Saturday night with an abundance of restaurants serving delicious main courses for between €13-20.

I stopped for a pre-dinner Aperol Spritz in the old town (a mere €7 with a huge plate of snacks) and admired the beautiful Termoli Cathedral in front of me and the many sleeping dogs (fancy Italian ones) with their well-dressed owners. I was only here for two nights, and I stayed in a lovely family run B&B (Tramonto Sul Mare) where I was treated like royalty.

Apparently, an English-speaking tourist is a bit of a novelty because this is where Italians take their holidays. The welcome I received in Termoli was heart-warming, the kind of old school charm you don’t see that much anymore. I was even given a box of homemade cakes and pastries for my trip to the islands, which my fellow swimmers enjoyed.

So why Tremiti? And why a small archipelago of islands in the Adriatic Sea that I’d never heard of before searching for a swimming holiday? In truth…the dates suited, and the pictures looked nice. But we struck gold and landed in an island paradise, untouched by large scale development and Italy’s tourism machine.

Isolde Tremiti are the only Italian islands in the Adriatic – directly opposite the Croatian coast. The islands are part of the Gargano National Park with lots of marine life and sea caves and Grottos. This wasn’t my first swimming holiday; I did a similar trip (with a different company) in Symi island in Greece last year – another stunning remote island.

This year, we booked with Swim Trek, the largest of the companies who’ll guide you around the seas. They offer a lot of swims in many different countries including locations like Bali and the Galapagos (bucket list stuff).

The Tremiti islands, despite looking like rocks, are so green and covered in Pine tress and you’re instantly hit with the smells of rosemary and lavender when you step off the one-hour ferry from Termoli.

We stayed on San Domino, the larger of the two inhabited islands in a lovely hotel overlooking one of the two sandy coves (Hotel La Vella). The hotel manager, Ornella (an expert baker) is friendly and smiley – as is everyone else we encounter on these islands. And why wouldn’t they be, they live in a paradise that seems largely untouched by the modern tourism industry.

It’s a simple life, the port is the only ‘busy’ place, but I was there early in June and it definitely amped up towards the second weekend as Italian schools closed for summer and more people flocked to the islands.

The Swim Trek package promises you one week of swimming in crystal blue water, exploring grottos, caves and even an underwater statue of Padre Pio. The accommodation, breakfast and lunch are also included in the price. I’m an experienced swimmer, not fast by any means, but I have plenty of swims in the sea under my belt so feel relaxed in open water. However, not everyone on these trips are regular open water swimmers so don’t let that put you off. You need to be able to swim, obviously, and you’d want to be confident you could do at least 2kms.

That might sound like a lot, but you are helped by calm, flat conditions of the salty Mediterranean. It’s like swimming in a salty swimming pool. The Swim Trek guides are also amazing and make you feel very safe, they know how to support your swims and give you the confidence to keep swimming or hop on the boat if you are tired.

Telle, an enigmatic Finn, was the head guide with many years guide experience and an epic open water swimmer. Cora, a mature-beyond-her-years Irish student on her summer off, had years of beach lifeguarding experience and competitive swimming. So, we were in good hands. We didn’t have a main boat, instead we used three ribs owned by Salvo, our local guide (and excellent DJ) who showed us around his home. Salvo knows these waters like the back of his hand and when he said ‘Corrente troppo forte’ no one challenged him but rejoiced that he was leading the way.

We did about 4-5kms swimming a day on this trip, which was a bit more than last year. Each day is broken up into two swims, morning and afternoon with lunch eaten together. But if you want to sit out a swim and relax, that’s fine too, it’s your holiday. You set off from the busy port in the morning. Salvo assesses the wind and currents and decides where is best around the islands for a calm swim.

The first swim of the week is at the port beach so we can be broken up into our groups depending on speed. Pinks are the fastest, then the yellows and the orange groups. You might be moved around as the week goes on. We were also filmed on this swim so you can get some tips on your stroke. I found this really helpful to do on the first day, I tend to train alone and need guidance to improve. We all watched each other’s GoPro movies that evening, which might sound like torture, but it was actually really helpful to hear the feedback.

The rest of the swims take place in different parts of the islands and range between 1.5kms to 3.5kms. This sounds long but time passes by looking at the fish, stopping in caves and generally just enjoying the scenery from the water.

You’ll feel relaxed and happy getting back on the boat and ready to eat whatever snacks come your way. My favourite swim, and trust me it’s hard to choose, was around the Isole di Capraia, an uninhabited island covered in wild, green caper plants. This is where you’ll find the underwater statue of Padre Pio, submerged at 14 metres to protect seafarers. On the Wednesday we didn’t have an afternoon swim but instead did a guided tour of the 11th Century Santa Maria a Mare Abbey with the Castello dei Badiali Fortress on San Nicola island – a huge structure built on out of the rock with mosaic floors and a little village in the centre. A grand total of 15 people live on this island during the winter, so you’d hope they get on!

The group of 15 swimmers came from all over including Australia, Germany, UK, Brazil, US and South Africa and were of varying ages. One swimmer, retired and living his best life, described himself as a ‘self employed professional swimmer’ – now a life goal of mine.

At the start people are quiet but after a few swims you find your swim buddies and share in the joy of exploring these stunning waters. You also face the walk up ‘The Hill’, a steep incline from the port, twice a day together and nothing breeds camaraderie like a common enemy.

Swim Trek booked two dinners for us during the week, but we tended to eat together anyway. Given the season was only starting on the islands, some restaurants were still closed but we still managed to eat very well – this is Italy after all. One of my favourites was La Nasa restaurant – a family run fish place where the menu changed every day depending on what was caught and fresh. We celebrated some birthdays on the trip and were lucky enough the try Ornella’s Tiramisu – soon to be entered in the Turin Tiramisu competition. Swimming is hungry business so these rewards and baked goods (Ornella’s foccia was also amazing) were greatly appreciated by the group.

The lovely group dynamic definitely made this trip more enjoyable, but water is the real reason us swimmers come here – clear, warm with fish a plenty. Once the swimming is good, everyone is happy. Be warned though, these trips are addictive. I’m already booked on another one in September in Croatia with an Irish company called Swim Project. But if you’re happy to adopt a new addiction and love of the sea, then get booking.

Prices start from €1416pp and there is availabilty on dates later this year and all next year. See Swim Trek for more