I'm going to shed some light on what happens on the boat ride back into harbor after a swim.  Usually the swimmer sits there shivering and listening to all the great things that the crew saw during the swim.  On this particular swim, it seems nature was putting on quite a show.  We started with a rainbow.  There were whales, porpouises (man that spelling looks strange), and birds.  I look forward to hopefully seeing all of these things in the pictures.  I'm a little jealous!  Not that the crews have an easy job at all, but whales and porpouises.  Come on! 

Here is what I saw:  floaty things in the water and lots and lots of jellyfish.  Some of them were kind enough to introduce themselves.  The barnacles also introduced themselves to my soft wrinkle water soaked flesh as well as I crawled, stumbled and fell on my water exit. 

Oh funny thing about the whales.  My kayaker was looking out over away from me and called out "Whales!"  I pulled up my arms and legs out of the water like this would make a difference and replied "Which kind?"  I think his reply was humpbacks or something.  I don't really recall other than it wasn't orcas aka killer whales.

The Alaskan waters of Clarence Strait proved to be a very tough challenge.  The first attempt on Saturday did not go according to plan due to the weather picking up.  On the 4th, Willie and I spent the day enjoying the festivities and then relaxing in the "cave" to prepare for the next look see at Clarence Strait.  

Monday arrived and we met the boats early.  The last weather forecast looked ok-ish.  The posted weather was 10 knot winds picking up to 15 knots in later morning.  Continue Reading »

Quick update:  We are headed out for another look see tomorrow.  Meeting the boats at 5am.  If the forecast holds true, we should be entering the water 6am Alaska Time ( 7am PST, 9am CST, 10am EST, etc.)  Forecast: winds 10 knots, seas less than 2ft, less than 1 inch rain per hour.  This is a good forecast.  Hopefully it is true as the weather coming in behind it is really UGLY.  Whatever the outcome, Willie and I are proud to be breaking new swimming ground.  15 miles of uncharted swimming territory in low 50 degree water is nothing to shake a stick at.  Keep Willie, me and our crews in your thoughts.

Today will be spent relaxing and enjoying the July 4th festivities in Ketchikan, AK.  There are picnics, parade and all sorts of fun stuff going on.  Fireworks may be out of the question due to all the rain and winds that we are having.  I may not see them anyways as we will be going out for another look see early tomorrow morning.  As for yesterday, one of our great crew people continued to watch the weather and Continue Reading »

So we went out this morning to do our look see.  We arrived at South Point Higgins beach around 7:15am.  At the time things didn't look pretty and it still looked swimmable.  However things quickly changed.  Continue Reading »

Quick update on the swim.  It will start tomorrow at 7am Alaska time (8am PST, 10am CST, 11am EST).  The weather doesn't look great for any of our tide dates and tomorrow looks as good as any so with that we are going to give it a go.  First thing that we will do is go out and have a look see.  If the weather looks manageable the swim will start.  Willie and I are thinking the swim will take anywhere between 8-10 hours.  However, like I said before there isn't much reference to go on.

There will be no updates during the swim.  I'll post as soon as I can with updates.

Posting to the blog has been few and far between as many of you have pointed out to me.  I'm sorry for my lack of communication.  Rest assured during the time between Cook Strait and today, I've been keeping myself occupied in the water.

I find myself off on another adventure.  This time I'm in Ketchikan, Alaska to attempt Clarence Strait.  Continue Reading »

I can't rest on raising funds for 3rd Annual MacySwim for a Cure – In honor of Dr. Kathleen Macy. This time it is a jewelry fundraiser. Yep that is right. If you purchase some beautiful sterling silver jewelry that is lifetime guaranteed, all the proceeds will go to my $50k goal.

The jewelry is beautiful. Check out the catalog on http://mysilpada.com/sites/public/content/jewelry/index.jsf.  If you find something you love, just call or email Laura Farmer at lafarm@gmail.com or (360)256-4567.  Orders must be made through Laura and just tell her you are supporting Michelle Macy's fundraising goals. 

Thank you for your continued support and happy shopping!

After 4 flights, I arrived safely home in Portland Oregon.  It was a lovely trip and I was sad to see it be over.  The trip home was uneventful, but how many breakfasts can one person take.  I left Wellington and was given breakfast.  I arrived in Sydney, still in the AM and was again provided breakfast.  Then I landed in LA and yep you guessed it BREAKFAST TIME!  I was never so thankful to arrive somewhere past 11am so that I could eat something besides slimy airport eggs.  Actually I didn't eat many of the breakfasts which I think caused some of my crazy behaviour later in the day and the lightheadedness.  I mean eggs from fast food restaurants just aren't that good, so I avoid them. 

I'm now back at work and I'm a little bit confused as to what day it really is.  Thankfully I have a calendar to keep me on track. 

Here are some fun facts from the swim:

• Steve and I were the first successful swims this season.  #65 and 66 swimmers to cross for the 75th and 76th successful crossing.
• 37th woman to make crossing, but 19th woman from North to South island
• 5th American to make the crossing.
• I swam 35 years after the first successful crossing by an American woman, Lynne Cox (Thanks Forrest for that fun fact!)
• I negative split the swim, which will make my coach happy. 

Ok, I'm going to let you in on a little secret.  It may not be a shocker, but it is a secret.  It is AMAZING to swim early in the tide.  I know I know, not a great secret, but honestly I don't have great secrets and this little blog keeps most things from being secret anyways.  Right where was I as this isn't a blog about all my little secrets.  Ah yes, swimming early in the tide.  I LOVE IT!!!  Here are the reasons why:

1. It doesn't give me time to get my undies all in a bunch and for me to get to the point where I'm so nervous I should be committed.
2. It doesn't allow all my cheerleaders to get nervous either
3. My family knows right away if I'm alive or not.  Not that I've ever been in a serious situation, but these swims aren't exactly a small paddle in the pool and the swims can be dangerous.
4. I know how it has all turned out in the end, as this always bothers me that I can't read the future. 
5. I get to PLAY!!  This is especially great if I have fun people to hang out with, which I usually do.

I know most people think that these swimming "holidays" are always fun and relaxing.  On the contrary, they are hard work.  They are very stressful.  And often it rarely allows time for me to decompress from all the work and training that I have done.  Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't change it.  It is my choice to use all my holiday time going on these swimming adventures, but I'm not lying that sometimes just laying by the beach with a mai tai looking at the water rather than swimming in it has its allure.   However, if I swim early and I don't change my flight back home, there is some playtime.

These last few days have been some amazing playtime.  Tuesday after the swim, Steve and I pretty much were slugs.  It was AWESOME!!!  We got up late, walked around town.  Steve had some work commitments in the afternoon, so I went to the Te Papa museum for a little while and then there was a lovely and short afternoon paddle.  Steve declined the paddle for soaking up the sun on the Oriental Bay beach.  Then we cooked a lovely fish and risotto dinner.  Yum!

Wednesday found us on the ferry to Picton and the South Island.  The ferry here is not like the ferry in England.  It is really quite slow.  It takes 3.5hrs for the ferry to get from Wellington to Picton, but the trip was lovely and sunny.  They announced that there were dolphins and whales, but Steve and I didn't see them.  I think it may have been a game that the ferry crew play to see all the passengers run to one side of the boat and then the other.  After arriving in Picton, we went to the local bakery aptly named The Picton Village Bakery.  It was here that I finally broke down and tried my first pie.  I know for those Aussies, Kiwis and Brits this is a shocker, especially since I lived in England.  However, I could never bring myself to eat a pie (or toastie or whatever they are called).  We don't really have the equivalent thing in the US.  Steve went first and ordered a bacon and egg pie.  Assuming that he knew what he was doing, as he always assures me he does , I went ahead and ordered the same.  I don't know what I've been so afraid of the pie was as they say LOVELY!  Let me see if I can explain it.  It is about the size of a softball, but pie shaped.  The crust was flaky and buttery.  The filling was delicious with a sort of ham, egg, and veggie filling.  You eat it with your hands, but I have seen people eat it with a fork in a restaurant.  They can be purchased pretty much at every convenience store, bakery, and grocery store.  And they have various fillings, but most commonly I've seen egg and bacon and steak or mince filling.  I'm sure they aren't the healthiest things in the world, but it was wonderful.  We sat and ate them on the beach while the sea gulls squawked their protest at not receiving a bite.    Then it was off for our wine tour.  We were 2 of 16 on the wine tour and the bus was actually a pretty quiet affair.  We went to Nautilus, Forrest, Hunters and St. Clair.  There were a lot of wines to sample.  Most were Pinot Noirs or Sauv. Blanc (No I don't know how to spell it completely).  I believe that Steve and my favorite vineyard was Forrest.  They had some great wines and their customer service was amazing.  Our tour guide also made a quick stop at the Makuna chocolate factory and they make this crazy good Very Berry Toffee Crunch which is toffee, white chocolate, cranberries and macadamia nuts.  I thankfully didn't buy a box as it would have never made the ferry ride back to Wellington.

Thursday, I went to the beach for another short paddle while Steve went to go do some work things.  One of the clinics that he knows wanted to do a short press conference as well as take some photos for an article.  He of course obliged.  We met up at the beach and I gave him some flak as the photographer was taking his photo.  I got some lovely shots of Steve and the photographer.  Then Steve went for a short paddle while I soaked up the sun.  Steve says I have to try to get rid of the cap line on my forehead that I acquired in the swim.  I don't think it is going to happen, but I'm encouraging my freckles to darken so that it maybe is blended a little bit.  The afternoon I went exploring Wellington while Steve did some shopping.  Ok, so the botanical gardens in Wellington are beautiful and the plants are labeled very well.  However, the paths in the botanical gardens are not labeled well and I spent most of my time walking in circles trying to find the right path to get where I wanted to go.  After an hour and a half of wandering mostly with aim but not finding my place, it started to rain so I said goodbye to the gardens.  I went and checked out the Beehive parliament building as well as the new St. Paul's Cathedral (not great and can be avoided) and the old St. Paul's cathedral (beautiful).  Then back home to meet up with Steve and our swimming friend Heather who has come down to play from up north.  I don't know if I mentioned this but on the beach on Sunday we met some locals and they have quickly become friends.  Donna invited Heather, Steve and I to dinner on Thursday night and what a dinner it was!  While the food was fantastic, the company and conversation were just amazing!  It is moments like these that really make these trips a joy.  Donna is a treaty lawyer, so I got to understand more about the treaty and New Zealand history.  I got more of the story that I had started to understand from the Te Papa museum.

I think today we are going back to Te Papa museum to finish what we haven't been able to see and then who knows what we will do.  Perhaps a paddle, perhaps some wildlife hunting as I really want to see the seals and Steve wants to see a blue penguin.  I think that would be cool too.  Tomorrow there is the National Triathlon in town, so maybe we will watch that or maybe we will get out of town to avoid the crowds.  Either way, I'm enjoying the downtime. 

Oh I don't know if I mentioned that my only major injury from the swim is some amazing sunburn.  It has concentrated itself mostly around my swimsuit straps, but I'm afraid to go to the zoo as I'm sure that I could attract the baboons.  The redness is slowly subsiding, but I'm sure I'll be into the next stage of sunburn soon…itching.  See I told you there weren't many secrets