Some of you may not have heard of our annual Swim for Shark event, but once you do you’ll be itching to get to the next one or organize your own! So, what is it? Essentially this is a fundraising event for Shark Guardian with a sponsored swim but it is oh so much more than that. The video below shows just a snippet of the joy and fun experienced at this event.
There is something for absolutely everyone, from athletes to ankle splashers, and from kids all the way to defiant oldies. For the kids we’ve had mermaids, face painting, crafts, games and the main event, a mini-swim for sharks (we should have named it ‘paddle for pups’).
For the adults there is a 3.4km race, beer, a BBQ, presentations on all aspects of shark life, sponsored head shaves, raffles, and even annual Swim for Sharks tattoos! There are local sellers of all kinds of crafts, beach litter cleans and music all day and into the evening.
But, where did it all start?
One hot sweaty Thai night 12 years ago (2009), Dan and Lara from Big Blue Diving Koh Tao decided over a beer that they’d like to do more for sharks so started plotting and planning, organizing what turned out to be the event of the year. Shark Guardian has had the privilege of being part of the Swim For Sharks event since 2014.
Year on year, it got bigger and better. People started training months in advance for the race around Koh Nang Yuang islands, a distance of 3.4km.
This year we're taking Swim for Sharks on tour!
Our goal is that every month in 2021 we will host a Swim for Sharks event, like the prestigious event on Koh Tao, somewhere around the world. Sharing is caring after all, and why limit ourselves to just one joyous event when we could have 12! We kicked off in our Thai home town, Krabi.
Swim for Sharks: January 31st, Krabi
Our first event of the year started in style in Ao Nam Mao, Krabi with almost 50 people joining us for a day full of fun and 30 swimmers total.
The goal had been to match the 3.4km distance of the 'original' Swim For Sharks held on Koh Tao by Big Blue. We absolutely smashed this target with the collective efforts of our swimmers managing almost 7 times this length, totaling 22km! We have to admit, there was some cheating going on and a little bit of walking did occur, shh... don’t tell anyone!
It was a laughter and fun filled day for everyone with locals selling items and a sandcastle competition. We were also joined by the Ao Nang Trash Hero team for a beach litter clean, collecting 62kg of small pieces of plastic, fishing net and styrofoam from the beautiful beach.
And thus ’Swim for Sharks International’ was born!
Thank you to our generous hosts at Aqua Beach Club & Restaurant Krabi for embracing and welcoming the fun and chaos.
Where next?
We are so excited to support monthly Swim For Sharks International events around the world, so if we’ve roused your interest please do get in touch using our social media links below, or you can email swim4sharks@outlook.com.
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