Swimming
Swimming in Public Waters is a very popular aquatic activity and sport that involves moving through water using various techniques, typically with the goal of physical exercise, recreation, or competition. It's one of the most versatile and effective forms of exercise, engaging nearly every muscle group and offering a variety of health benefits. Many people will have been taught by their parents, friends and family how to swim from a young age as well as training and teaching classes in school and in their local swimming clubs and leisure centres. Following the teaching and training swimmers may have examinations and tests for certain levels and skills gained for swimming and lifesaving technics and normally receive a certificate of achievement. Some clubs will also have swimming galas, competitions against other swimming clubs winning cups, trophies and medals.
Some swimmers go on to compete as athletes in national and world-wide Olympics supporting their clubs and country’s others may use their swimming skills in a future career teaching or become life guards around pools and on beaches, some swimmers may even venture into snorkelling and scuba diving creating a whole new life experience within the world of swimming. Snorkelling and scuba diving is a fantastic fun experience as a hobby and sport seeing things within our oceans and seas like coral reefs, wrecks structures and not forgetting the amazing marine life swimming in and around scuba divers, some may choose to use their scuba diving skills turning it into a job and a future career scuba diving for the police, navy, search and rescue, oil rigs, underwater surveys and marine biologist.
Types of Swimming
Freestyle (Front Crawl) - The fastest and most common swimming stroke, where the swimmer alternates their arms in a circular motion while kicking their legs in a flutter kick. Breaststroke - A slower stroke that involves a frog-like kick and a sweeping arm movement in a circular pattern. It’s often considered a more relaxed stroke. Backstroke - A stroke swum on the back, where the swimmer alternates arm movements and uses a flutter kick. It’s the only stroke swum on the back. Butterfly - A challenging stroke that involves a dolphin-like kick and synchronized arm movements. It is one of the most physically demanding strokes. Individual Medley (IM) - A competitive event that involves swimming all four strokes in a specific order: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle. Medley Relay - A team event where each swimmer performs a different stroke, in the order of butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle.
Benefits of Swimming
Full-Body Workout - Swimming works multiple muscle groups, from the core and arms to legs, making it a great full-body exercise.
Cardiovascular Health - It improves heart health by boosting circulation, lowering blood pressure, and enhancing lung capacity.
Low Impact - Since the buoyancy of water reduces the impact on joints, swimming is ideal for those with joint issues, arthritis, or other physical conditions that may make high-impact activities difficult. Flexibility - The wide range of motion required for various strokes helps improve flexibility. Calorie Burning - Swimming burns a significant number of calories, depending on the intensity and stroke used.
Mental Health - The rhythmic nature of swimming can be meditative, reducing stress and improving mental well-being.
Swimming Competitions
Olympics - Swimming has been a part of the Summer Olympic Games since 1896 for men and 1912 for women. It features events in all four strokes, the individual medley, relays, and open-water swimming. World Championships - Held every two years, these championships are an opportunity for swimmers to compete on a global stage outside the Olympics. Club and College Competitions - Local clubs, schools, and universities often hold competitions to nurture young talent.
Swimming Techniques.
Breathing - Proper breathing is crucial in swimming. In freestyle, swimmers typically inhale when their head turns to the side and exhale when their face is in the water. In the breaststroke, the swimmer inhales as the arms pull and exhales during the glide phase. Streamlining - When swimming, keeping the body straight and streamlined reduces drag, allowing for faster movement through the water. Kicking - The flutter kicks in freestyle and backstroke, the dolphin kicks in butterfly, and the frog kick in breaststroke require practice for efficiency and speed. Swimming is a skill that, once learned, can last a lifetime, providing both enjoyment and a variety of health benefits. Whether for competition, fitness, or leisure, it remains one of the most accessible and beneficial activities.
Open Water Swimming.
Also known as Wild Swimming unlike pool swimming, open-water swimming takes place in natural bodies of water, such as lakes, rivers, or the ocean. It adds the challenge of currents, waves, temperature, and navigation. Popular events include the 10 km swim in the Olympics and various endurance races. Strongly Advised - Before attempting any open water swimming or wild swimming for the first time it’s best to take some guidance and advise from a professional experienced instructor, as well as some training classes and swimming clubs, also gain some local knowledge of where you plan to swim, it’s always best to go along with some other experienced open water and wild swimmers.
Safety Tips
Know Your Limits - Always swim within your ability and never push yourself too hard, especially in open water. Swim with a Buddy - It’s always safer to swim with someone else, especially in larger bodies of water. Avoid Swimming Alone - When swimming in the ocean or lakes, swimming alone can be dangerous due to unpredictable conditions. Use Proper Gear - Goggles help with visibility and comfort in the water, while swim caps can keep hair out of your face. Some swimmers who venture into colder public waters be lakes, or sea may also out a fair distance of the banks and shore line and may well enter into deeper and colder waters therefore require some form of protection like wetsuits made from neoprene and the thicker they are the longer they will work also using neoprene boots, gloves and hats.
Hazardous Conditions.
It's always best to check the weather conditions before going into any Public Waters, all open spaces of water can be affected by the weather conditions changing along with any tidal or flow of water changes as well, some rivers and canals may not be tidal but sometimes water barrages, dams and locks upstream could be opened manually or even automatically controlled some without any warning causing a sudden increase in flow of water downstream. It's good to gain knowledge in relation to different types of open waters and the natural changes and also give consideration to the unknown underwater hazards like floating and drifting debris, snags, weed, rocks, crevice’s, rip tides and currents, also all possible water craft activities.
Snorkelling / Scuba Diving.
Snorkelling and scuba diving is form of swimming below the water’s surface and into the depths exploring the underwater world of amazing sights of sea beds, coral, reefs, wrecks, shells and the amazing marine life living within what's seems like another world. A great way to start is by swimming around on the surface using flippers, mask and snorkel and gentle moving along on the surface and viewing what's below you, learning how to keep the snorkel pipe above the surface and when to take a deep breath before diving downwards then slowly releasing your breath at the right times, this is ideal within bays, coves and some reefs with fish and crustacean's moving around and in and out of rocks, crevasses and sea bed, a great way to learn some of the snorkelling technics before venturing into scuba diving.
Scuba Diving
Taking the plunge into the depths for the first time is such an amazing experience and a big eye opener for anybody, before entering into this wonderful world of the oceans and its marine life, you will need some training by a qualified Padi diving instructor this can be done at some local swimming pools which tends to be a scuba diving club and also holiday resorts all over the world where possible.
Discover Scuba Diving
When on holidays it’s sometimes possible to go on a discover scuba diving course which won’t certify you as being a qualified diver, however will provide some suitable and safe training to allow you to scuba dive with a buddy being a professional experienced Padi diver. You will need to fill in some paperwork, which will normally ask you for your personnel details, any medical conditions and your swimming ability this is normally followed up with some training involving some theory in a classroom and closed water diving training at a dive centre before embarking on an unforgettable underwater adventure with a professional PADI Discover Scuba Diving activity in open water diving into the world of the unknown to make your first experience as magical as the depths themselves. This is a great way to experience this amazing scuba diving water sport before considering furthering you diving skills and becoming a qualified and certified diver enabling you to further your adventures under water depths.
Padi Scuba Diving
There are training courses which are known as open water courses before the start of the training you will need to be over a certain age limit and will be asked if you have any medical conditions all being ok, you will also need to have a certain level of swimming skills and be able to meet the required criteria, its then possible for you to carry out a training courses involving some theory in a classroom and closed water diving training in which you will carry out different types of diving skills needed to reach a certain qualification and meet the requirements before they will take you scuba diving into open water, once you have achieved this you will be able to go into open water diving which may start from the beach or boat. Although this may seem a bit daunting at first it will be worth every part of your effort and achievements ahead. Once you have completed and qualified the basic open water diving you will be able to improve your diving skills with further training at different levels some divers become professional's in doing so and even make a career in various ways.
Your Safety
Your safety is first and foremost and before any type or form of swimming, snorkelling and scuba diving in any Public Waters anywhere in the world, Public Waters do strongly suggest that before participating in any form of swimming, snorkelling and scuba diving activities you carry out your own further research and inquiries gaining as much knowledge and information from professional's and their associations before making your own valued judgement and decisions, it’s important to provide your correct personal details and information at all times to any swimming, snorkelling, scuba diving, training professionals and their associations, your training and safety should never be compromised in any way by anyone. Also keeping in mind rules, regulations and training all over the world may vary from one country to another. All water sports do come with risks some more than others but when carried out in the right ways this will help to minimise all possible risk factors. All types of swimming, snorkelling and scuba diving is an amazing sport which is enjoyed by millions of swimmers and divers all over the world every day, we wish all those who do so to enjoy the most amazing experiences of your life in Public Waters and the underwater world.
Top Destinations
We are always out and about searching for new public waters and there locations so as we can share with everyone, all these amazing beautiful scenic places which are ideal for recreation, socializing, biking, boating, camping, fishing, photography, swimming, walking, nature, wildlife, activities, food, drink and relaxation.
Not only will we seek and find these locations we will also find such things in around and close by which may help in planning any trips, activities, adventures, tours or expeditions which you may have plans for and going to one of your favour or new public waters locations.
Be it the sea, lakes, reservoirs, rivers, canals and streams in and around all counties, departments, cities, towns and village areas. Life's Natural Environment and Activities.
Retail & Leisure
In each location country, region, county, towns, departments, provinces or even states, we plan and aim to provide you with maps, facilities, supplies, local shops, hotels, camp sites and means of travel all of which will have continuous updates when made available.
Also along the way there will be endless amounts of places for socializing, food, drinks, like restaurant's, takeaways, cafes, bars, pubs, and supermarkets and local shops.
As well as supermarkets, local shops plus some other suppliers and retail outlets including shops nearby for things like clothing, footwear, biking, boating, camping, fishing, photography, swimming, scuba diving / snorkelling, walking and wildlife for all your activities, adventures and socialising moments.
Public Waters Photography
Take a Picture of Your Favourite Location
Using your Android, iPhone or your favourite brand of a digital camera like Cannon, Nikon, Sony, Pentax, Panasonic, Go Pro or DJI drone capturing a still shot or video of that really special moment you wont ever forget also sharing them with your friends and family.
Public Waters Take A Look
Amazing Pictures and Videos.
" Some Of These Aeriel Shots Will Make You Want To Jump Through The Screen "
Public Waters will endeavour to put some of the most amazing pictures and videos of public waters be it the coastal towns, sea, beaches, lakes, reservoirs, rivers, canals, streams, water falls, which will be added to our web pages on a regular basis.
The great thing about public water locations is that sense of freedom and getting away from the everyday life and into one of life's natural environment's with a breath of fresh air.
Public Waters has some of the best scenic views in the world within its natural environment surrounded by a natural growth of forest, woodland, trees, wild plants, flowers and its amazing wildlife inhabitants.
Public Water Locations
Lakes - Rivers - Canals - Sea
Your Public Waters and Activities
Biking - Boating - Camping - Fishing - Photography - Swimming - Scuba Diving - Snokeling - Walking - Wildlife.
Activities
Biking
Riding a mountain bike through woodlands, forestry, even into the surrounding mountains and hill tops, or taking to the local roads with your bike or motorbike, also a great way of traveling from one location to another, or a family biking trip out into the country side. Camping and biking from one camp to another is becoming more popular over the years in some countries even towing small trailers along behind or using rucksacks, saddle bags, panniers and top boxes. The great thing is being able to take in and absorb the wonderful surroundings you're cycling or biking through at a different pace.
Boating
Lakes, Rivers, Canals and Sea are the perfect places for your boating activities be it canoeing, rowing, cruising along in your motorboats or sailing along with the behind you, enjoying all of them magnificent scenic views in and around public waters. Some prefer taking off on a jetski, water skiing, surfing, paragliding, swimming, scuba diving and snorkelling. Other great alternatives is professional water tours sailing, cruising, crossings, ferries, either way it’s like being in another place away from the land with a totally different view of its surroundings sightseeing in a relaxing atmosphere.
Camping
Setting up camp right next to your favourite public water. Having a cuppa or lighting up the barbeque and having a few drinks chilling and relaxing in the sunny weather and evening sun sets. There are some amazing new types of tents and accessories these days, some tents don't even need poles and can be inflated with hand or electric pumps. One of the other ways of camping and ideal for moving around is by campervan, motorhome and caravans, some even use a push bike with trailers or motorbikes, some even by foot with rucksacks known as backpacking.
Fishing
Night or day fishing and catching that big carp, catfish, setting a new personnel best record in lakes, rivers and canals. Sea fishing be it from the beach, pier or boat catching some marcel, cod, bass, dover soul, and so many other different species of fish in our seas. Casting a line from the bank or boat fly fishing for them rainbow, brown trout or even a salmon. Being out in them fantastic public water locations with them fantastic views and social times enjoying your favourite hobby. There are so many different types of tackle, bait and equipment for fishing from tackle shops or online.
Photography
What better places than a public water with a idyllic landscape in the background for some amazing photos and videos of all your special locations and memories. Not forgetting the amazing wildlife inhabitants which create some of the best images. That special selfie shot of you and your loved ones. All of them special memorable moments saved in one click. Using your Android, iPhone or your favourite brand of a digital camera like Cannon, Nikon, Sony, Pentax, Panasonic, Go Pro or DJI drone capturing a still shot or video of that really special moment you won't ever forget sharing them with your friends and family.
Swimming
There are so many public water locations which are ideal for swimming, scuba diving and snorkelling, around some of the coastline as well as some inland lakes, rivers or nearby pools. Taking a dip with your toes, paddle or diving in for a wild swim and that invigorating boosting feeling in public waters. Scuba diving and snorkelling from the shores and boats exploring the underwater world and its amazing sights like sealife fish and creatures moving around the seabed wrecks and reefs. Before entering into any public water it's advisable to take some professional lessons, guidance, and local knowledge of your chosen locations.
Walking
Walking along the shoreline, rivers, canal tow paths or through the countryside, woodlands, forestry during them wonderful sunrise or sunset times of the day with your loved ones and maybe the dogs. Whilst having that relaxing stroll, walk or hike it's considered by many this is one of the best forms of excises for health and wellbeing. What better way to get into training ready for them charity walks and hikes ahead. Some may even enjoy stepping it up with a gentle jog and a run, or even turning it into a triathlon with a walk, run, swim and bike ride at the end. Or taking your dogs along for the walk as well.
Wildlife
Where there is water the local wildlife inhabitants is never to far away and can be amazing at times and full of wonderful surprises within the towns, villages, hamlets, countryside's, forestry, coast lines, and all types of public waters, with its local inhabitants insects, bees, butterfly's, reptiles, fish, birds, ducks, swans, geese, deer and different types of mammals all of which are a living in and around our surrounding environments. The wildlife is constantly changing throughout the different seasons in their migrations. For breeding and food supplies needs.
What are you waiting for?
