The Pool

It was awesome swimming in an outdoor pool surrounded by palm trees.  What a treat!  This year we were pleasantly surprised to find new lane ropes.  They are 1000% better than the ropes we had last year.  Better news is that they have even nicer lane ropes to put in once they are cleared customs.  Fingers crossed, maybe they will be wave resistant.  Wouldn't that be great!!!

Here is how great the pool looks:

I had a lot of fun with my lane mates this year.  In week 1, I swam with Fred from Grimsby, Ontario and Kimberley and Patti from Orangeville, Ontario.  Here we are having a ton of fun after a gruelling swim workout:

That is Patti goofing around with the bunny ears!

Here is our team photo from week 1. 

There was a lady who was video taping us as we were arranging ourselves for the photo.  It was so fun!  We had just finished the massive swim of 100's and I think everyone was a bit crazy!

Can you find me?  lol!!!

Our coaches from Week 1 - Reg in the "jello" shirt and Paul

Unfortunately I was not able to get pics of my lane mates from Week 2 because I was sick and missed the last workout.  Same thing as last year.  I also missed the team photo.  So disappointing!

Our Accommodations This Year

This year we stayed in the North Tower at the Laguna Mar Resort.  At first we were somewhat disappointed because it is a further walk to the pool and beach.  Once we got up to the rooms, however, it was a different story!  The majority of our group was on the 4th floor and the rest on the third floor.  It turned out that in the past year, the hotel has done extensive renovations.  The newly done rooms were a very pleasant surprise!  Our room was #2438, a room with a balcony and ocean view.  We could not believe our eyes, it was so beautiful.  Here are a few pics:

The beds are made up with linen sheets and a comfy duvet.  The floor was beautifully tiled.

Check out the awesome shower:

Plenty of room to splash around in!

Our Welcome Gift from Nolitours:

Yes, that is right...3 bottles of booze...rum, gin and vodka, plus some yummy cookies and a cute little shot glass, plus a fridge stocked with Pepsi, Diet Pepsi and beer.  They also gave us a big jug of water and some smaller bottles.  You cannot drink their tap water.  We could get refills from the bar, restaurant or the filtering station down the hall.  We brought a small kettle with us so we could boil the water as required.  Also Hannes likes to have coffee in the morning when he gets up and I would have a cup of tea before leaving for swim practice.

One day we came back to the room to find this cool swan towel:

Check out the view from our balcony.  This pic has not been edited yet.  It turned out that I had a spot on my camera mirror which I didn't see at first.  When I discovered it, I fixed it up.  Anyway, you can get the idea of our view...the water in the foreground is the lagoon and the background is the Atlantic Ocean (where the beach is).

Update!

Here is the latest update...we have been busy with workouts and beach lounging. I can never seem to blog at night as I am so tired from the day's activities!

An update from Hannes' birthday party on Sunday...we had a group of 11 at our table. There were also two more tables of the Montreal swimmers. Our friend Janine, who we met last year, had some birthday candles and we managed to get these into Hannes' dessert. All three tables sang Happy Birthday, followed by lots of cheering and clapping by others in the restaurant as well. Janine told me later that she had brought the candles with her to celebrate her friend Isabel's birthday. Unfortunately for Isabel, she was the swimmer who was turned away at the airport counter because her passport was less than six months away from the expiration date. Some brave people at our table, not me, enjoyed a few tequila shots! I enjoyed a Margarita and some good red wine (some of the Ontario swimmers brought wine with them to the restaurant and they are OK with us doing that). The "vino tinto" leaves much to be desired...it is OK if there is nothing else!

Here is a cute pic of the birthday boy:

Yesterday after swim workout, we went on an island tour with our friends Cathy and John from Prince George. We found out about an American couple who live here who offer driving tours of the island. They picked us up at 11:30 after swimming and breakfast. They provided us with all kinds of interesting info about the island, its history, the people, culture etc. our first stop was a church/town square up the road a ways from our hotel. From there we drove to a castle and enjoyed beautiful views. We drove to the north side of the island and saw the beautiful beaches that are on the Caribbean Sea side. They were stunning! We saw fishing villages, people's homes up close, pelicans, more castles, the modern part of Porlamar. It was such an interesting trip! Steve and Marcella have lived here for 12 years. Although they remain U.S. citizens, they are residents of Margarita Island. They filled us in on the healthcare system, the government, etc. I took about 150 photos so hopefully there are a few good ones in there!! All in all, it was a super day. They had us back to the resort right on time at 3:30 p.m. Other swimmers in our group went the day before and the two older ladies, Julia and Mae, are going today.

Luckily we did not have an afternoon swim practice. Cathy, Hannes and I went over to the pizza/deli and had ourselves a pizza and Cervasa (beer). Hannes enjoyed a nice cup of coffee.

Swimming has been going well, although people are starting to get tired. I have now swam 4400 meters for morning workout two days in a row. Took it easy on Sunday and did only 4200! my friend Charlie from Toronto and I have been busy logging in our mileage in the Million Meter Challenge page. We usually compare notes sometimes during the day. This afternoon's workout is "technical". We will be doing breastroke drills. I should also mention that there was a gentleman swimming when we arrived at the pool today...turns out that he is a masters swimmer from Caracus! He may be joining us for tomorrow morning's workout.

Generally the weather has been hot every day. Today is by far the most amount of rain that we have experienced here. It never lasts too long, but can it ever come down fast. We could hardly see the ocean when it rained just a few minutes ago. Hoping to get to the beach a little later for some r & r.

We cannot believe how fast the second week has gone! Tomorrow is our last full day!

Birthday in Margarita

Today is Hannes' 60th birthday...I am married to an old man!!!

We are going to the Mexican restaurant with several friends tonight to help Hannes celebrate! He wants to have his fav food fajitas! In the Mexican restaurant, they slam the empty serving trays to the floor and yell/cheer every time they get a tip! It can get really noisy! Last time we were there we were right beside where they slammed so hopefully this time around we will be further away!

I just gave Hannes a birthday card that I brought with me from Thunder Bay. Part of his gift is our tour tomorrow and when we get home, we will be doing some research on an electronic reader. So if you have any suggestions, please feel free to forward them! It's all part of making an informed decision!!

An update on our oldest swimmer Julia...apparently she just turned 85...it appears that in her case, her age was published at 80 and it stayed there until she moved up to the next age group of 85-89. Either way I am still impressed.

One member of our group was a member of Canada's Olympic Swim Team. Owen participated in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. He is way over in the fastest lane, quite a ways away from me! lol

It was another heavy duty workout this morning...4200 meters for me! The water was lovely and cool when we jumped in!

Have I mentioned the chocolate donuts yet? They were out again this morning for early breakfast and I managed to grab one on my way to the pool. These are a real treat and you can never be sure when they will make an appearance. So when you see them, you grab them and enjoy!

There is no way you can turn these puppies down:

Well, it is now time to catch a few rays before afternoon workout!

Cheers!

You are never too old

I mentioned earlier what a diverse group of swimmers we have at camp this year. Would you believe that we have an 80 year old lady from Pointe Claire in our camp? It's true. I was chatting with Julia last night at the BBQ restaurant on the beach. Not that she told me how old she was...I asked her what she swam at nationals and just now I looked at the results to find her. All the rest of us could only hope that we would still be able to travel to a swim camp, thousands of miles away from home when we are that age. I have said it before and I will say it again, swimming keeps you young! May Julia be an inspiration to all of us!!!

Bonjour mes Amis!

I am glad to report that the swimmers from Montreal made it here safe and sound. There are a few familiar faces - Taras, our coach, his wife Andrea (who I met at Nationals in Montreal this past May), and three repeat swimmers from last year - Fiji, Janine and Bianca. In total there are about 18 swimmers from Montreal. Unfortunately one swimmer was turned back at the airport as her passport was due to expire in less than 6 months. The Canadians seem to be really strict about implementing this rule. We were also joined by two more B.C. Swimmers, Cathy's husband John and their daughter Alexandra. This is a very diverse group, both in swimming abilities and age. We will all do the same workout, some will do more of the same sets and others will do less. I have found myself in the middle of the pack again which is totally fine with me.

We had our first meeting on Tuesday night in the tiki bar. There was so much noise from the blender that you had a hard time hearing people talk. It would appear to me that this group is favoring blender drinks more so than the group last week. I'm with them. These frothy delights are soooo good!!!

Workouts will alternate two a day/one a day. This is great as we will have more time to relax and have some fun. After all, we are also on vacation! I swam a total of 6,000 meters in the two workouts yesterday, which I thought was pretty good. Today, I did 5,000 meters in the morning workout. Not too shabby! We are spending some time at the beach today and I would also like to sit on the bar stools at the swim up bar.

A group of us are dining at the Italian a la carte restaurant tonight. Hannes' birthday is tomorrow and he would like to go to the Mexican restaurant for his favourite food fajitas!! Then on Saturday we are going on an historical tour of churches, castles and lighthouses. Someone recommended to Laura about an American couple who lives here and does private tours for 4 to 6 people. The tour lasts 4 hours. I am looking forward to that as it will give me so many more photo opportunities than I would have had otherwise. And don't worry, we will not miss the swim workout as the tour vehicle will be picking us up at 11 a.m., after swimming and breakfast!!!

The weather has been consistent with every day being at least 30C plus humidity. I have lots of colour and a ton of freckles!

Changing of the Guard

Can you believe it? We have been here for a week! It has been a great week of swimming, sun, friendship and laughter. We just said goodbye to the week 1 swimmers and are now waiting for the Montreal contingent.

Looking back on this week...we started as strangers (mostly) and ended as friends. The group really jelled under the leadership of Coach Paul and Coach Reg, who admirably filled in for Coach Nancy. We felt like a real "team". The coaches presented all of us with souvenir swim bags and a cap (thanks to organizer Kelvin too) and a pen from the Boulding Beluga Swim School. Nice touch!

We had some challenging workouts. The ones that really stand out are the Baddagini (400 IM, 200 fly, 200 back, 200 breast, 800 free) and the super set of 100's that we swam yesterday. Depending on your pace time and willingness to start swimming at 6 a.m., you had the opportunity to swim 100 x 100 freestyle. My goal was to swim 50 x 100 and I ended up doing 52, ending with 2 x 100 backstroke. When Paul told us at the beginning of the week about this set, we had a lot of doubts. I personally thought he was crazy! But when the day came, we just jumped into the pool and did it! My lane mate Kimberley from Orangeville, Ontario and I swam the set with fins. We kept a very even pace on a 2:00 interval. We counted in groups of 10 and I timed them so we had a backup for the count. At the end of each 100, I yelled out the number we just finished. It helped to keep us on track.

After breakfast we had our team photo session, followed by an instructional massage/stretching session. It just so happened that one of our swimmers is a massage therapist. She showed us some great stretches. You had to work in pairs so I paired up with David from Nova Scotia...I met David and his dad Bob last year at camp. Everyone seemed to enjoy this and we sure had a lot of laughs.

Hannes and I spent some time on the beach yesterday afternoon. We thought it was going to be too hot, but the breeze was wonderful. I am definitely going to do some body surfing before leaving.

In case anyone is interested in the tropical drink selection (Lori!!!), these are the new ones I have tried over the past few days: Malibu, Flamingo and Tropical Dacquiri, all of which are delicious. Don't worry...I am going to write down the ingredients so we can make these fabulous beverages at home. I tried an Irish Coffee at the Italian restaurant the other night...the foam was tasty but once I started drinking it I could not finish because it was way too strong!!

There are 6 of us swimmers staying for the second week of camp...Laura and Cathy from Prince George, Lindsay from Moncton, Virginia from London, Charlie from Toronto and me. Laura, Cathy and Charlie's spouses are joining them this week. Cathy's teenage daughter is also coming to swim this week. They are arriving a little later this afternoon.

We are now off to the pizza restaurant for lunch and then to the beach!

Blog at you later!!!

The (Diet) Pepsi Generation

Hi all, I realize I have not posted for more than a day. My apologies...workouts have been hard and I am feeling tired...plus the heat and humidity makes you tired. But please don't feel sorry for me...lol

A funny thing happened yesterday afternoon. I returned from practice/breakfast and came back to the room to shower and clean up. Just as I was finishing using the hair dryer, I heard a huge crashing sound. Hmmm, what was that I wonder? I thought that the maid's cart had toppled over in the hallway and smashed into the wall. I peeked out and there was nothing. False alarm, although what on earth made that noise? I then went into the living room to sit down and blog...and then saw the scene of the crime! Somehow a can of diet Pepsi froze in the fridge and the pressure build up on the can was so intense that it blew off the end of the Pepsi can (like a perfect cut with a can opener). The force blew the frige door open and there was frozen chunks of diet Pepsi all over the inside of the frige and the floor. You wouldn't believe it unless you saw it! So instead of blogging I had to spend the next several minutes wiping up the Pepsi. Hannes just came back to the room after all this excitement. Luckily he was able to find one of the maids in the hallway and we tried to explain to her what happened. She didn't speak English so we demonstrated holding the can of Pepsi.

Yes, Pepsi explodes!!!

I took out all the other pops in the fridge. Don't know how the fridge got turned up to 6. Oh, and of course I took a couple of pictures which I will post when I get back home.

Oh, and check out how nice our floors are! 

So I guess that is a pretty good reason not to blog. Hoping not to get too far behind.

Cheers!

Bad to the bone!!!

Tomorrow morning we are doing our Baddagini event which consists of 200 back, 200 breast, 200 fly, 400 I.M. And 800 free. Our times are then supposed to be totalled so we can see who is the baddest! I am not crazy about getting times for the breast or fly, lol! We shall see what happens.

Just looked outside at the evening sky and it is so clear that you can see constellations! I do not recall having such a clear night like this before.

We are getting ready for our team dinner at 8 p.m. It is at Caruso, the Italian themed a la carte restaurant. I guess I will have to bring my glasses as they will be giving us menus! Not like eating in the cafeteria!

Today's tropical drink selection included a Splash, which is my new favourite and for the first time in a year, Strawberry Daiquiri. Both delicious!!!

Managing to survive the heat!

For the past couple of days, we have had 90F plus weather, plus humidex. Thank God for air conditioning! And tropical drinks! Speaking of tropical drinks, I thought it was time to have a Margarita. Alexander our bartender in the North Tower sure makes a strong drink. Thought I was going to pass out! Lol. Had to switch to a Piña Colada after that. That was last night.

Today 16 swimmers went on the jeep safari. They had their swim workout at 6 a.m. Those of us who did not go swam at our usual 8 a.m. It was a gorgeous day in the pool, sunny and warm.

Tonight all swimmers, spouses, friends, are dining at the Italian restaurant. It should be a ton of fun. The coaches are giving us all team bags with some surprise goodies inside. It's one of the nights that we get dressed up, so this should be good to see everyone all decked out.

In the past couple of days, Hannes and I have been on a photo shoot, video and still camera. I have probably taken more than 150 photos just in the last day and a half. I just love digital photography!

Today Hannes asked Marco, our Nolitours rep, about the price of gas in Venezuela. Get this, he can fill up his 100 liter tank for $1.00 US.

Well,it's time to chill and get ready for this afternoon's workout...the coaches said we can do our own thing this afternoon since the jeep safari does not get back until 5 p.m.

A great surprise

This morning at breakfast no. 1, we learned that our fellow swimmers Gavin made it here! He was the fellow who was turned back at the Toronto airport due to his passport only having a few months left on it. With the help of Kelvin, our event organizer and Richard, the travel agent, and some help from strangers along the way, Gavin got here thru New York, San Juan (I think), Caracus and then over to the island. In fact, he met up with a bunch of our group in the bar before finding his room! We all cheered when we saw him this morning!!!

Another interesting and hard workout focussing on breastroke drills. Anyone who knows me in the swimming world knows that this is not my fav thing to do. But I have to say that I got a ton of great tips and drills to work on. The water was beautiful. We had sunshine this morning and so we have to really watch where we are going...good thing I brought along tinted goggles this year.

It is so hot today, 90F, feeling like 94. Hannes and I went out on a photo shoot, me with my good camera and Hannes with his video camera. Think I got some good photos. By the way, the sunrise this morning was gorgeous! I was up early enough to see it rise out of the water and up into the sky. The sky had some clouds and the colors were beautiful. I love the quiet of the morning.

Today the iguanas came out of hiding...there were Iggy's everywhere! Managed to snap off a couple of close ups.

So as I write this I am chilling in the room and getting myself psyched up for this afternoon's workout. I also posted my workouts to date on the Masters Swimming Thunder Bay Facebook page if you want to check it out. Don't hesitate to give us a "like" as we could use a few more fans! lol

I also updated my meters in the Masters Swimming Canada Million Meter Challenge because Charlie from Toronto was bugging me...all in good fun.

It's time to change into my Speedo and smear myself with suntan lotion. Catch up with you all later.

P.S. those Splash drinks keep getting better and better!!! :-)

In the pool today

Today was the first day of swimming and what a day it was. I will start by saying that I somehow missed the alarm and overslept slightly! I don't think it went off at all. Anyway, it was not a big deal. Next thing to do was to watch the sunrise from the balcony. It was so beautiful! Snapped off a few pics which I will post into the blog when I get back.

We always have two breakfasts on swim days. A small one before workout, followed by an enormous one afterwards. More on that later.

About to set off to the pool to get there for 7:45 when I realized I forgot my bathing cap and had to go back to my room. Then I get there and I couldn't get the key to work and had to knock. Lucky for me Hannes was up and let me in!!

I was a few minutes late for the "before swim" talk. Yikes, I will not be late tomorrow. It was wonderful in the pool surrounded by palm trees. I am using 60 SPF sun tan lotion and found it amazing that I had tan lines afterwards...there was no sun this morning...it had clouded over after that beautiful sunrise.

We got our lanes organized. I swam with Fred who we met last night and Patti and Kimberley (in the p.m.) from Orangeville. It was a great workout and Paul gave us lot of great tips. I swam 4200 meters this morning and 1800 this afternoon for a day total of 6,000 meters. Paul's quote of the day was "Every stroke you take is your personal best". I like that!

We had a lovely afternoon on the beach, even though it was cloudy, it was still enjoyable. It beats snow and cold, howling winds any day!

We attended the BBQ restaurant on the beach tonight for supper. They are only open one night a week on Wednesdays for the Nolitours people. Food was very good!!

If any of you are interested in my actual workouts, they will be posted on the Masters Swimming Thunder Bay Facebook page. Keep in mind, this is what I swam, others did more and some did less.

Got to catch a few zzz's.

P.S. tropical drinks of the day were Splash and Piña Colada, and vino Tinto.

We are here!

We had a great flight on Air Transat, a far cry from my last experience with them in 2000 when my friend Maria and I went to Ireland. The plane was an A-310 air bus. It was spacious and comfortable. The service by the crew was excellent. There were only 10 empty seats on the aircraft - we picked up a lot of people in Montreal.

One of our swimmers was turned away at the airport in Toronto as his passport had less than 6 months until it expired. He is going to try to get here later in the week if he can get a new passport.

They served us mimosas followed by a petit dejeuneur (spelling?).

Here we are enjoying our flight and listening to our I-Pods:

It was around 32 Celsuis when we landed, beautiful sunshine! As usual, it took a while to go thru the immigration, wait for luggage, etc. The tour had a large bus waiting for the group to take us to the hotel. Traffic was crazy...there had been an accident with a bus and truck which slowed things up.

We are in the North Tower this year. The rooms have all been refurbished and are beautiful! We are on the 4th floor with an amazing ocean view. We also have a balcony. Hannes will be out there in the morning sipping on a coffee. They had 3 large bottles of liquor on our table in the room, along with mix, water and fancy cookies and a souvenir shot glass.

We made a new friend tonight, Fred from Grimsby, Ontario. We were later joined by Paul, our coach for the week, and Cathy and Laura from Prince George. It was really enjoyable. Several other swimmers showed up later on. It's going to be an awesome camp!

It poured rain while we had supper and then it stopped by the time we were done. Very typical weather for here.

Got to go now. Tomorrow morning comes early!!!

PS:
My first tropical beverage was a "splash" - orange juice and amaretto!

Travel Day

Here it is, our travel day to Venezuela. I was up at 2 a.m.,and Hannes was up way before me around 1 a.m. We checked out of the hotel and then took the trek over to Terminal 3...not that far! Checked in with Air Transat at 3:15 a.m., went thru security, and had some breakfast. Have already met up with some swimmers and are still waiting for the rest of the gang to make an appearance. Another familiar face from last year is attending camp again, Yoshi from Toronto.

The seats on the aircraft are two across, rather than the usual three. That is perfect for me as I now get the window seat and can get some photos as we travel. So excited!!! We are flying to Montreal to pick up more people before we carry on to our destination.

Just now a bunch of my last year friends showed up at the airport. Excitement! Will check n later!!!

The Adventure Has Begun

After lots of panic about suitcase weight, we managed to get in everything we needed.  Both of us got rid of some stuff, but nothing terribly important...at least we hope cuz now it's too late!  We managed to get both bags around 41.5 lbs. (max of 44). 

Our friend Lloyd drove us to the airport this morning.  He arrived around 5:10 a.m. Our flight left for Toronto at 6:30 a.m.  We arrived here pretty much on time.  We are staying at the Sheraton Gateway tonight.  We were able to get the room right away and that was good as we needed a power nap.

After our nap, we just cruised around the airport.  It is super busy!  People are travelling home or going back to school after the Christmas/New Year's break.  Boy they sure travel with a ton of luggage!  Obviously they are not on a charter flight like us.  I was hoping I might run into someone I know while wondering around the airport terminal.  Not sure what flight my friends from Winnipeg are on. 

Not much snow here in Toronto.  It is windy today, just like Thunder Bay!  Winds up to 40 km/hour.  I will not miss that one little bit!

I see from the e-mail that we got from coach Paul that there are several swimmers returning to camp who we met last year.  That is exciting as I know about 10 of them!  Gavin and Phil from Toronto, Alicia and Sue from Aurora, Laura and Cathy from Prince George, Mark from Montreal, Lindsay and David from New Brunswick and my two Winnipeg friends, Paul (one of our coaches) and his wife Sally.  I can't wait!!!

We are going to grab some supper at the Swiss Chalet restaurant later on.  It will be an early night.  Our charter leaves at 6:15 a.m. tomorrow and we are supposed to check in 2-3 hours earlier.  Once we are checked in we will get some breakfast.

Talk to you tomorrow!!