Our Guides Most Memorable Swims

Some have called it the greatest job in the world - the only prerequisite is you have to love the water. Fortunately, all of our guides do!

In this blog, we share a few of the most memorable moments enjoyed by new members of our guiding team. We're so lucky our safaris are led by such inspiring swimmers whose lifelong passion for the life aquatic helps to make our adventures extra special.

Guy Waddilove

"I’ve completed a couple of 10 km swims, including the South Head Rough Water event and a self-organised 10 km swim along the Northern Beaches. One of my most memorable swims was a self-organised route from Manly Wharf in Sydney Harbour, around North Head, and into Manly Ocean Beach, a journey of just 400 metres by foot, but 8.5 km through the water!"

Lucy Claire

"So many! A lot of my favourite swim memories come from swimming Manly to Shelly beach and seeing all of the incredible marine life in Cabbage Tree Bay: giant cuttlefish, wobbegongs, Port Jackson sharks and occasionally Basil the turtle. There was one grey and miserable day that was really special - I had arrived with a friend that morning and it was freezing cold, starting to rain. We thought about bailing on the swim and getting coffee instead, but eventually we decided to just go for it. And lucky we did because a pod of dolphins swam into the bay while we were out there and came up incredibly close to us!"

Ariki Pearson

"A good friend of mine is an underwater cameraman, always off somewhere capturing footage of marine life in places most people never imagine. I sometimes get to join him. On one of these trips, far off the coast of New Zealand—over 120km from land. We jumped overboard into clear, open ocean, and I was hit with something I didn’t expect: absolute stillness. I froze—not from fear, but from absolute awe. The boat drifted into the distance. Beneath me, kilometres of nothing but deep blue. No land. No reference. Just ocean. It felt like the sea had swallowed everything, including me—I was intimidated, but not threatened. It was as if the ocean welcomed me. I barely moved. I covered no distance and swam no strokes - it was the shortest swim I’ve ever done, but also the most powerful. I floated there for I don’t know long, feeling completely vulnerable, transparent, and yet more alive than ever. I was mesmerised by the sheer scale of it all."

"The boat drifted into the distance. Beneath me, kilometres of nothing but deep blue. No land. No reference. Just ocean. It felt like the sea had swallowed everything, including me..."

Explore our Guide Recruitment page to learn more about how you can join the Ocean Swim Safaris team...