Cook Strait, NZ - February 2026

The Cook Strait separates the North and South Islands of New Zealand, connecting the Tasman Sea on the NW with the South Pacific Ocean on the SW. It is 14 miles at its narrowest and considered one of the most dangerous and unpredictable waters in the world.

The Cook Strait is dominated by strong tidal flows, unusual in that the tidal elevation at the ends of the strait are almost exactly out of sync with one another, so high water on one side meets low water on the other. This is caused by the main lunar tide that happens about twice per day (12.42 hours) circulates anti-clockwise around New Zealand. On the Pacific Ocean side the high tide occurs five hours before it occurs at the Tasman sea side. One side is high tide and the other side is low tide. The difference in sea level can drive tidal currents up to 5 knots across the strait.

There is all kinds of wildlife from territorial seals to stinging jellies, dolphins and whales - humpback, blue and sperm; killer whales pass thru and the ever lurking Great White drops in from the Pacific having done who knows what.

Break Dancing Chicken

Portland Oregon resists ICE

Cold Water Mania

Along with my hard-core swimming regulars who I meet at the Richmond pool three or four times a week, I have been introduced to another community of athletes only this group meets Friday mornings at sunrise to swim in the Thames due West of the Teddington Lock. 

In the summertime, the water temps will reach 20 or 22C and warm enough to swim to Kingston and back or about 5km. This time of year, in winter, the river drops to 6-7C on its way to the coldest days when it may be 1-2C, depending on the air temperatures. At this range, we stay in for maximum 3 minutes - no wetsuit - it can be dangerous for longer - with our recovery clothes on the riverside at the ready - in my case, a down jacket rated to -20C.

As to the why ? While the health benefits of cold water swimming or showers is yet proven, the after-event high is real. We huddle over warm tea and cake; some bring a hot water bottle and all of us bitch about the cold.

On my mind is the North Channel connecting Northern Ireland to Scotland in August 2027. Perhaps hardest of the Oceans Seven swims due to the cold water, I will be in sub 14C for 10 hours or so.

Central America

Madeleine uses her hard earned dough as a barista at Hermanos Colombian Coffee Roasters in Barnes, frequently opening the shop at 6:30AM, an ungodly hour for anyone but especially a 23 year old who needs her sleep, to travel Central America with Tilda who she meets in Nicaragua.  From there, our gal goes to Guatemala and El Salvador where she hikes to the peak of an active volcano, explores rivers and rain forests and meets like-minded young people in the hostels she visits.

Post Manhattan and pre business school, I worked in Belize for a period of time helping set up the country's eye-health program with the Belize Council for the Visually Impaired and the Pan American Health Organisation as partners.  Belize a beautiful country and poor with then-undeveloped cays a Cessna hop from Belize City. The emerald Blue Hole, a submerged marine cavern where hammerhead sharks in the thousands circle and mate, can be found at a nearby atoll. 

As for the eye care, it became a model for primary care delivery in Pan America and a Harvard Business School case study, "Help The World See", published in 1997 and still in classroom-use today.

The Six Million Dollar Man

"Steve Austin, astronaut.  A man barely alive.  Gentlemen, we can rebuild him.  We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world's first bionic man.  Steve Austin will be that man.  Better than he was before.  Better... stronger... faster."

The opening credits on The Six Million Dollar Man shook my world every Sunday night in the mid 1970s.  My eyes gaped as Steve bent steel or jumped tall hedges. It made sense that he was launched from a submarine into the Pacific to prevent a planet-destroying weapon being built on a deserted island. The "nyosynthetic" (advanced bionic) sasquatch - created by an alien colony hiding on Earth in the Pacific Northwest - required a double Bigfoot episode and a "to be continued" still-frame - Game on !!

Us boys debated the whole Jaime Sommers bionic woman love affair and thrilled to Max, the German Shepherd whose bionic legs and jaw gave him super strength and speed. There was good and bad in the 70s but, as a kid, it did not get better than the bionic man.

Catalina Strait

Catalina Strait start 

The official Big Swim season ends, at least in the Western Hemisphere, around early October when water temperatures drop below comfortable levels. I take advantage of July to swim around Manhattan ( 29 miles in 8 hours, 30 minutes) and September for the Catalina Strait (22 miles in 10 hours, 49 minutes). With the English Channel, I am the 394th person to complete the so-called "Triple Crown" of big water swimming.

The Catalina swim notable for its 11pm start-time to avoid the windy afternoon swells along the Southern California coastline. The darkness disturbing but, even more so, the unlucky British swimmer, also swimming the straight, nipped by a great white shark the night before my jump. The poor fellow pulled from the water after two hours, bandaged and greeted by the coast guard, then ambulance and fire engine at the Long Beach docks, and raced to the emergency for a few stitches to his leg and hand, all reported dutifully by the local news channels and hitting the BBC and Times just in time for Sonnet to worry. A truism I accept : The only strategy for sharks is to not think about sharks.