Amazon Swim (Martin Strel)
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DURING FEB 1 - APR 08, 2007 MARTIN STREL SWAM 5,268 KMS (3274 MILES) OF THE AMAZON RIVER! HE DEDICATED THE SWIM TO THE PROTECTION OF THE RAINFOREST.
Wed, April 4 2007

Night Swimming

Martin capitalized on the outgoing tides to swim 12 km through a light mist this evening. Although we began with a spotlight, he was afraid the beam would attract large predators such as bull sharks, or draw other unwanted attention...

So we tied a glowing red neon stick to the back of his wetsuit, waited until our eyes adjusted to the darkness, and used the speckles of light coming from the moon as our reference point. We had a few large boats temporarily blind us with their spotlights, but we were able to make radio contact and ask in broken Portuguese for their cooperation. The night was a success until the tired swimmer slipped and fell off a plank getting back onto the Cassiquari. Luckily he only suffered a few small cuts and abrasions.

>>Matthew Mohlke