As the temperature hovered around two degrees on Tuesday, 7am,
and many were still beneath the doona, some hardy souls were instead getting
set to swim in Chewton’s Expedition Pass Reservoir.
Enter – the Aquanuts.
This small group of locals – about six in all – have been meeting around dawn a
couple of days each week to cut brisk laps in the glistening, beautiful and
b….. freezing waters of the local res.
“Our full title is the Chewton and Affiliated Suburbs Aquanauts,”
explains one of them, local swimming instructor, Frog Peck.
The Aquanuts began taking their bracing early morning swims months ago with a
couple of friends just getting together to enjoy a swim.
But as things got cooler – and even after Covid-19 hit – the Aquanuts knew they
didn’t want to stop – while always taking care to adhere to the changing
pandemic restrictions.
“We love swimming here and once Covid started we needed to keep some
connection to each other and the res,” Frog says.
Tuesday this week was forecast to be cold and come 7am at Expedition Pass
Reservoir, it was.
But that didn’t stop the ‘nuts donning wetsuits and splashing forth to greet
the day with a degree of chilled excitement many could not embrace – whether
“warmer in than out” or not.
“It’s two degrees out and about 9.5 in,” Frog said.
“We do between two to four laps, so between one and two kilometres.”
