Fiji's New Open Water Ocean Swim Event: The Fiji Pearls Swim

Fiji's northern island is set to have its first ever open water Ocean Swim from May 29 - 31: the Fiji Pearls Swim sponsored by J Hunter Pearls with fabulous prizes of their unique premium quality pearls.

Based in Savusavu, there will be two marathon swims of 5k and 10k, and a middle distance (2k) swim on the day in between.

Fiji is known for the popular annual Mana Fiji Swim Fest which it has hosted for the past eight years and which attracts over 100 swimmers. Swim organizers of the J Hunter Pearls swim have sensibly scheduled their swim to be a very separate event at the other end of the calendar. With its calm clear waters and tranquil way of life, host town Savusavu is a beautiful setting for the event. And there's the added lure of prizes for the winners of the marathon event of Fiji's unique pearls in their lustrous colours of black, pistachio, champagne, chocolate and cobalt. Justin Hunter says: "We're excited to be supporting this swim - in fact, the course actually runs beside some of our oyster pearl farming lines which makes it a pretty unusual course. And the 2k swim will start from one of our pearl farm platforms."

After the swims there's the option of a weekend of swim safaris lead by Paul Ellercamp, operator of oceanswims.com, who has a longstanding involvement with the Mana swim. "I love going to new places to swim, and the waters off Daku Resort look to be well suited to swims of this nature. The sport of ocean swimming is growing rapidly, and I'm sure that growth is enough to support this new event in Fiji," he says.

The course runs from Daku Resort to the Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort, following the coastline of the bay. Accommodation and swim packages are being offered by Daku Resort, along with add - on packages of yoga and other activities.

Swim events schedule:

Wednesday May 29 :    10 km            

8.30am  From Daku to Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort and back  (high tide 10.30 so swimmers will swim with rising tide on first leg and falling tide on return)

Thursday May 30:  2 km                  

9.30 am From Pearl Farm boat to Daku (high tide 11.30 so swimmers will swim with rising tide)

Friday  May 31 : 5 km                      

10.30. am Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort to Daku (high tide 12.30  so swimmer will swim with the rising tide)   

Details of the swims can be found at www.oceanswimsfiji.com