Living on a boat with kids means that you’re in and out of the water a lot. It’s a welcome way of cooling off from the heat of the day in the tropics or calming down if the children have got a bit wild. It’s our backyard, our swimming pool, our plaything. Our boat babies were both born into water and plopped into the ocean in their first weeks.
So, you can imagine how as parents we’ve been excited about encouraging their confidence in the water and developing their swimming skills. This isn’t always so easy. Remember that we had a long period of time in New Zealand. The waters there do get to a lovely swimming temperature, especially as we’re British and remember braving the icy waves in Cornwall as kids. But, for a child who is just learning and not necessarily moving about in the water quite so much, our New Zealand swims were often fraught with whinging, especially when showering off with fresh water on deck afterwards, all exposed to the breeze. So we invested in wetsuits to make the temperature more manageable. And we’ve always tried to make sure that we get their heads underwater too, just for a moment, to get them accustomed to holding their breath, shutting their mouths and keeping calm when they’re under. It’s something that’s quite easily done with a little baby in the tropics but not quite so straightforward with a toddler in cold water – so we’d pick our moments.
And we learned not to push it. We had other ways of keeping the tiddlers connected to the water, using the paddleboard to get them up close to dolphins, playing with the kayak to explore around the marina docks, getting them used to lifejackets on numerous dinghy trips or simply popping on an Attenborough program about the ocean. Even a bath full of water in the cockpit can keep these two happy for hours.
Our return to the islands of the South Pacific has coincided with both little ones being at the right age and stage to really progress in the water. Plus, we have a secret weapon. When we met our extra crew, Chris, in French Polynesia in 2014, we loved that he had a background in teaching children to swim. He was responsible for getting us comfortable with swimming with Rocket off the boat, at anchor and out of our depths. This started with simple things like using swim noodles to keep her buoyant. We also used to take her on our snorkelling trips in a little yellow floaty seat, her chubby legs dangling down while blacktip reef sharks and rays swam round her toes.
Now that Chris is back on board for this year’s travels he’s again got involved in the swimming lessons. Sometimes this takes the form of one-on-one time with either Indigo or Rocket, to practice or explore a particular aspect of staying afloat. Other times we’re all in together, switching partners and playing either round the boat or off a beach.
Although I’ve always been a fair enough swimmer I’ve never been particularly relaxed swimming with our small fry at anchor. Something about being out of my depth, in 5 to 15 metres of water, with an additional 10 to 15 kgs of toddler suddenly clawing at my neck and dragging me under wouldn’t put me in a very easy frame of mind. So I’d tend to favour the beach swims with the little ones or hang back and let James take the lead.
But all of that has changed.
There’s been a significant shift that’s made up of equal parts latitude and attitude. It’s so much warmer now. It’s so warm that when we jump into the water it’s like jumping into a warm bath a lot of the time. Yes, this varies a bit with currents, depth and from place to place but it’s meant that all the whining or whinging about cold winds, cool water or icy rinse-downs has stopped which makes every bit of swim time more fun for all of us. The heads are dunked under again, this time with more advanced lessons in blowing bubbles or using goggles. Also, it is much easier for it to happen with a lot more regularity. Every day it’s hot so every day we’re looking for a time to cool off and play in the water, even if it’s just for a quick session. This helps the new skills learned each time be remembered more clearly next time as it has become more of a constant in all our lives.
And their abilities and talents in the water have also taken a sudden leap. At 2 and 4 they are actually quite well-matched physically with Indi’s sheer persistence and strength making up for what he lacks in Rocket’s co-ordination and eagerness to please. She has the drive of wanting to swim to gain more independence and is understandably thrilled about the prospect of us all swimming with whale sharks in Indonesia.
We’re not quite there yet though but a big part of the recent shift has been that James and I can both swim round the boat at anchor with a child each. No slipping off our backs into the blue oblivion, no tightening stranglehold to the jugular and no dragging us under. Both kids are happy, confident and comfortable in the water now, and can hold their bodies up with only minimal assistance from us, which in turn makes us a lot more relaxed too. Rocket bounces up to me after a trip to shore with her father and can’t wait to share with me how she was using her arms and kicking her legs in the water – it’s a triumph and sense of pride that makes her beam.
So it’ll only be a matter of time until they’re both swimming circles round us and I couldn’t be more proud of either of them.
