Swimming holidays are the ultimate in slow travel – and since the pandemic, they've become more popular than ever.

The pale-blue copper domes of the church of Our Lady of the Rock were easy to spot as we swam across the Bay of Kotor from the picturesque fishing village of Dražin Vrt. So too were shoals of Adriatic fish: sardines, mackerel and sprats, as well as sea anemones and urchins. The water was crystal clear and almost Caribbean blue; and when my head was not in the water, the landscape was panoramic mountains. 

This delightful experience was the first day of a swimming holiday in and around the Montenegro fjords. It was not a vacation that involved lying on a beach and taking the occasional dip in the sea, but one where we travelled by swimming in a group while a boat transported our gear from place to place. A swimming holiday is the ultimate in slow travel, moving through the water from island to island and cove to cove, stopping for lunch in a historic town or tiny fishing village before returning to the sea to meander further around the coastline. 

For a while, it seemed that no matter how far we swam, the church sitting in the middle of the bay on a rocky promontory was not getting any closer. The swim itself was rewarding, through clear, warm waters surrounded by jagged mountains, but the goal was the islet where, according to legend, local seamen found an icon of the Madonna and Child on a rock. They then swore that after each safe journey they would add another rock until the landmass gradually emerged from the sea, crowned by a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

Suddenly it hove into near view and within minutes we were climbing out of the water, attracting strange glances from a wedding party gathered outside. The crew on our safety boat passed us towels and clothes, enabling us to cover up so we could enter and admire the ornately painted interior. Most people arrive by boat to this popular tourist destination, but swimming all the way there gave me some sense of the relief those fishermen must have felt when they returned home safely.

The church of Our Lady of the Rock is nestled on a small, man-made islet in the tranquil waters of Kotor Bay, Montenegro (Credit: Lizzie Enfield)

"Swimming gives you a unique eye-view on the world because you are seeing it from ground or sea level," says Ella Foote, editor of Outdoor Swimmer Magazine and author of the book How to Wild Swim. "But it's also that so much of the world developed around a body of water. Most major towns and cities grew up around rivers or alongside the coast, especially when water was the main method of transportation. In the modern world we have lost what was an all-important connection with water and it's fascinating to rediscover it and approach a new place from the water that surrounds or runs through it." 

Our group (we wonder, should the collective noun be "a goggle"?) was made up of 15 swimmers, drawn from around the globe and ranging in age from 20 to 60-something. In common was a love of swimming. though our abilities differed from reasonably competent pool swimmers to open water veterans and seasoned triathletes.