CURRENT MISSION

swimming the warm coasts of the world for Marine Sanctuaries!

ABOUT ME

I am 68 years old, and for the last 16 years I have become a passionate swimmer for causes. Just a few days ago,on the day before the worldwide pandemic was declared, on March 10th, 2020, I returned from my 13. expedition for marine sanctuaries. Well, this year, 2023, I returned on March 22nd, and thankfully, the pandemic is considered over in most countries of the world! Currently, my swims are standing now at altogether 8,765 kilometers, swum in published open ocean swims for marine sanctuaries!!!
Long before that, my last big project was a seventh 1000 km swim all along the entire Costa Rica coast , starting Jan. 2, 2014! I was in the water for 3 months, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week!
This has brought the total mileage of my swims to 8,690km in all, in 16 expeditions spanning Costa Rica, Mexico, Canada, Italy and Barbados.
In 2008, I completed the first attempt at this, and was able to swim 749 km, from Panama to almost the Nicaraguan border, for shark awareness and their plight as the most hunted animal on earth. The second time, I swam 876 km along the same coast, including a few segments I missed the first time. The third time which ended in late March 2010, I managed to swim 1011 km, finally making it to that other border! This brought my swims, including a 404 km swim from La Paz to Cabo San Lucas in Baja, Mexico, to a sum total of 3040 km by March 13, 2010, a world record in long distance in the open ocean in 4 swims!
My main goal in all of this is to promote Marine Sanctuaries and protection of marine species in danger of extinction, like sharks and turtles.
As a result of now 16 years of educational work in Mexico and Costa Rica, about 7 year ago, Costa Rica became the first country in the world to officially ban shrimp trawling!
I'm incredibly proud of every student who promised to boycott eating shrimp until sustainable methods of harvesting them had been found.
So one person really can make a huge difference!
I especially welcome environmental and marine activists into my home, so we can inspire each other, and give each other courage!

I love to dance and have taught African Dance for 2 decades.

I am a nonsmoker, pacifist, quiet and meditative person and love intense warm human interactions!

PHILOSOPHY

Be love and be loved. I am really a mermaid in disguise, and my whole life is dedicated now to the preservation of marine life...

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I plan to couch surf in Germany, then perhaps in Costa Rica! I live in a beautiful big forest in Canada, and look forward to having people come stay with me, too! Sometimes I even have a spare room! (when it is not rented out!) I have a hot tub outside, and live in absolute tranquility that I like to share! I prefer to host couchsurfers who stay at least 2 or better yet, 3 nights, so it is more about creating friendship than just a free place to crash.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have stayed with strangers and friends on all my trips so far, and loved it! I also have had complete strangers in my home who ended up staying a week and creating the most beautiful garden for me...
I often give healing treatments to the people who put me up, in thanks, and love to receive similar gifts from my visitors, if they are trained in any healing modality!
I love it if my couchsurfing guests participate in daily life, and help with meal prep. and whatever else comes up at the time!
I have couchsurfed in Israel, Portugal, Germany, Italy, US, Iceland, Mexico and Canada so far.

Interests

swimming, skiing, hiking, meditating, classical and folk music, scuba diving, riding horses, environmental events and volunteering, reading marine conservation books

Music, Movies, and Books

Black Orpheus, Swimming to Antarctica, Grayson, The little Prince, les enfants du paradis, "getting the love you want" by Harville Hendrix, "into thin air" by Jon Krakauer, all compositions by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms, "Spem in Alium" by THOMAS TALLIS, "Stabat Mater" by Pergolesi, Orfeo y Euridice by Gluck, "Remember me" by Henry Purcell,
"Sea Change" and "The World is Blue" by Sylvia Earle,
"Seasick" by Alanna Mitchell,
"Oceana" by Ted Danson, all the books by the Canadian author Guy Dauncy,
"when the moon is low" by Nadia Hashimi,
"the global Forest" by Diana Beresford Kroeger, "the weather makers" by Tim Flannery, "the Red Tent" by Anita Diamant, "in the Realm of Hungry Ghosts" by Dr. Gabor Mate, "Seven Fallen Feathers" by Tanya Talaga, "the same River twice" by Alice Walker

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

swim 22 km across the Golfo Dulce in Costa Rica, solo, in 9 hours, my swims along the Costa Rican Pacific coast for 6888 km ! Playing with dolphins along that swim, and huge manta rays! Swimming with a mama humpback whale and her baby for a whole day in Mexico!

Teach, Learn, Share

Languages, philosophy, music, swimming!
Suicide prevention

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, France, Gambia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Haiti, Italy, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Russian Federation, Senegal, Switzerland, Togo, United States, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, Germany

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