Swimming From Panama to Nicaragua – Now in Esterillos Oeste, Costa Rica.

Long distance swimmer Renate Herberger, on her quest to swim the entire Pacific coast of Costa Rica reached Esterillos Oeste this past week.

Herberger started her swim on February 1st just across the Panama border near Punta Burica, and once completed will encompass more than 1000 kilometers. The purpose of her swim is to promote gentler practices in the sea and raise awareness of the need to protect our oceans.

Renate hopes to promote new marine sanctuaries to help preserve many of the threatened species within our oceans. Renate is a German National living in British Columbia, Canada.

She first got the inspiration for the swim when she was in Golfito looking across the Golfo Dulce. She said to herself “I want to do that”. 48 hours later she completed the 22 km swim in 9 hours.

There is a two fold purpose for her love of swimming long distances though. Two years ago she suffered a massive thrombosis. A thrombosis is a clot that can form in any blood vessel. It can occur in either a vein or a major artery.

The thrombosis that Renate suffered was in her left leg and affected two major veins which cut off a majority of the circulation to the leg. The weightlessness she experiences while in the water relieves the almost constant pain from the condition.

Many people die shortly after suffering the condition because the part of the body affected will deteriorate in a very short time. Renate wears a special stocking specifically designed for the condition, but her real relief comes from her swimming.

Her goal was not to set any records, but she shared that as far as she knows she has already broken the women’s world record for open ocean distance having completed more than 500 kilometers to date.

Renate starts her day meeting up with her support boat around 6:00 am each morning. She marks her starting and ending position with a portable GPS system. Her goal is to swim for approximately 8 hours each day, taking only short breaks for water or her favorite chocolate milk, and then a one hour break for lunch on the boat.

On Friday, March 21st Renate was joined by Costa Rica National long distance swimmer Ana Lucía González García to swim with her for the day. Anna Lucia will be traveling to Australia in April to compete in a long distance race there.

I had the honor and pleasure of joining Renate and Ana Lucia for the day on Friday. I had the opportunity to swim with the two of them for about an hour and half. It was an awesome experience swimming in the open ocean several miles off shore. I was surprised to see how much more blue and clear the water is when you get that far away from the coast line.

Twice we saw 4 or 5 dolphins swimming near by and at one point 3 playfully circled Ana Lucia for several minutes, diving under her and swimming around her through the water.

Herberger started her adventure with someone who had agreed to manage things along the journey but that support has fallen away. Due to this she has had to take over raising support, arranging accommodations at each stop, and arranging to have a support boat each day for her swim.

This has brought about many unplanned delays which means she will be unable to complete the entire swim from border to border. No matter where she is at the time, she must stop her swim on April 7th. She will return to her normal life in Canada at that time.

She could return at some point in the future and continue the swim from the same position she left off and technically consider the entire swim completed. Renate however hopes to get a sponsor in the near future for the entire 2 to 3 months it would take to repeat the swim from start to finish.

One of the support boat persons she has had along the way said they would commit to the entire swim if she was able to get a sponsor. Rentate estimates it would take between $10,000 and $15,000 to fund the entire event. Her goal was to teach work shops along the way at each of her stops and she would be able to do that with good planning from the start.

If anyone is interested in helping with financial support or offering accommodations along her journey, or support for her subsequent swim to complete it again from start to finish you can e-mail Renate at renate_herberger@yahoo.com

Renate also has a website with a short bio, pictures and a journal she will be updating soon. Her web site is www.CostaRicaMermaid.com

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Andrew Makarik

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Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.