Hawaii Swim Retreat Itinerary 2025

Meeting point:  The Courtyard King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel

Start Time:  9.00am on Sunday 23 March 2025

Finish Time: 11.00am on Thursday 27 March 2025

DAY ONE.

We meet at the hotel pool to do a welcome meeting and safety briefing.  Following this we will do some videoing and analysis and talk with you about your goals for the retreat. Then we start our technique work and finding the keys to unlocking your technique improvements.

In the afternoon we will do an an orientation swim off Kailua Pier (just adjacent to the hotel).

DAY TWO.

Today we build on our technique “cues” from Day 1. We spend time in the lagoon and the Pier working on cues to enhance our swimming.

In the afternoon we meet at the Hotel Lagoon and spend the morning working on Swim Mastery technique cues and drills.  We then take these learnings to the open water off Kailua Pier to fine tune our technique and explore more of the Ironman circuit.

There is the option to go snorkelling with Manta Rays this evening. Some of these Rays are as large as 5 metres and this is the only place on the planet that you can snorkel with Mantas at night. There is an additional cost for this activity and we have negotiated a substantial discount with our boat charter company if you wish to join this public tour.

DAY THREE.

Our swimming adventure today heads south along beautiful Kona coast and eventually ends up in Keawekaheka Bay which has one of the most beautiful reefs.  There is a monument here on the spot where Captain Cook fell in 1770.

After some relaxing time to hydrate and explore the area we swim across Kealakua Bay to see if we can spot any of the local Manta Rays. 

This afternoon is a leisure afternoon.  You may want to explore more of the Big Island and visit…

  • Puuhonua o Honaunau National Park

  • A Kona Coffee Farm

  • Kayak or paddle board around the bay

Or you may choose to rest up before we tackle the Kona Ironman swim circuit on Wednesday.

DAY FOUR.

This morning we undertake the Kona Ironman swim circuit. The Ironman circuit is 3.86km in total but there are swim buoys at varying distances along this circuit so you don’t need to do the entire swim. You choose the distance you want to swim and we put the technique and video learnings into practice. Members of our crew have encountered pods of spinner dolphins numerous times before on this swim. Let’s keep our fingers crossed they come out to play when we are swimming!

Depending on how we feel after the Kona circuit swim we will have some optional swimming adventures available for the afternoon.

We meet this evening for our Celebratory dinner.

DAY FIVE.

After a full week we venture out for a final relaxing swim together to share our takeaways for the week and what we will put into practice when we return to “reality”.

We finish our camp late morning with a discussion about your highlights, your achievements, your learnings and how you will integrate these techniques into your routine when you return home. We provide you with copies of your videos and some cheat sheets on how to keep progressing with your technique practices.