In the last week I’ve had three very different swimming experiences, all of them, luckily for me, pretty special. And all of them adding to my general happiness that I’ve finally returned, after too long a hiatus, to something I love doing so much, something that feels as natural as breathing to me, that I’ve loved since first learning when I was young.

And I’m not doing this by halves. First step to jumping back in, literally, is signing up to take part in a ocean swim in Sydney Harbour to raise money for the Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife.

Small note, the swim is a nude swim, called the Sydney Skinny.

It wasn’t actually an event for the everyday nudist but for those of us who don’t generally take their kit off in public. Although there certainly were some of those in the crowd, they definitely weren’t the majority.

And once everyone else around you has no clothes on you realise it’s makes no difference if you do or not. In fact it makes more sense to blend in and get naked too.

It was a beautiful intro to ocean swimming. There was a guitarist you could hear as you swam, and being able to swim out from shore and just keep going, and to look back at the tree-lined harbour, felt like being removed from real life but intensely part of it at the same time.

The morning before this we thought it would be a good idea to do some laps in preparation, just to make sure we could actually make it. En route to the pool the skies opened and bucketed down half the harbour on us. By the time we got there we looked like we’d already jumped in, fully clothed. Everything was drenched.

The upsides of the pouring rain were, the pool was half empty, the water was warmer than we were and diving under water and watching the drops of rain splashing above us was like looking through an upside down window onto another universe.

My third and latest swimming experience was at an ungodly hour on Wednesday morning down at Bronte beach pool. Definitely worth the lost sleep-in – the rain clouds cleared away just as we arrived and the sun was making its first show of the day, pretty spectacular show too. Perhaps the nicest way to start a work day.

Have now committed myself to embracing the sea as often as possible. Although I’ll probably be in cossies from now on.

Maybe.