![seven seas seven seas](https://cdn.audleytravel.com/1050/%7Bheight%7D/79/15971953-regent-seven-seas-mariner.jpg)
![seven seas seven seas](https://cruisepassenger.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/unnamed.jpg)
Lewis Pugh swimming in the Adriatic Sea, photo by Kevin Troutman. “It was clear to me that people from across the spectrum share a passion for protecting our oceans” Lewis said. In the Red Sea, the King of Jordan lent Lewis his boat while the Navy escorted forty children who came to swim with Lewis. At Zadar in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea the local mayor was there and many school children plunged into the water with Lewis. Lewis started the swim at Lavrotto Beach in Monte Carlo, in the Mediterranean Sea, where he was met by well-known ocean advocate HSH Prince Albert of Monaco. Lewis Pugh is greeted by HSH Prince Albert of Monaco after completing the first of seven swims. When we damage the environment we exacerbate this, but when we protect the environment we foster peace.” This thought would stay with Lewis as he swam. Lewis recalls that “Desmond Tutu came to see me off and he said to me the root cause of so many of the conflicts which I have seen is one thing, and that is the lack of resources. Lewis went to emphasize the need to protect the ocean for the future, but sea by sea Lewis’s opinion changed and he formulated a different and much more urgent message.Īt the start of the mission Archbishop Desmond Tutu met Lewis in South Africa.
![seven seas seven seas](https://s.krfb.de/library/original/voyager-064.9h9sccwq.jpg)
But he wasn’t talking about the swimming, he was talking about the mission. He quietly said “It was much harder than I thought”, which was a surprising admission from this world-renowned endurance swimmer. We spoke to him just four days after he had completed the mission. Lewis set out to complete the first long distance swim in all the Seven Seas, the Mediterranean, the Adriatic, the Aegean, the Black, the Red, the Arabian and finally the North Sea. He is the United Nation’s Patron of the Ocean, and the goal of the challenge was to highlight the need for more Marine Protected Areas in order to conserve the ocean for future generations.Įndurance swimmer Lewis Pugh, Photo by Kevin Troutman. In August this year the Foundation teamed up with endurance swimmer Lewis Pugh to complete seven long-distance swims in under a month.