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Jim Bell to swim around island of Saipan
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Posted on Jun 25 2008
Emboldened by his successful swim across the Tinian channel two weeks ago, 70-year-old Jim Bell is back on Saipan, this time to swim around the island.
Bell said he will swim the circumference of Saipan in preparation for his swim in the treacherous waters of the Torres Straits.
Although he has not decided on a date yet, Bell plans to start and end the Saipan swim at Sugar Dock, swimming around the island in a clockwise fashion.
“I will start out with fairly short distances and then go to greater distances to increase my endurance and sun exposure time. I will probably swim outside the reef, coming into channels and bays and swimming around Managaha Island, but will not swim the shoreline inside the lagoon,” he outlined his plan.
He said he might also do the shoreline inside the lagoon after he completes the swim around the island.
On June 9, 2008, Bell celebrated his 70th birthday swimming the five-mile channel between Saipan and Tinian. Bell made the crossing alone, with little knowledge about the current and with now escort monitoring his progress.
He left Tinian at 6am and landed on the beach of Coral Ocean Point Resort in Koblerville at 10:30am, completing the swim in four and a half hours. He had expected the crossing to take eight hours.
It was a feat he last achieved in July 1981, when he marked his retirement from the U.S. Navy by swimming alone from Saipan to Tinian. That previous effort took 12 hours.
His next goal is to cross the Torres Strait from Papua New Guinea to the Australian mainland.
