In June 2025, I travelled to Nice to participate in UNOC events – the Ocean Conference.
I took advantage of a break and convinced my husband to join me for an open water training session, in a very calm sea, with the goal of swimming peacefully, sticking to the plan, and coming back with that satisfying sense of mission accomplished.
We took a short detour and decided to swim towards a small rocky outcrop to see if we could spot some marine life… but by pure bad luck, we ended up swimming straight into the most restricted area of the UNOC event, exactly where the senior leaders of European countries were gathered.
While I was counting strokes and breathing to the side, on the other side there were high-level meetings, maximum security, and zero tolerance for adventurous swimmers straying off course.
Suddenly, we found ourselves at the center of attention we never asked for. Within seconds, security forces appeared — fast boats with armed soldiers, extremely efficient, very serious… and there we were, in swim caps and goggles, trying to look as harmless as possible. Our training session officially turned into a water escort operation.
Fomos acompanhados com todo o cuidado até fora da zona sensível, num momento digno de filme — só que sem música épica e com mais vergonha alheia.
O susto inicial deu rapidamente lugar à gargalhada interna: quem é que pode dizer que foi “escoltada” durante um treino de natação?
Conclusão: não interrompemos nenhuma cimeira internacional, nem demos origem a nenhuma crise diplomática, mas saimos com uma história brilhante para contar.
Just a regular swim? Far from it.
A completely unexpected adventure? Absolutely.
Lesson learned: in open water, you definitely want to know your direction — especially when the whole of Europe is meeting right beside you.
Maria Sá