Jono Ridler describes Ahuriri’s pristine waters

Swimmer Jono Ridler is making his way down the coast as part of his ambitious Swim4TheOcean challenge, an incredible journey raising awareness for ocean health. He stopped off in Ahuriri along the way and locals were thrilled to come together and give him a huge Hawke’s Bay welcome.

Catch the reel as he stopped off here: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1956354954952061

Jono said Hawke’s Bay showed up for him, with one of the biggest crowds he’d had so far.

During Jono’s time stopping in Ahuriri and swimming through the Hawke’s Bay, he describes the pristine waters he enjoyed, and classed it as some of the healthiest water he had swam through along the way.

His journey here was also enriched with plenty of spectacular encounters with marine life. He described swimming alongside around a dozen small pods of dolphins who were playfully intrigued to interact with him on separate occasions, making for many a “really special moment, being able to see these amazing animals in their natural environment”.

Other marine life included huge Lion’s Mane Jellyfish and giant Mollymawk birds.

Jono commented on the clarity through Hawke’s Bay’s waters - with “unreal” 30m water visibility during his swim.

He also achieved an incredible milestone while he was here - hitting 1,000km of free swimming. He swims without the aid of a wetsuit or any other equipment - what a feat!

Jono says: “That’s only possible through doing hard things, doing what we need to do every single day… allowing those small wins to stack on top of each other has allowed us to get to this big win that we’ve got now at 1,000km.”

Catch the episode when Jono heads through Hawke’s Bay here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHGmMiR5gM0

Don’t forget to add your signature to the petition here: swim4theocean.org