Simon Zammit is about to turn 60 but, on Monday, he swam for 10 hours, 37km round Gozo, in the hope that others start to appreciate the beauty of the sea.

Zammit was participating in the Ocean Festival, launched and led by renowned ultra-distance swimmer Neil Agius to promote open-water swimming and foster a sense of community among swimmers of all levels.

Personally, he cannot fathom why people do not swim in the sea year-round when it is so readily available and is “all ours” before the summer kicks in.

“I have seen a hell of a lot of changes in Malta over the last 60 years. But the only thing that has not changed is the sea,” Zammit says about his constant love for it.

The tired master advanced swimmer, whose shoulders are still aching from 20,000 strokes and whose mouth is sore and swollen from swallowing strongly saline water, told Times of Malta about his surprise that “we do not appreciate what we have”.

He is one of a like-minded community of only around 30 avid swimmers who religiously dive into the surrounding waters at the break of dawn throughout the year, come rain or shine, flushing out negativity and fuelling up with feel-good vibes.

“We are constantly complaining, and rightly so, about the construction and the traffic – a problem we are part of.

“We look at the negatives and think of the jellyfish in the water. People are scared and feel safer swimming in a pool,” Zammit says, fishing out the pros of open-water swimming in Malta.

“We do not realise how lucky we are. Ġnejna, Fomm ir-Riħ, Għar Lapsi – they are all beautiful places and all 15 minutes away from home.” Zammit himself is undeterred by the sea and the creatures that live in it because he harbours a deep respect for both.

“The sea is never the same,” he acknowledges, pointing out that, while the conditions were good for the round-Gozo swim, 24 hours later it would not have been doable.

“It is a beast, and when you go in, you are just a dot in the ocean…,” he says in awe.

But asked if he was scared as he circumnavigated the island, he answers: “Why should I be?”

Zammit acknowledges he is “merely a human being in the sea, which is not my place, really.

“But I do not worry about the jellyfish. What do you expect? They are creatures of the sea. I cannot complain about them. It is their home,” he says, pointing out his skin is full of scars. “Some heal, some do not. I move on…”

Zammit chooses to focus on the positives and cannot understand why people travel abroad when they can find it all here.

“I do not need to travel to enjoy what I do because it is on my doorstep. I can do it when I want.”

He also fails to understand how the beaches in March are empty when they should be packed with kids.

“If you look at the sea on a beautiful spring morning walk, you do not see anyone. Everyone is in traffic. That is where they are!

“We live with patterns: December is for Christmas; summer, when it is hot, sticky and full of people, is for swimming…”

In the zone

Zammit had already swum round Gozo in 2011, when he set up a charity in aid of guide dogs for the blind.

A year after, he did not manage to complete the challenge. “My body was not fit enough,” he said. Now, 12 years later, with his 60th birthday on the horizon and feeling like he still had “unfinished business”, when his good friend Agius told him about the Ocean Festival, he felt the time was right.

Zammit embarked on a 10-week programme that saw him swimming at the Neptunes pool every weekday morning from 5.30 to 8am, together with sea swims at the weekends.

Swimmers underwent rigorous training, including mindset training and professional insights provided by Agius himself.

“Technology today tells us what we need to do. I had clocked 135km of swimming and I was well prepared.”

Monday’s event included a solo swim, a significant endurance test, where athletes tackled the entire distance individually within a 15-hour time limit, and a team swim, which allowed participants to share the effort across the course.

One of 11 solo swimmers, Zammit set off from Ħondoq ir-Rummien at 4am and swam clockwise until 2.30pm.

Although he arrived first, he insists the timing is irrelevant. It was not a race and he just got a T-shirt at the end.

Throughout, he was supported by a great team of friends: “All I had to do was swim. They would stop me every 45 minutes to give me whatever I needed, including mouth wash and energy bars that are not the most enjoyable in those circumstances.”

Surrounded by the beauty of nature and Gozo’s sheer cliffs, it felt never-ending but so majestic – “you feel so small”. Until he hit Marsalforn and it was a “culture shock”.

Zammit is a low-key person, who was not expecting to be inundated with such positive feedback after finishing the swim.

“I just went to swim, like I normally do,” he said about his state of mind, although it was “much bigger than that” and he did curse the moment he decided to take this on when the sea got rougher in the end.

‘Salt in my veins’

While he did not set out to inspire anyone, he is aware that there would be people out there who would have watched what he did and could be motivated by the fact that he is 60 and still at it.

Zammit is followed by the community of open-water swimmers of various levels, whom he encourages, and who, like him, are now hooked on the sport, which has become a way of life.

The first time may not be easy but those who have done so have slowly become “addicted” like he is.

It all started when he was 13, and his mother asked his brother to get him out of the house. Zammit lived in Sliema and his brother took him down to Neptunes. He has never looked back since and claims he has “salt in my veins”.

As the vice-president of the Malta Paralympic Committee, Zammit does not only promote swimming but sports in general in a country whose population is “very lazy and does not enjoy it that much”.

The health and fitness aspects are only a byproduct of sports, he maintains. It is primarily mental; about helping people who always do the same thing to get out of their comfort zone.

“You need to try to really understand,” he says. “You do not need to swim round Gozo. We are always there. It is up to you. It is just a matter of will.

“The sea gives me a lot. It gives me pleasure and happiness. It is everything that is good. There is nothing bad about it.

“The sea has always been the place where I have found and enjoyed myself, and I want to enjoy it with others.”