One of the highlights of the day started bright and early in the morning. In fact, the staff had to get one of the attendees (the lucky staff member who probably drew the short straw) out of bed to participate, much to his chagrin, I’m sure. “Swim” might be a little deceptive because there wasn’t very much swimming to it, just sludge. I know what you’re wondering, “What the heck is a Sludge Swim.” Probably exactly what you are thinking. The premise was pretty straight forward; get wet, get muddy, come up in the sand and drop and roll. Stand up! The results are pretty much as expected. It started at the break of day, even before flag ceremony and breakfast. Not a good start to any day, I know.
We met the lifeguards on the beach and waited for the poor staff member selected to accompany our scouts on this swim, to be rousted out of bed. As we waited the lifeguards gave us a small introduction to the sludge swim event. The first step was to get wet, so the boys doffed their shirts, well most of them, and waded out into the cold water. 
After getting wet they waded ashore and lined up. The next step involves getting the base coat of sand attached, so they dropped and rolled around to get a good layer of sand before going back in the water to add a layer of bottom muck to the coating of sand already there. They waded back to shore just to drop and roll again. Need a good layer of sludge to get this right.
All in all the boys had fun, an invigorating start to there morning and a great beginning to the rest of the week at Fiesta Island Camp, in San Diego, CA.
As Always, Be Prepared!
