Ben,
Give Swimtrek a go, I've been on half a dozen of their trips and they are a lot of fun. They are always well organized and having the guide boats with you the whole time means you are not obligated to swimming the whole day. The average swim length varies on each trip - you can find out more details on their website for each one - but I've been on trips where relative beginners (only ever swam 500m in a pool types) to national champions (10Km in 2.5 hours) have all swam on the same trip and the way they organize the disparity of speeds means you are never on your own or struggling to keep up.
I really enjoyed Croatia - calm seas, warm weather. Sardinia was fun to (a bit windy at times) but very varied in the type of swim - island to island, boat to boat, round the island. I haven't done greece - what put me off was the constant changing of hotels, some people like that, but I find that a chore. However that does mean you get a lot of variety. I have a freind who has done the British Virgin Islands 4 times now! That one is a bit pricey for me (and a lot of flying) but she says it is the best one. I'd also consider the one-off hellespont race and tag a long weekend in Istanbul. That;s a great experience (again you can do it if you can swim 2km) and as it is very hard to get invited into what is effectively a race - but also more of a gathering - Swimtrek is the only way to experience that.
James
PS I don't work for them ;)
________________________________________ From: ossoxon-bounces@earth.li [ossoxon-bounces@earth.li] on behalf of Ben Waters [ben.waters2@gmail.com] Sent: 31 May 2011 23:35 To: OSSOxon@earth.li Subject: [OSS Oxon] Swimming in warm places
Dear swimmers, i am fairly new to this list and enjoy reading what you do here, swim all over places. I moved from NW Canada for work and would like to go around Europe while here in UK. I've seen you also do swimming trips to many EU destinations and i wonder if someone could recommend where to go (warm places). I am not a great swimmer but i can swim a km or two in one Go. I see firms swim trek and strels are offering trips down in croatia, italy, greece. Any advise on this would be greatly appreciated. Hope to join you in the water soon. Thank you, Ben