Lake Michigan: The Deadliest Great Lake 

This is so true! My husband drowned in Lake Michigan, in New Buffalo, a mile from shore, swimming from our boat over to a friend's boat just maybe 30' away. The undertow pulled him under and when his friend realized what was happening it was too late. That lake didn't give him up for 7 days. Funny thing was, my husband always said, when he died he wanted his ashes sprinkled in Lake MI. I said the lake had him long enough. His urn has a beautiful water scene with seagulls and a lighthouse.

I was born in Chicago and used to go to the beaches all the time during the summer. One time when I was at a beach north of Foster Avenue in 1961 or 1962 I was swimming in water over my head and away from the crowd when I encountered what I later learned was an undertow. I was only about 10 years old but I was a strong swimmer but I exhausted myself trying to fight to get to the surface. When I realized that my struggles were in vain and that nobody had heard me I got calm and accepted the fact that I was going to open my mouth, inhale water and die. The thing that was the saddest for me was that I would never get to see my mom and the other children again. Just in time a pair of strong arms pulled me out of the water and brought me to the sand. I wish I could thank that lifeguard today.

Wow. My nephew, Brandon Chambers, drowned due to a riptide in Lake Michigan 2 weeks before this video was posted. He was 18 years old, had just graduated from high school, and was celebrating Labor Day weekend at the beach with his friends... We miss you Brandon. 💔

I was a U.S. Marine that was Water Survival Qualified. Surviving in rough fresh water is many more times more difficult than salt water. In salt water you can literally do nothing but lean back and relax and you can float all day. It’s much more difficult in fresh water because the water provides much less buoyancy. In rough fresh water it maybe impossible unless you are young, well trained and in great condition.

As a kid it was always fun but dangerous to see how far out you could go...glad I never went too far out.

Respect the Lake. I live on this lake and have my whole life. If I can say anything about it....respect it. Pay attention to warnings and listen to a weather radio. Stay out when the flags are flying that say to. Most people here drown because they ignore the posted warnings.

After losing my father to this lake in a rip tide, I want to thank you for warning other people. I agree. We need more lifeguards. Thank you for telling us how to float our way out of these currents.

I hope we incorporate this video to local schools, so we can teach our kids how to be safer.

I live in Manistique, Michigan in the Upper Peninsula. Less than two blocks from where I live, is the Manistique boardwalk. Despite tons of warning signs, as well as locals like myself, informing tourists how dangerous swimming is by our lighthouse pier, people STILL swim there all of the time. We have had numerous drownings there. No locals ever swim there. I just wish the tourists would listen.

Thank you and thank you to the families that participated in this film. My heart breaks for you.

I learned how to swim in lake Michigan. Every weekend, my family camped on the lake shore. As a child you cant possibly understand the risks. As an adult i am on edge when my children are thoughtlessly and fearlessly playing in lake Michigan.

Living near Lake michigan almost my whole life, ive always been taught that if you get pulled out by the undertow to just let it take you. Don't use all of your energy trying to get out of something that is impossible even for the best swimmer. Lake michigan is absolutely BEAUTIFUL but extremely deadly.

i was 6 and i nearly drowned right off of silver beach, this grown man realizing i was drowning ran into the water and saved me and i wonder about him to this day

Remember that one of the biggest reasons half of Great Lakes drowning is from Lake Michigan, is cause nearly half of all Great Lake tourism is to Lake Michigan.

When she said they slept on the beach that night so he wouldn't be by himself! That broke my heart!😣

I am from New York, I use to get deployed to a base in Wisconsin for training, thought that lake was the ocean,,, water was rough!!

Iam born and raised in Grand Haven, in my 54 years living here, I have saved 5 people in these Waters, I know how they work, I know the conditions,, dangerous times are after 3pm when the surf builds it's power..

I’m glad a survivor was willing to talk about his NDE on the Great Lakes. People, particularly tourists don’t actually realize how dangerous the Great Lakes actually are. They are called lakes, but they have the strength of a sea.

I'm very sorry for the families who have lost loved ones to these inland seas. As a rare midwest surfer, I know first hand how dangerous these lakes can be. I spent a decade surfing in the Oceans and then moved back home to MN to be with family. I only then discovered surf on the great lakes. It's amazingly different to the Ocean. Wave periods are very short. Currents are crazy strong(like the Oceans) and you're less buoyant because there is no salt. Also, on my lake (Superior) it's colder than most places people surf And the waves can get up to 25 feet!

I've lived a mile from Pere Marquette Beachfor 20 years and every time I hear sirens going to there my heart breaks...

Not surprising that Lake Michigan has more drownings ever year than the other lakes. Given that its shorelines run parallel to each other, this cause some unique wave features you dont find on the other lakes.

To all the families who lost a loved one in the Great Lakes I'm so sorry for your loss !

I got stuck in a rip current during a spring break trip to Cancun back in college. I had no idea what was going on, I thought I was going to drown. A lifeguard saved my life by yelling out that I should swim with the current. I safely got on land just by following the current. Lifeguards are very necessary because a lot of people don't know what they're doing in the water.

hey fellow michigander here and yes this lake is dangerous my brother lost a friend to the undertow at the frankfort pier when we were kids it was terrible it affected him in a unspoken way i just want to send my condolences to all who lost someone to the lake you and yours will be in my thoughts for awhile

In the early 1960s, I had just moved from Muskegon to Grand Rapids with my family. I was 9. My best friend, Robin Moore had a swimming birthday party that summer at Norton Shores. Along with her were our old next-door neighbor, Karen Gay, and a girl we went to school with, Pam Rupnow. All girls between 9 and 11, and all lost that day in a rip tide. I didn't go, because my mom thought it was too far to travel. I can still remember getting this deviating news. I haven't lived in that area for many years, but still think of it as home.

It is critical to warn people about the main reason why it's easier to drown on lakes than oceans. The reason why it's easier to swim in sea water is because of its density. Sea water is denser than the fresh water because of the salt content, temperature and other stuff. That's the reason why people find it harder to stay afloat in a swim.

Grand Haven, August 5,2018....I was caught in a rip current 200' south of the pier. I was lucky, I spent 8 days in the ICU . I was one of 3 that were rescued and brought to the ER, I was the only one who survived. Several people were responsible for saving me. So "tall-thin guy" and " mountain man"....if you are out there, thank you.

For those wondering why Lake Michigan is the deadliest, it’s because of the warm waters welcoming all along the extensive shoreline of Michigan’s lower peninsula. No one wants to swim in a cold lake like Superior (hypothermia). Also, the common west wind pushes the warmer waters to the Michigan shoreline and are amazing especially in the hottest times of summer (July and August). So very sorry for those who have lost loved ones to her (and to all the lakes). I have also experienced her under tow and it is terrifying. The Great Lakes demand respect. The summer waves lull you into a false sense of security. When the witch begins stirring her cauldron in October and November and the gales come, you see her power with new eyes. No way would you get me out there then.

My Best friend drowned here at Pere Marquette Beach in 2004, he was 18, we swam that labor day weekend , there were warning signs all over But we ignored because were were tourists from California and surfers, from the shore we both swam about 200 yards, when i dint see him i panicked , i thought he swam back to the shore, There were lots of wonderful folks looking for my friend , Found his body next day . I miss my buddy very much.

I grew up on the eastern shores of Lake Michigan in Holland, Grand Haven, and Ludington. Used to jump waves on red flag days with my parents, jump off the Holland pier as a high schooler and swim to shore, etc. I was a very strong swimmer, but when the Lake decides she wants you, that doesn't matter much. I'm thankful as an adult to have lived through my bad decisions as a teenager, not really understanding what I was messing with when I tempted the worst case scenario in those deceptively charming, sparkling blue waters.

Thank you for spreading more awareness on the dangers of swimming in Lake Michigan, we have an undoubtedly huge lack of prevention to unknowing visitors, and without lifeguards it leaves only the local fire departments and their water rescue training to be dispatched via boat ramp. Just recently my township had to fight to keep it’s only boat ramp for miles, the funding is a huge issue, but so is awareness in general. The amount of tourism is overpowering in the summer and on the parks as well as staffing at the parks. It’s an underfunded death trap to those who don’t know how to survive a rip current or know what an undertow is. I’ve lived here all my 21 years of life and when I hear dispatch tone out my township it’s by far the fastest they move all year, knowing how crucial time is to the survival of whoever is stuck way out there. My school district even had mandatory swim lessons in our highschools pool so we could understand how to handle not exhausting ourselves in water, how to preserve our body temperature and float the right way with life jackets. It’s a privilege around here to even have a community swimming pool let alone that kind of prevention be taught. Yet we still lose locals and visitors every year at a heartbreaking rate, we could be doing so much more to prevent these deaths with lifeguards, more boat ramps for faster response time, and more education on rip currents and other dangers to everyone who enters a park or has access to the lake. Yet we still have the bare minimum. Basically the only warning they’ll get is a colored flag on a pole and the rest is up to chance that they’ll read a sign and if something happens that another civilian will notice a struggle in the water or hear a scream for help and call 911 or if they’re lucky and at a non busy park (which is nearly unheard of during the summer unless it’s a private beach) the staff will just somehow notice. Even with bodies washing up on the shores occasionally, some even all the way from chicago who’ve been missing, we still don’t have the safety in place that the public deserves along with our first responders who are at the very forefront of not having what they need to save the people that need them, not having it to begin with, and having it taken away due to a cruel budget. My heart goes out to every person and family who’s ever been affected by this pain and feel like they’re unheard. We hear you and we’re fighting along side you to get what safety all communities deserve. 💔

This is why you swim with friends. You are responsible for your own safety. Education is necessary but up to you.

I'm a huge believer in personal responsibility, but having lifeguards at public beaches is just common sense. I've never been a LG, but was blessed to have been at the right place, at the right time, to help save 3 different people from drowning. Unfortunately a lifeguard was present in only one of the incidents. It was in Daytona Beach, FL and I gave the drowning man the boogie board I was using to help him float. What was amazing to me though, was how fast the lifeguard got out to us! I didn't even have to signal him, he saw what was happening (we were about 300 feet offshore), jumped from his elevated position and was with us before I could even begin towing the struggling man back to the beach!

Almost drowned in Lake Michigan in Milwaukee/Bayview trying to save some children that was drowning..Rip current took us under..Agood Samaritan jumped in and rescued us..Im forever thankful ❤❤

I grew up 30 miles east of Grand Haven along Lake Michigan. I spent many, many summer days swimming and playing in its waters. I learned early on to just let the current take me where it wants and wait for it to let me go, then swim back to shore, usually yards away from where I started. I didn't argue with the lake. I never really thought about the dangers too much. Milliions of people swim in the lake every summer and live to talk about it. But maybe I was just lucky. I jumped over and through a lot of waves, but never stayed in the lake when a storm was brewing or when there was a red flag flying.

As a kid in Chicago, in a world before central air conditioning, we'd walked to the beach and be there all day to cool off in the water. Because I couldn't swim (and still can't) I never went in farther than my waist - just enough to get wet, cool off and head back to the sand. But, we knew about undertows back then and I had more fear than my friends had that knew how to swim - so I spent only short spurts of time in the shallows. The lake is beautiful - but that beauty disguises it's danger. I lost several friends to that lake. I've never been back. To me it's a beautifully disguised graveyard.

THANK YOU FOR KNOWING WE NEED LIFEGUARDS.

When i was about 10, my parents let me swim in lake MI alone somewhere along US-2. While out in the water, i kept getting pulled further and further away from shore. I was a really strong swimmer... however i kept getting pulled out. I tried waving to my parents that i was in trouble, but they just waved back, thinking i was waving "hi" to them. LUCKILY, my Dad had taught me that if this happens, swim parallel to the shore a ways, then try swimming into shore again. And, i'm here telling this scary story, so luckily i didn't panic and i made it back in. Thank you for giving people this warning.

As a former lifeguard, I think teaching all kids to swim should be a required part of all of our public school curriculum. My condolences to those who lost loved ones.

My friend younger brother was lost to lake mich off dunes state park. Undertow. They did not find Casey till the following spring up near traverse city. Very long way but at least she gave him up so his family had closure. He was a good kid.

In August 2011, while on a road trip with my cousin, we made a sudden detour and stopped at Lake Michigan in LaPorte Indiana. I was playing in the water close to the shore and jumping up and down with each wave that came in when suddenly I was pulled under and found myself way out from shore. I knew nothing about rip tides or even what was happening. A voice of calmness came over me and told me to swim on an angle and keep calm. I'm not a great swimmer but fortunately there was a lighthouse I recognized and just kept swimming towards it. After swimming for what seemed like an hour, I started to succumb to exhaustion. I saw the newspaper headline with my death. I saw my cousin in distress waiting for me and finding out that I died. My life flashed before me and I started to make peace with not making it out of the lake. Just as I was about to give up and let myself sink, I felt my feet touch the lake floor. Sadly, a little boy who had been playing in the water next to me had drowned in that rip current. It wasn't until years later that I discovered that Lake Michigan was responsible for so many drownings. My condolences to anyone who has lost family or friends in this lake. That experience remains with me to this day.

I live in the suburbs of Chicago and I love spending time at the lake during these hot summer days. I usually stay close to the shore due the the force of the lake and how cold it is. Michigan has some of the best beaches in the Midwest and it’s truly a beautiful landscape. Stay safe everyone.

My husband at the age of 6 drowned at Stoney Creek. His older 5 sisters were playing with him very roughly & dunking him in the water. He was given CPR by a lifeguard. He saw a bright, beautiful light & was traveling a million miles an hour toward that light but it had not felt that fast. He felt warm & wrapped in so much love , he cannot quite explain it today. Suddenly, he started to go backward & he thought, no!. I want to go to the light! Suddenly, he was cold & miserable & water and foam was coming out of his nose & moutn as the lifeguard was slapping his back too hard. He felt so disappointed he came back. 1965.

I almost died with my sister in New Buffalo Michigan. My sister told me I'm going to give up and drown all the sudden we were sucked to the shoreline it seemed so fast and we were walking on the beach crying our eyes out nobody understood why. That experience is why I believe in God I was in 7th grade I have never been more scared in my entire life.

When you lose a loved one, nothing left to say.......

Sad video, but it's great that the family is trying to make sure the same thing doesn't happen to someone else by educating people.

I worked with Andy Fox just before that Rest In Peace Andy.

Yes, there is more you can do! Wear a PFD when kayaking.

Living on lake Michigan, for many years and still can't swim.... But I also have no desire to swim in the water. Would rather fish. With life vest. Arm floaties. Etc. And there is life guards in the Michigan beach areas of lake Michigan. High school students always do it around here.

Upon entering the beach area there needs to be an interactive display (screen or audio) just like the amusement parks where the kids and their parents can listen to a demonstration of what to do when caught in a riptide and what a riptide is just like a kid hears warnings over and over while standing in line for a ride.. The Great Lakes are not just Lakes. They have the power of an ocean although lacking in tides they have undercurrents which can sweep a grown experienced swimmer under water longer than one can hold their breath. If you can't pay lifeguards Michigan, you can put a learning experience up for swimmers and their families for a buddy system and awareness. A picture of Lake Michigan with arrows will not grab their attention when the excitement of a big lake is in front of them. Please make it interactive.

Very informative, Lake Michigan is scary beautiful. Stay safe Great Lakers!!

I like the warning message this video puts out to people that might enter this great lake, please use the spirit of this message and look into any information available on the risks of whatever natural or man made setting you might want to visit for any knowledge you can gain to minimize the risks of being in that environment. Having seen this lake from the shore near where I was working once years ago, if you expect the environment of a normal lake vs the ocean despite it being fresh water you are putting yourself at great risk. Rest in peace to all of the people that have lost their lives.

Lake Superior would be the title holder but nobody is dumb enough to swim in it 😂

as a local, some of this is bullshit. plenty of michigan beaches have lifeguards. not all do, but i know multiple in my area that definitely do. second, if you swim out on a red or even yellow flag day, you are either ignorant or suicidal. there are signs posted EVERYWHERE. every year we get tourists who do not respect warnings and think the lake is like a giant pond. and every year there are multiple stories, always tourists, who do it to themselves. one key point i'd like to drive home here is that a lifeguard can do nothing on a red flag day that a sign cannot. nobody, not even lifeguards, can swim in that water. it's true that more beaches should budget for lifeguards, but the onus is not on them or the state. respect the water.

I spent nearly every weekend in Saint Joe Michigan at Silver Beach I am very familiar with the area and trust me when I say the water is more powerful than you could ever imagine. Hypnotizing beautiful, deadly at the same time.

Lake Michigan is the best swimming lake hence the most groundings. It's pure sand bottom is great. Lake Huron is rocky. Lake Superior is ice water.

I grew up swimming in Lake Michigan as well as other lakes and ponds. I recall body surfing waves and having a ton of fun. When there was a storm, we didn't swim. Too rough. I have also lived in Hawaii and did lots of ocean swimming. The waves were large at times and could really hurt you if you were not careful. However, the buoyancy of the salt water was definitely a help in swimming and staying afloat. Still, tourists at Lake Michigan and in Hawaii would go out without a clue as to the danger, all the while ignoring signs and lifeguard warnings.

If you put the amount of swimmers that swim in lake Michigan and put them in Superior the numbers would be astronomical! Thats why Superior is on the bottom of the list its a cold lake with not many swimmers but we at least have lifeguards now ! I have been a boater on lake superior and Michigan for 40 years you have to have respect for these lakes

We’ve always needed life guards I don’t understand why there never was

Lake Michigan has a triangle of oddities, like Bermuda.

So many people have posted about the loved ones who died due to the rip tides on lake Michigan. I grew up in Michigan and thou a strong swimmer have felt those rip tides. Fortunately as a kid I was taught never to fight the current. Still, I have great respect for the power of these lakes.

When I was about 15, I went to the Dunes with one of my friends and her family. All they wanted to do was tan, and I got bored with them and went swimming. I ended up far out enough where my feet could no longer reach the sand without being completely submerged, and felt the water was pulling me further. I literally swam parallel from where I first started until I felt the water wasn't pulling me, and then swam back. I realized I was in the rip current, didn't realize that I did the smart thing until I came home and told my Dad about it. Anyways, by the time I got back to shore, I was like way down on the beach and found $15 floating in the water. When I walked back to where my friend and her family was, it was probably a good 30 minutes later, in total from swimming back and a few minutes walking, and they were all having a heart attack that I vanished. I was so freaking chilled about it though. My friend was like, "Where the F! Have you been!?" Me: "Got caught in the tide. Had to work my way back to shore. I found $15, wanna get some ice-cream?" My friend's face was like: (T__T) Brah!

Grew up on far south side and use to fish out on the lake a lot. It can go from calm to something you would only expect from an ocean in minutes.

I was raised on the beaches of Lake Michigan , Long Beach , Michigan City , Indiana. Every summer people do drown. I noticed most all the victims are not locals. They do not understand the ways of that lake.

I lost a teen male, that I knew when he was a toddler of my Campus Ministry family. He was fishing with his Dad, and the family friend who was a top Physician. He was wearing waders, when a riptide pulled him down, the waders filled up. His last words were, "Dad! help me!" We were all devastated.

"Deadly" because some people do not use common sense.

I was born and raised in Michigan and spent summer vacations Up North--but until recently, I had no idea there could even be rip currents in a lake, and also no idea that many people drown each year in the Great Lakes. Swimming and water safety should be taught universally in schools as part of health class or PE class, especially in the states with Great Lakes coastline.

I grew up in Chicago and swam in the lake many times. Lake Superior is so much colder and rougher, I think one reason there aren’t more drownings in Superior is because of the extreme coldness of the water.

I was born and raised in southwest Michigan period twice in my life. I was taken out by rip currents and wondered if I would survive. I pray going forward people will take the red flags serious and please don’t swim when it’s that dangerous. Rest in peace to those who are lost.

I have lived in Michigan my whole life. I have swam in every great lake we have , and yes lake Michigan is nothing to mess around with. Lake Superior is nothing to mess with either the water stays too cold shocks your system if your not use to it.

My Aunt always comes to Lake Michigan when she visits me and my family... She always wants us to come along with her so we can hang out there with my cousins and stuff... My mother always says it's too dangerous... I can see why...

1998 I come close to drowning in In Lake Michigan Swam in that Lake hunderd times that day I guess I got careless almost didn't get out I was lucky next time I went in I went in with a lot of respect for the great Lake I definitely feel for the family members that lost loved ones in the Lake.

The man at 3:20 explains a question I have had for a long time. We don’t hear of this many drownings on the Jersey shore with much bigger waves from the Atlantic. The same point with shipwrecks. It’s the waves coming in succession which we do not have in the ocean.

I take my kids to Lake Michigan in South Haven,MI every yr. It's SO scary that I don't take my eyes off of them! I stand on the peir to watch them &other kids to make sure they are safe. Lifeguards are a must

Way, way too many lost people this year, including several very young people. A cautionary video that somehow you wish people could see all over the areas around the lake.

Don’t understand why Lifeguards don’t have jet skis at Lake Michigan?

Thank you for making this video. Alarmed at how many families go in the lake on red flag days. I dont know if lifeguards are the answer. Public knowledge like this is key. Thank you.

I have been visiting Frankfort Michigan since i was 6 years old and there has been more then 1 drowning in recent history there. I believe that wherever there is a pier, there needs to be lifeguards. The waters around those piers is the most dangerous especially in Frankfort

I’m from Minnesota and I go to Lake Superior every year the only reason there is not that many drownings is the water is too cold and the drop offs right by the beaches and also not the much big cities are by Lake Superior

I went swimming once in Lake Michigan. It was like the time I swam in the Pacific, only much colder. The waves are really something. But three feet below the surface in the middle of August it felt like it was 32 degrees. I got out before hypothermia set in. Not the safest lake to swim in.

Sorry for the losses and thank you for the knowledge!

Almost every beach I've been to in California had lifeguards, I don't see why we can't have them here

Although Lake Superior, with its angry Scowl and who never gives up her dead, Lake Michigan with his long nose and smug smile is the Deadliest. It Knows it’s the deadliest.

The families will never stop reliving their pain of losing a child. I'm so sorry! Hire lifeguards, Michigan!

One of my bucket lists items is taking a SeaDoo across the lake from Michigan to Chicago.

I used to go there a lot when I was little, never knew how dangerous it could be

When I got caught in a rip tide in OCMD, a lifeguard saved my life. I'm a strong swimmer but I didn't even know about rip tides and I just got pulled further and further from the coast. I hope ❌ichigan brings back lifeguards

I don't want to sound insensitive, but Lake Michigan seems far less dangerous than the East/West Coast beaches and the Gulf of Mexico. Here in the Gulf we average about 54 drowning per year. I grew up on the Gulf. We were taught from a young age about rip tides and what to do when you encounter them. It seems to me the problem is lack of education rather than the Lake itself. The bottom line, any large body of water is dangerous and should be treated as such. Pay attention to signs and flags!

Always respect any body of water and know that it is fully capable of taking your life. That being said, millions of people have a great time at the lake every year without issues so take that for what it is worth as well

I learned how to swim in lake Michigan near the Indiana Dunes. Our family spent every summer weekend on this lake boating & can attest to this lake's conditions changing very quickly. An under tow can become a frightening & deadly thing if you get caught in one & do not know what to do to get out of it.

Lose a few near every weekend somewhere on the Mich side of the lake during the summer. Bad choices. People out playing in the big waves.

Getting caught in a rip tide is absolutely terrifying! I'm a strong swimmer but I got nowhere fighting it. It freaked me out!

I grew up on Lake Huron we were taught at a very young age to look out for undercurrent/ripcurl. I've been on Huron in very rough seas in boats and all I can tell you if you are not very experienced, you better be lucky because it very dangerous. I once went out on a 16ft Hobbie Cat it was flat, 3 hrs later we were in 12 foot seas we got in safely, but I new what to do, my buddy was very scared, i was to, but you can't panic and you have to do what the lake allows you to.

Lifeguards Should Be Hired At All Times. It’s So Sad To Hear & See These Heartbreaking News Stories Of People Who Have Passed From Drowning ❤️✝️🕊️🙏🏽❤️ God Bless All Families & Friends Who Are Grieving For The Rest Of Their Lives.

Population of the different Great Lakes (one reason why more people die in Lake Michigan) Superior - 673,000 Michigan - 12,052,743 Huron - 3,000,000 Erie - 12,400,000 (Includes Detroit, which is really not on the lake) Ontario - 5,600,000

We spent summers living on a beach with an undertow. When I was maybe 5 I drifted in that directions. ( I thought under "toe" meant some big toe down there.) I'm not sure what happened, but I found myself rolling over and over under the water. I was ready to breath in water, when my Dad pulled my out.

Really Interesting video, education is a great starting point

Superior is the deadliest.

I've always lived within a few miles of Lake Michigan but have only been swimming in it a few times. Only once did I take my children, and it was in a more protected bay. I was even nervous watching my 5 yo grandson playing in ankle deep water when the waves were pretty big. (His mom was there and a good swimmer, but still.) I'm a good swimmer, but I'll stick to small shallow lakes or pools.

So sad for the families and lost souls..