Last updated on July 4th, 2025 at 02:18 pm
Elsewhere, picnics and lawn games may be a perfect Fourth of July tradition. In steamy Florida, we like to stay wet, and these two exuberant saltwater adventures have become traditions for a good reason. Both have been happening for decades, growing from a small group to hundreds of participants.
In Charlotte Harbor, Freedom swim is “a happening”
It started small and spontaneous. More than 30 years ago, Punta Gorda attorney Michael Haymans and some friends decided to celebrate the Fourth of July by swimming the 1.5 mile distance across the Peace River. They weren’t athletes in training; they had heard stories about how in the 1940s, swimming across the river was a rite of passage for teens.
They had a good time, they told their friends, and those friends told a few more friends.
Today the Charlotte Harbor Freedom Swim attracts 1,000 to 1,500 participants, including kayakers, paddle boards, boaters and a few hundred swimmers.
In 2025, however, the Freedom Swim will different, as a result of 2024 hurricane damage that has not been repaired.
There will be no land entry to the swim; all participants must arrive by boat. There will be no trolley transportion, no parking and the route will be different than previous years.
WHEN: Tides dictate the start. This year’s Freedom Swim will start at 3 p.m. on Friday, July 4, 2025. Swimmers should be there for the 2:50 p.m. briefing.
WHERE: The 2025 Freedom Swim will start from Live Oak Point. Swimmers are to gather in
the water offshore of the public beach and Riverwalk boardwalk at the northwest side of the
north end of the northbound U. S. 41 Bridge. Swimmers will paddle, swim, or float to the
channel and across the Peace River towards the landing site at Welcome Beach, Gilchrist Park,
exiting the water at Welcome Beach, next to the now-empty site formerly occupied by Hurricane
Charley’s. The crossing is estimated to take anywhere from 40 minutes to three hours.
It’s not a race; it’s a happening
Haymans, founder of Freedom Swim, has long resisted commercializing the event. He doesn’t charge participants, require advance registration or give prizes. It’s called the Freedom Swim, but some don’t swim. There are stand up paddleboards, inflatable rafts, inner tubes, even folks on plastic noodles. Kayakers join the procession with dogs on board.
There are no rules except using common sense and courtesy. (Swim with a buddy!)
Swimmers are responsible for their own safety and their own support team. Vessels must operate at idle speed in the Peace River Channel from the U. S. 41 Bridge to Marker Number 2 while swimmers
are in the Channel.
Many swimmers go for red, white and blue attire. For a few years, some swimmers took “freedom” to another level: They swam au natural and ran their swim suits up the mast of their sailboat. (Word has it that sailboat owner isn’t around any longer.)
If you want to talk to Haymans specifically about the Charlotte Harbor Freedom Swim, call 941-661-5622.
Here’s a YouTube video of a past race.
Tips for Freedom Swim
Here are tips from organizer Michael Haymans:
- If you are not a strong swimmer, don’t get in the water. Watch from the bridge or take a kayak or paddleboard. One year, a hundred participants were pushed upriver and had to be rescued by law enforcement boats, Haymans said. Swimmers requiring rescue by officials are a mark against the Freedom Swim, he said.
- No children should participate on their own and no swimmers should undertake the swim alone. All swimmers should have close support.
- All swimmers must sign in at the start of the race.
If you go, you can count on Michael Haymans to be there and swim it again.
“I wait until everyone is in the water,” Haymans said. “I try to be the last one.”
In Vero Beach, it’s swim or paddle to a visible shipwreck
In Vero Beach, a group called the Sunrunners started this event 20 years ago with fewer than 20 people doing the swim. Now it has grown to over 1,000 people who come out with their friends and family for the 7 a.m. event. (Sunrise is 6:30 a.m.) Some swim;, many come on paddleboards and kayaks.
The destination for the swim is the wreck of the Breconshire, a steamship that wrecked here in 1894. It is a quarter mile off shore. The boilers are visible at the site a quarter mile off the beach behind the well-known Driftwood Inn. At low tide, parts of the ship are only a foot or two underwater. Here’s some background.
The shipwreck has attracted extensive sealife and participants are urged to bring their snorkeling gear.
Organizers say the event is open to all who want to participate and those that don’t want to swim can bring floats, kayaks or paddle boards. Here’s more information about Swim to the Wreck, which is promoted by Costa d’Este Beach Resort & Spa beachfront resort, which invites participants to order breakfast at their cafe after the swim.
Things to do in Punta Gorda
Punta Gorda is a great anchor to explore a region with lots of outdoors activities. Here’s a Florida Rambler guide to things to do in Punta Gorda. A few things to recommend in particular, all covered in this story: The Peace River Botanic Gardens, boat tours, bike trails and good kayaking.
Things to do in Vero Beach
Vero Beach is a low-rise, low-key beach town with just enough to do for a vacation or weekend. Here are 12 things to do in Vero Beach.
