The Five Islands Swim event is setting the entrants the challenge of covering 30 kilometres in five days. 

The event started in 2014 and is composed of a series of swims to the islands around Upolu. 

The first official swim - the warm up or welcome swim – took place yesterday evening and took entrants from the Marine School, around the Gaualofa to the finishing point of the seawall at Mulinu’u.

Among the seven swimmers for this year’s challenge was 45-year-old, Simon Daley, who traveled from Brisbane, Australia to participate. 

Daley - who is originally from South Africa - said joining the swim was a life changing experience. 

This is his first time in Samoa and he described the dip in the ocean as magnificent and meeting his every expectation. 

“The warm ocean was good, as well as the beautiful scenery that’s out and under the water too,” he says. 

Daley said he is looking forward to the next four days and learning from his fellow swimmers. 

“It was a target and a goal for me to finish, so I’ve still got a long way to go,” he says. 

Daley is married to a Samoan woman from Leauva’a and says the event has inspired him to return next year with friends in tow. 

He even hopes to put the Five Islands swim challenge on his calendar as a yearly event.