Swimming & awareness

Swimming is a passion,and I belonged in that group, but it is an acquired taste in the options available under the 'passion' section of lifestyle, as not all agrees its a fun thing to do.

It is considered dangerous by some, as cases of death by/in the water is not uncommon all over the world.

And there are people who claims they can't swim, some of them never bother to learn, while the rest may have reasons of much more complexity.

I would like to share with you on some views of mine, as i usually goes to the swimming pool alone, and i may not be under the supervision of lifeguards when i do so.

It is important that one be of utmost vigilance when they go swimming, be it a pool, river, sea, or any body of water.
The risk that you have to take need to be weighed as incident unfavorable may occurs.

First and foremost, decide and understand how well and how long can you swim, this will really decrease the danger of getting drowned and you can avoid getting into one.

If you can't swim well, do NOT venture into deep waters.
Do NOT play in water that you do not know well of the depth, this is especially notable when swimming out in natural bodies of water.(waterfalls, river, lake, etc)
Stay clear of the deep end of the swimming pool when you go to one, until you're able to swim better.

Many are the people who never bother doing any warm ups before they go into the water, no matter you're going into the water for fun or a serious swim, DO some stretching to your muscles, cramps can be avoided in most case simply by doing this.
You DON'T have to do a complete stretching course like a pro, but a moderate stretch to the exercised part of your body will suffice in helping.

Lastly, a few more things that might help in knowing...
Please DON'T panic and start struggling and throwing your hands and legs around if you're drowning, calm yourself down as the water may not be too deep for you to land your feet on the bottom(that is why it's important to know the depth of the water you're in) and kicked yourself up to the surface to breath, do this...and edge yourself to the side of the water, or somewhere more shallow, call for help if your head can stay above the water longer.
When someone tries to rescue you, DON'T struggle either, in many cases the rescuers are choked and cling by the drowned and both end up not being saved.
Throw a life-ring/something that floats to someone that's drowned instead of jumping into the water to save them, and leave the rescue to a lifeguard or someone with a license in lifesaving to avoid further incidents whenever possible

With all these you may think that swimming is something that's best avoided, but if you would just be a bit more careful, it is not.
Most fun have risk, but being able to handle the commons can help preventing it, don't you think?

I hope I didn't miss out anything important...