I love swimming! I spent several summers as a kid and young 20 something going out swimming a lot. It’s so much fun! Fantastic exercise as well, though I did a lot of swimming in lakes but we don’t have crazy animals that will eat or kill you where I’m swimming so it’s a little different lol.
Pools are generally gross places lol so they have to maximize the chlorine content to balance the other lovely stuff that ends up in the pool. Salt water pools would be good too but they are expensive and hard to find unless you go to a super fancy and expensive gym.
If there's one thing I hate is lake, river and beach water. I watched too many documentaries about bacterias and possible death just by swimming into the lake. I mean though we can die anytime but catching up some nasty bacteria and worms from lake are probably the worst. And yeah, some river here has crocs and giant fishes that could harm you. I really would never trust the lake, river or beach here unless the water is really pristine and you can see everything around. Otherwise, do not swim.
That's why, I avoided the pool during peak hours. I go to the pool either very early in the morning or very late in the evening. Now that I am more comfortable, I swim only in the athletic's pool. It has better filtering system and seems the water is different from the beginners pool.