X-WATERS Черногория

Between the Baroque stone palaces of Perast and the steep limestone cliffs enclosing Risan, open water swimmers navigate a saltwater corridor flanked by two starkly contrasting islands. This dramatic setting hosts X-WATERS Montenegro, an open water swimming event held in the protected sea waters of the Bay of Kotor on the coast of Montenegro. Staged at the Mövenpick Kotor Bay, the gathering forms part of the international X-WATERS World Championship circuit, inviting swimmers to cross an extraordinary body of water often described as the southernmost fjord in Europe.

The courses from Perast to Risan across Kotor Bay

The event program spreads across a late September weekend, featuring courses tailored to different ambitions: a 50-meter dash for children, a 500-meter sprint, a 750-meter night swim under the stars, a 1-mile route of 1,852 meters, and long-distance challenges of 4.5 and 7 kilometers. The point-to-point 4.5-kilometer race sets off directly from the waterfront of Perast and finishes in Risan, guiding competitors across the calm basin. In the water, every stroke carries you past sheer rock walls dropping straight down into the sea. Both the 4.5-kilometer and 7-kilometer marathon courses chart a course through the narrow channel between two legendary islets: Sveti Đorđe, with its ancient Benedictine abbey, and Our Lady of the Rocks.

Swimmers moving through this maritime gate find themselves framed by looming mountain crests, though the sheltered bay can surprise you with unexpected currents pushing against your stroke as you push toward the inner cove. Sighting along the course requires tracking the silhouettes of the islets against the limestone peaks ahead. While the bay typically offers mild, flat conditions, past editions have thrown unusual tests at the field. In an earlier edition, swimmers encountered water dropping to 16 degrees Celsius—a rare cold spell recorded for the first time in fifty years—while another staging saw temperatures linger between 16 and 17 degrees. {{h2:The twin islets of Perast: Sveti Đorđe and Our Lady of the Rocks}} Just offshore from Perast lies Sveti Đorđe, a natural islet with a Benedictine monastery dating back to the 12th century. For generations, the families and nobility of Perast used the islet as their burial ground, creating a solemn sanctuary surrounded by water. Its shadowed trees and secluded tombs are believed to have provided inspiration for the famed painting Isle of the Dead, and its quiet stone walls witnessed conflict in October 1813 when an allied British and Sicilian force seized the islet from French troops. A short glide away sits Our Lady of the Rocks, an entirely artificial island built through centuries of devotion and maritime resolve. Seafarers created the foundation by sinking aged and captured vessels packed with stone around a solitary sea rock where an icon of the Madonna and Child was discovered on July 22, 1452. Even today, local boaters row out each year during the Fašinada festival to cast fresh rocks into the water, steadily expanding Our Lady of the Rocks into the channel.

Submerged springs, ancient rias, and the waters under Mount Orjen

Geologically, the Bay of Kotor is a ria, carved by the ancient Bokelj river system and later reshaped by tectonic shifts and karst erosion. The bay reaches an average depth of 27.3 meters and plunges down to 60 meters in its deeper troughs, creating a vast water column. Looming over Risan are the sheer limestone cliffs of the Orjen massif, which shelter the coastal strip from inland weather while the elevated Krivošije karst plateau above records the highest rainfall in Europe with over 5,000 millimeters annually. All that rainwater feeds powerful underground channels that re-emerge along the coastline as freshwater brooks and subterranean springs known as vrulje. Near Perast, the historic Bizetina spring emerges directly beneath the 18th-century New Balović Palace, bursting into activity following seasonal rains, while undersea vents pump fresh water directly into the salt basin. After downpours, the Sopot spring erupts from the cliffs in a 20-meter waterfall that cascades into the bay, while further seaward the Verige strait narrows the mouth to barely 340 meters between high limestone slopes.

Perast and Risan: corsair bases and Illyrian stones along the shore

The shoreline where the swim finishes at Risan dates back to at least 229 BC. By 1482, Ottoman corsairs had established a naval base in Risan to launch attacks against Venetian merchant convoys navigating the channel, while the Verige strait long formed the frontier between empires. Perast, where the long crossing begins, famously repelled the Ottomans in 1654.