On November 11th five Aruban swimmers of the Aruban Dolphins Swimming Club swam from Piedras Negras in Falcon State, Venezuela to Aruba (approx. 28.5km) to raise funds and generate awareness for ‘Koningin Wilhelmina Fonds’, a non-profit organization that offers support to cancer patients and works for the prevention of this unfortunate disease. The team of five swimmers, Deaxo Croes, Gwendolin (Wendy) Kock, Romar Arendsz, Davy Bisslik and Stephan Thijsen, followed in the footsteps of the founder and coach of Aruba Dolphins Swimming organization, Roly Bisslik, who was the first person to swim from Venezuela to Aruba in 1988, exactly 30 years ago.
Davy Bisslik was the first to arrive, landing at Zeerovers after swimming for eight hours and 20 minutes.
This event, called Crossing for Hope, garnered huge support and a large team backed each swimmer with boats. The event received local and international media coverage and featured widely on social media.
The event raised over AFL. 40,000 in funds for the cancer foundation with more funds arriving at press time.
Platinum sponsors for Crossing for Hope include Budget Marine, Elite Entertainment Group, Aruba Aloe, Digicel and InGenuity Creative Marketing. Gold Sponsors were New India Assurance, CMB, Otis, Setar, Emco and Ministry of Tourism, Health & Sports. Bronze Sponsors comprised ASTEC, Century Group, and Andmar Manpower Services.
