Nautical Star

Do you know what it’s like having to take selfies with the camera poised precariously on a jagged rock in front of you in the howling wind while tourists walk by? Neither do I, because my photographer Michael took these photos. Hurdur.

I’ll be filling in my readers about my adventure in the Sunshine Coast with the boy later on (it’s not like I’ve been slacking that much, these photos are only.. two weeks late..), but I’ve been totally itching to show off some nice photos of the gorgeous bathing suit that I bought a couple of years prior to this trip. (The matching canvas beach bag was a nice little addition from AliExpress that only cost me $4.80!)

So let me tell you.

I’m sick of bikinis, ladies. I’m a frolicker–I sprint, I chase, I bomb-dive, I body-surf and flap my arms wildly about in the water. The last thing I need is some sense of paranoia in the back of my head that my breasts will suddenly vacate their premises and reveal their full glory in front of other swimmers. There are enough shameless boobs on the beach as there is (and by “boobs”, I mean the idiots who throw glass beer bottles onto the rocks that small children are climbing on.. come on, guys). 

Being a fan of more classic-looking styles when it comes to my swimwear (yet I’m not really a fan of high-waisted bikinis in that regard–they look like grandma’s panties to me), I picked out a nautically-themed swimsuit on eBay with a low-dipping back and won it in an auction for $16. When it arrived, bless the seller’s cotton socks, for it also came with a matching detachable skirt! I had heart palpitations, ladies.

The brand of this suit is Sanqi, and I would say it’s a pretty trustworthy swimsuit manufacturer. You don’t want cheap garbage for what is essentially sportswear that’s meant to be soaked and tugged and put under pressure–unlike most of the cheapo clothing I can get away with wearing on a daily basis because I don’t put much pressure on them to perform. The two best brands of cheap Asian swimwear I can recommend is Sanqi and Yingfa–their stuff is lined, durable, and colourfast. I also bought another athletic swimsuit to wear during dips in chlorinated pools from Yingfa and that was when I actually found out that Yingfa is the same brand of swimwear that the Australian olympic diving team relies on! So they’re not your generic Chinese garbage by any stretch.

While my skirted swimsuit probably isn’t being manufactured anymore, the original eBay seller Dance.Shark has many other swimsuits that I’m currently lemming–all of them for under $30 each!

1. Yingfa Green Leaves Swimsuit, $18 (Also a red variety somewhere)

2. Sanqi Swimdress, $26.50 (Also available in purple.. I can’t decide)

3. Sportz POW Swimsuit, $20

4&5. Floral Swimsuit, $24

There are hundreds of different varieties of swimwear in the Dance.Shark store, so take a peek! There are some really gorgeous bikinis in there too if you’re personally more into them than one-pieces. (They also sell male swimwear and goggles, caps, etc, but I figured that the majority of my readership is female so I only linked to the female side of the store.)

Before I go, I’ll leave my readers with a question I’ve been pondering recently–do you personally prefer bikinis, tankinis, or one-pieces, and why?