As the mid-day sun beats down on the Colvos Passage, making the softly rippling water shimmer with light, a redhead in a kayak is having a leisurely ride, mostly pulled along by the current. Another young woman, tanner and dark-haired, swims alongside her, chatting and laughing with her companion.

As the two pass by some waterfront homes, Islanders wave from their decks. “Looks like you forgot a boat!” one man yells. While the floating troupe may be an odd sight, especially on a weekday, the activity is becoming a regular occurrence for 27-year-old Luz Gaxiola, who is in the process of swimming around Vashon and Maury Islands.

For as long as she can remember, Gaxiola, an energetic and spunky native Islander, has known she would one day swim around the Island. She said it simply seemed inevitable. “My mom taught me to swim at KVI,” she said. “I’ve always loved swimming on Vashon. … The pool just seems kind of dead.”

However, it wasn’t until six years after Gaxiola moved off the Island that she decided to make good on the promise she made herself. “Eventually I was like it has to happen now,” she said.

Gaxiola’s sister, Mica Gaxiola-Flynn admits that she didn’t take Gaxiola seriously when she first heard what she wanted to do. “As it got closer, I heard she was training, so I started doing pushups for kayaking,” she said.

Gaxiola, who is visiting from San Francisco where she now works as a clown, began swimming north from Point Robinson on July 11 and has swum for about three hours along the coast nearly every day since. Her sister almost always accompanies her in a kayak, both for safety and company, and they are often joined by their mother or friends. The two plan to finish circling the Island today.

“It’s been fun on different days, sometimes it’s me and my sister, and sometimes it’s a little party,” Gaxiola said. “When you have more people there it’s more fun. It’s like you’re hanging out and you happen to be going forward.”

Though she and her family have never heard of anyone else circling the Island in such a way, Gaxiola isn’t out to set a record either. “I’m trying to enjoy myself. … I’m a good swimmer. I’m not the fastest, but I can hang out in the water forever,” she said.

So far, the trip hasn’t disappointed. One of Gaxiola’s favorite things about swimming every day is seeing the Island from the water. “It’s cool because there are a lot of totally deserted wild places on the water, more than I thought there would be,” she said.

Gaxiola and her sister have observed seals, deer, raccoons, eagles and of course lots of fish and starfish. “[The starfish] are my favorite, I love seeing all the colors,” she said. “Every now and then I step on something squishy. I just move forward fast and leave it alone.”

Not all wildlife has been so forgiving, though. As soon as Gaxiola took off from Point Robinson she realized that jellyfish were going to be a problem. After being stung a number of times, she began wearing a wetsuit. Unfortunately the protection the suit provided wasn’t worth the chaffing she said it caused. “It was ripping my skin up, so I was like I’ll just get stung,” she said.

Gaxiola now battles the 50-something degree Puget Sound, jellyfish and all, in nothing but a bikini and water socks. “I think I’ve gotten good over the years at handling the cold water,” she said. “I’ve swum here in the winter time.”

Even still, Gaxiola said, most days her toes go numb after about 45 minutes in the water. She has begun experimenting with putting pepper and Vicks VapoRub on them before putting on her shoes. “I don’t have any whale blubber handy, which is the traditional tool,” she joked.

With Gaxiola living in San Francisco and Gaxiola-Flynn attending college in Seattle, the sisters cherish the unique time they are spending together. “Every day we go out and hang out for however many hours we can last in the water,” Gaxiola-Flynn said.

When the two finish their trip today, they will celebrate with a party for family and friends at Point Robinson.

“I think I’ll just be really happy,” Gaxiola said. “It’s nice if you want to do something for a long time and you finally do it.”