Is swimming a sin?

That question is actual a matter of some debate, although, I'm told, most people agree that the Koran allows women to enjoy the sea just like men.

Well, not JUST like men, there is the issue of modesty that men don't have to contend with. Here, in a picture one of our newspaper photog snapped on a 100-degree day at Kettani a section along the Bay of Algiers, you see how some women contend, they wade in fully dressed in robe, pants and veils.

I think you must really need a dip to put up with the water-logged sandy aftermath.

However, even this is too much for other women. One professional woman told me she loves the sea but will not go in unless it's a place completely reserved for women. Some pools in the city set aside women-only days. Another woman in hijab at the newspaper said she goes swimming but never here in the bay which is a few steps from her apartment. Why? Because boys in the neighborhood would see her, she blushed. She would not feel comfortable.