Vamos a Nadar (Let’s Swim!)

Vamos a Nadar (Let’s Swim!) offers a free swim lesson that includes swimming instruction, in-pool instruction on floating, different strokes, and other safety skills. While children are in the pool, the program provides bilingual instruction for parents on water awareness, including how to evaluate conditions, observe aquatic safety rules, monitor children, and use rescue techniques in areas without lifeguards. Instruction also covers lifesaving techniques using tools at hand such as sticks, coolers, and pool noodles, along with how to summon help in an emergency and demonstrations with parents and kids on how to assist someone without becoming a victim.

• Ages: 5–18 years old
• Schedule: The free program gives kids a half-day of swimming instruction.
• Price: Each family receives a coupon for additional swim lessons at partners' pools throughout Sonoma County for a reduced price of $15 (normally at least $50 per child).

Vamos a Nadar is a free, bilingual water safety program that targets mostly Spanish-speaking kids and their parents and typically serves families with limited resources who otherwise may not be able to afford swim lessons. Children receive a free swim lesson while parents learn about hazards presented by pools, rivers, and lakes, and instruction includes how to remain vigilant in settings such as crowded public pools, boats on lakes, and picnics on the riverside. A repeated mantra in instruction is “Reach, Throw, Don’t Go,” and families are invited to enjoy and explore the swimming areas together after each workshop.

Regional Parks launched Vamos a Nadar (Let’s go Swimming) in 2004 to reduce the number of drowning deaths in Sonoma County, particularly at the Russian River, and today it is in its 20th year. County officials linked up with the Red Cross and other agencies and advocates to come up with the plan that led to Vamos a Nadar, and the program has reached more than 2,000 young people in Sonoma County since launch, with more than 3,000 youth participating overall. Vamos a Nadar is part of a larger, ongoing water safety push that includes life jacket loaner stations and River Patrol programs, and vouchers for follow-up city-run swim lessons are largely underwritten by the Sonoma County Parks Foundation, which helps sponsor park programs and underwrites discounted swim lessons at local public pools.

The leadership team includes Bert Whitaker, director of the Sonoma County Regional Parks department; Rosiris Guerra, credited by many as the founder and head cheerleader for the Vamos a Nadar program; and James Brooks, a bilingual instructor who has worked in the program almost since its inception. According to program statements, “We were looking for long-term solutions, not just flyers,” and “The parks foundation is really the backbone of lessons.” Instructors report that “We do demonstrations with parents and kids on basically how to assist someone without becoming a victim, that is a big part of the program,” and describe a goal of giving families “confidence that they are prepared, they have equipment in their hands and they have a strategy on how to use it so they don’t have to think about it, they have what they need.”

Last updated June 26, 2026.