It’s better than staring at a black line on the bottom of a pool. A lot better.

There’s fish, turtles, stingrays and dolphins to be seen. Throw in some waves and a school of other swimmers, and it makes for a fun race.

It’s why Steven Allnutt does the Waikiki Roughwater Swim. It’s why he’ll be trying to better his 19th-place finish from last year when getting into the water off Sans Souci Beach on Monday morning.

"I like the strategy of ocean swimming," the University of Hawaii swimmer said. "It’s never the same.

"This race is point-to-point, which is what I like. It’s like, ‘I’m going to race you here to there and whoever gets there first, wins.’"

Allnutt has yet to crack the top five in the 2.4-mile event held off Waikiki the past 40 years. He is, however, the reigning Surf n Sea North Shore Swim Series champion, having won two of the four open water events and the overall points title this past summer.

The 21-year-old Allnutt is expecting plenty of competition from the field of about 1,000 swimmers. Entered are Eric Nilsson, who is coming off a victory in last week’s Duke’s Ocean Mile Swim, and past champions John Flanagan and Noa Sakamoto from Hawaii.

Australia’s Trent Grimsey won’t defend his title due to illness, but his younger brother Codie is expected to contend. Back to defend her title is Australia’s Luanne Rowe, who was 10th overall last year.

Swimmers represent four of the Hawaiian islands, 21 other states and seven countries. Headlining the field is North Carolina’s Chip Peterson, the 2005 World Open Water 10K Championship winner. He also is the two-time winner of the Pan Pacific 10K, including last month’s event in Long Beach, Calif.

Allnutt said he was ready for the challenge. He’s done most of his training at the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Center, in the pool with the rest of the UH swim team members, who are all doing Monday’s race.

"Most of the local swimmers train together," Allnutt said. "John Flanagan comes to our practices. We have wonderful facilities (at UH).

"You don’t have to do a lot of open-water training to be good at it, but the more experience you have, the better. I try to swim in open water once a week, working on ocean skills. You learn how to swim straight in the ocean, swim in a pack and draft. It hasn’t been too wavy the three times I’ve done (the roughwater swim). I think it’s more fun if it is."

Allnutt, who grew up in Oregon, found swimming late. He didn’t start the sport until high school, which means he wasn’t burned out on age-group meets.

"I love swimming," the UH middle-distance swimmer said. "I swim every day. I like Waikiki; it’s nice … but not as nice as the North Shore in the summer.

"And I like the Roughwater. The Duke Mile is kind of in shallow water and is sandy. The Roughwater is a lot more scenic, with nice views of the reef."

Allnutt has a couple of goals, immediate and long-term. He’d like to finish higher than ninth overall, which he did in 2008.

"A couple of weeks ago, when I was doing the (roughwater) course, I saw dolphins and that was exciting," he said. "But I haven’t seen a shark. That is one of my goals."