Any time you sail to new places, especially in search of new biomes, or across the water to new lands, it always a good idea to bring along materials to build a PORTAL, while also having a spare portal set up at home, so that, as soon as you arrive in the new place, you can set up that portal and have a connection to either get home quickly or get back to your gear if you happen to die.

It should also be mentioned that you should be geared up and fully PREPARED for each new biome you travel to. Each biome, in the progression, has specific resources and items, that must be gathered, crafted and obtained, to help you gear up for the next biome, and if you try to skip past that progression, Valheim will kill you dead in an instant.

Before you travel to the swamps you should have poison resist mead, bronze gear and able to craft portals, at bare minimum.

ya poison resist and good food is a must for swamp. i try to find another biome besides plains hopefully meadows to build a small base at, or an island of black forest off the coast or stone tower is good portal shelter. if its all swamp do a drive by where u make land with your fine wood bow and look for a easy crypt 2 run 2, put down a workbench at the crypt jump on it and onto the crypt and make a portal to your base so u can repair ur pick axe, and u dont lose track of the crypt u are in, mark crypts as done or not done on the map as u scout them out, i like driving my boat into the swamp if i can, backwards so if it gets destroyed i can reach the materials, make sure to mark ur boat as well rofl ive had trouble with that.

I will help you. If you have no mods to the game. I only play original. Add me I will join you. Same thing happened to me, Got the Serpent treatment. Sucks.

steam isn't letting me add people, if you can add me instead that would be great.

don’t try to sail to the swamp, sail nearby and walk there. I havnt played much but i know leeches are awful