Snorkeling brings you to a brand new world. Just put your face in the water and you'll
feel like finding the fourth dimension.
You may find fish, sea-anemones, heremit lobsters, crabs and so on.
All you have to look for is clear water and a rocky/stony coast. Sandy beaches are generally
speaking not exciting since they do not provide many different habitats.
Snorkelinfo.net presents useful information on snorkeling, focusing on the description
of the snorkeling possibilities of beaches, bays and lakes.
What do you need for snorkeling?
You don't need expensive material. All you really need is a good snorkeling glass
and a suitable tube. Be sure not to buy toy-stuff, they won't last very long.
Good shops have material for kids and adults. Kids get smaller glasses and,
perhaps not expected, tubes with special mouth-ends. A well known and good
available brand is Cressi-sub.
The prices of good sets of snorkeltube + glass are some 25 Euro / 25 US Dollar
for kids-sets and some 50 Euro / 50 US Dollar for adults.
Flippers are useful when you want to see a large area, and thus need to swim a lot. They also come in handy when you want to dive to the bottom every now and then. But you should not try this without a proper training!
A wet suit is needed when you want to stay in the water for a long time and when the water is cold.
What do you need to learn for snorkeling?
You may want to learn the basics in a swimming pool when you're still at home.
Many diving groups organise special snorkeling courses in swimming pools.
An essential thing to learn is to lay still and horizontal while breathing.
You'll be surprised how easy this really is, but you won't learn it unless you
really try.
When you're able to do that, fish will start moving when you're still and you will see much more
details below you. It will also enable you to snorkel in shallow water.
Another useful thing is to learn some 'hand signals'. Of course you can talk with each other when
you raise your head. But it is very convenient to comunicate through some important signals.
The hand signals from diving are good for use in snorkeling too. But the most important thing is
to talk on signaling before entering the water!
On the picture you see here,
the snorkler is asking the photographer: "everything okay?". When it is, the other should respond
with the same sign, saying "okay". So one sign for both the question and the answer. Other useful signs: "I'm cold",
"shall we return", "stay still", "stay closer to me", "I'd like to dive down, okay?".
Risks during snorkeling
Of course snorkeling is not without risks. As with scuba diving, it is best
to always go in pairs. You can help each other and one sees things the other does not.
Waves may cause water to enter your tube.
The most important risk is panic. When you panic, your behaviour changes unpredictably,
causing danger for yourself and others. Being with two will help a lot in reducing changes of
panic. Moving easily and breathing restfull is another.
Best is to stay out of the surf, the area where the waves 'brake'. Here the water will not lift
you while it 'washes' you.
The combination of surf (waves) and sudden and large depth differences can be very
dangerous. You may get swapped onto a rock, or pushed from a rock while you are standing on
your feet.
An important thing to realise is that stones can hurt you dramatically. Try to keep
clear from them. Remember that you hardly notice a wound when you are in the
water, even when the wound is deep and large ! !
And then of course there are biological dangers, like jelly-fish, sharks and so on. About the picture: please don't try this yourself! Jelly fish can be nasty. The sting of the species in the picture (box jelly fish) is good enough for five days in the hospital!
Hopefully this description of the dangers did not scare you off.
Finding the camera best for you is a very difficult job. There are very many different (digital) cameras and the models change every six months or so. And of course the regular photo shop does not have a line up of water proof cases. Nor do they know the typical and crucial differences of the cameras for under water use.
Visiting a diving shop might help, or try to find a specialized shop. It might mean you will need to travel, but it will be worth the trouble.
Although we do not include advertisements on snorkelinfo.net, we can tell you we have some good experience with
the Canon S1 IS. Packed in the water proof case, you can still use the viewfinder. This viewfinder is in fact a mini
LDC screen. For snorkeling this can be better than the regular LCD screen on the back of a digital camera, since you will
be in high light conditions. We expect the normal LCD screen will be perfect when you're diving.
The picture beside this text has been taken with the S1 (no picture manipulation afterwards!) in the
Grevelingen, a unique salt water lake in The Netherlands.
The Grevelingen, unique salt water lake in The Netherlands.
Response to webmaster Erik Toussaint
