Snorkeling 101: The Complete Guide to Snorkeling
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Snorkeling 101: The Complete Guide to Snorkeling
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Okay, I’m going to sound really country and show my Georgia roots! I have my first snorkeling trip planned for the upcoming summer! It will be in a river on the Blue Ridge Snorkel Trail. There are five rivers in various locations throughout North Carolina where you can snorkel! I figure that this is a good way to get my feet wet! I love nature so this will be a good way to familiarize myself with the ins and outs of snorkeling for now.
Hi Teri,
Thanks for sharing. Is sounds like a great plan to get yourself familiarized with snorkeling. Have a great trip.
My husband and I recently snorkeled in Tahiti. Not the fancy resort islands like Bora Bora, but the main island. Plage Viava, a white sand beach, was our favorite. We’ve never snorkeled in such calm, clear warm water, with almost no current in most places. There’s an underwater interpretative trail for snorkelers, and a good variety of corals (hard and soft) and lots of fish. You can even wade near shore and just look down and see fish, the surface is so calm and the water so clear!
A very interesting spot was just north of Plage Viava, the abandoned/closed Tahiti Ia (spelled ia, not La) Ora Beach Resort, where you can follow the locals to the water and snorkel around the now abandoned over water bungalows. Lots of coral and fish. There’s a narrow white sand beach there too.
Thanks for the tips! I’m going to Tahiti this Nov, and was planning to check out Mahana Park Beach for snorkeling. I’m happy to add these to my list.
Glad you liked it! Happy snorkeling!
Turquoise Bay on the Ningaloo reef has to be one of THE BEST snorkels I’ve ever done. It’s a drift snorkel, so you do have to be mindful of the current (dangerous rip tide at the end) but that just meant popping your head up from time to time. No biggie.
Aside that, some places off Palawan in the Philippines were amazing & relatively untouched when I went.
Overall – there are SO MANY fantastic places to snorkel!!
Sadly, I can’t scuba due to ear issues ???? – which broke my heart after a fair while of trying.
But!! There’s beauty with snorkelling & I still get to see cool marine life and relax, just not go as deep.
I want too do that snokeling ?. .
No, you can also do fresh water snorkeling.
Is that the only time to snorkel, when you are near the ocean? What about fresh water snorkeling?
Hi Steve,
Wow, sounds amazing, it’s not often you’re able to get such good places all for yourself. Thanks for sharing!
I am a 69 y/o American guy who retired to Cebu Philippines 6 years ago. Lived in Cebu City over 5 years took 3 or 4 vacation trips per year to different islands here with my Filopina wife, who admittedly is a bit younger than I (by 36 years) and who did not swim and was afraid of the water, after swimming with whale sharks, snorkeling in Palawan, Bohol, Apo Island in Negros and surfing in Siargao, all in the Philippines, she has found a love of snorkeling. Two months ago we moved from the city to Oslob in south Cebu, and literally right across the road one of the best coral reefs and marine sanctuary’s in the country, we are often the only ones in sight, (no tourism because of covid) We are in the water twice a day, at low tide and high tide, there are advantages to both times. Thank you for your article there are some helpful tips I will pass along to my wife, I am teaching her how to free dive now and life is good.
I loved the Philippines for snorkeling, it was amazing
Hi my friends
That was very good information about snorkeling.
I started snorkeling a year ago(2019) during Corona In Kish Island, Iran, and 5 days a week I go snorkeling, before this, I was a natural tour leader in Iran and I saw lots of beautiful scenes but in snorkeling, I can say I saw the most beautiful scenes in my life especially in Kish Island.
Thanks for such an informative article about snorkeling. I’ve just retired and have wanted to learn to snorkel. Was a strong swimmer in my youth so your article gives me some confidence to seriously consider snorkeling. I will be traveling in country while COVID continues.
I will definitely going to take swimming classes after this pandemic for sure…
Thanx for the info.
Enjoyed this article
Heber is here and Snorkeling in Great Belize Barrier Reef is amazing. Also, they have 3 of 4 atolls in the western hemisphere and the Great Blue hole within one of these Atolls. Amazing Experiences 100’s different locations and a lot of marine life.
I’m born and raised Belizean and grew up in the ocean and this article is my first time reading it and its sounds exactly just like me when I’m explaining to my visitors how to snorkel properly. It made me connect deeply that they are people out there that do care about the environment and teach other to do what we love and wish we could live in. #Ocean Time
It’s good to learn that you should take slow and regular breaths when learning how to snorkel. My wife and I are wanting to go on a tropical vacation and we were wondering how to snorkel. I’ll be sure to tell her that we should take regular and slow breaths if we try to snorkel.
Coiba–a protected group of islands in the Pacific side of Panama has stunning schools of fish and a wide variety of pelagic species. What makes it pristine and beautiful is that it has not been developed (yet). There are also beautiful hard and soft corals and really good chances of seeing Dolphins and Whales on the trip out and back.
I love this advice. I’ve been swimming, completely submerged underwater, mainly in pools, since 2000 and on Nov. 3rd of this year, I purchased a mask/snorkel set because I couldn’t stay underwater for long since I had to surface for air & the water obscured my vision as I swam. Now, all I need is a pair of flippers and I’ll be all set for snorkeling. This is good advice for anyone who loves snorkeling!
Thank you very much for sharing this. It really helped to learn more about snorkeling as I’m very new to it.
Definitely gonna come back to this site for more.
Was teaching my wife to snorkel in our public pool. I found an engagement ring. Week late I saw a “lost” ad, called it and returned it to the owner. Not the best scenery in the pool but the relief on this lady’s face was almost as nice as anything I have seen in the Caribbean.
I like that you brought up how you should practice swimming to prepare for your snorkeling trip. My brother has recently invited me to go snorkeling with him soon. I’ll try to get better at swimming before we go snorkeling.
Hi Eva,
It’s really great to hear about your beginning in snorkeling. It’s a really great approach.
If you have issues diving down, you can level out your buoyancy by adding weight(make sure you can eaely drop them). But I’d strongly advise that you gain some experience in snorkeling before you start doing this.
Regarding your mask/googles: I’d strongly advise you to buy a snorkeling mask that covers nose as well. Once you start diving down, you’ll also experience the water pressing on your face and if you can’t equalize this pressure be exhaling abit of air through your nose, you’ll risk getting a mask-squeeze.
Thank you for the advice! Im going to try this out next weeks vacation, ive spent enough time dreaming about it.
Even if i have no idea what im doing aside this guide and i know nobody who does it. But if i figured out how to swim, to a point where i can swim underwater, then ill figure this out too.
I need to try that diving way out too, so far i could go down only if i exhaled first. If i take a breath no matter how hard i try swimming down the water pushes me up stronger, like some beach ball. If i push myself down by the ladder and try to swim from there i still get pushed up in seconds, even if i swim downwards, my legs coming up first xD.
I wonder how should i pick my gear though?
I only have a pair of swimming googles, without nose cover, but i use clip too, because i couldnt figure out how to keep water out of my throat without it, i tried blocking with my tongue even, and also i loose my eyesight completely if water enters my nose, even if in the shower, and my head hurts like hell for a while. This too, i cant figure why.
For snorkeling, you need to keep any “standard sport” consideration. Snorkeling can be hard at times, event though we try to relax and stay calm it’s important to be able to swim if needed.
Hi Torben,
I have asthma (well controlled) but I swim around the coast of Limassol, Cyprus. Is there anything I need to know before attempting to snorkel or scuba dive. PS. I am not a young man but reasonably fit and would love to see up close what is beneath the surface of the water. The instruction you give is very encouraging and I would certainly like to know more. My nephew is a scuba diving instructor in Ras Mohammed and it would be nice to join him for a dive one day.
Regards
Hi Dawn,
We can’t give you a definitive answer, but it’s not common for sharks to attack humans. We’re not part of their food chain, and the blood a shark usually detects usually comes from fish(cold-blooded) and not of humans (warmblood).
That said when in nature, there’s always a risk. The shark attacks we sometimes see (please note, that the chances of being attacked by a shark are very small), are a case of miss-identification by the shark. The sharks see a human as a seal or an animal it would usually attack, and then attacks.
The fear we have of sharks a based on movies link Jaws etc. not logic. It’s far more dangerous to be in the traffic of most cities than be swimming in waters with sharks.
There’s so little chance of a shark attach, as humans are not part of the food chain.
Hi,
Somewhat delicate topic here but I you would be / have experts who could answer this question with authority. My daughter and son in law are visiting the Galapagos Islands in August, which is, as many are likely aware, a significant shark habitat. My daughter has just realized that she will be on her feminine cycle at that time, and she is trying to determine whether her condition, despite internal feminine protection, could put her at greater risk of having unintentional close encounters with the animals.
Can anyone up here give us a definitive answer on whether she can safely snorkel, or point us to someone who can answer that question?
Please advise and thank you!
Best way to get a tan for sure :) Thanks for sharing your love for snorkeling!
I live on Oahu, and snorkling is my favorite thing because it is relaxing, and I can easily tan my backside which I don’t like to do on the beach!
I want too do that snorkeling ?. .
Hi Nick,
Thank you for sharing your experience! I’m sorry to hear you had a bad snorkeling experience but really glad to hear that you’ll give it another try. It’s a completely different world, but once you get settled in it’s remarkable! Please keep us updated with how it goes next time when you try out snorkeling.
Best regards
Torben
Hi
Went snorkling with my family in Khao Lak, Thailand. I’m a non swimmer and had/took no prior advice. Big mistake ..
I found it terrifying Tbh as I had done no research and thought “how hard could it be”.
I couldn’t get used to the virtual zero gravity environment if the ocean, and even with bouyancy jacket felt my head pitch forward.. I also felt vertigo. Sadly I couldn’t participate in the next days snorkling adventure.
I wish I had found your site as everything you advise for beginners in my case is 100% Accurate.
First thing In going to do back home is learn how to swim..and come back next year !!!
Regards, Nick