Snorkeling Questions
 

We will be visiting Hawaii this summer for the first time. I have never been snorkeling and know very little about it - I would appreciate anyone who could answer some questions for me.

Can you snorkel if you can't swim? My husband and sons are strong swimmers, but I am a very weak swimmer and uncomfortable in the water. Can I snorkel wearing a life jacket/ski belt?

Can you wear glasses or contact lenses while snorkeling? Both myself and one of my sons are extremely nearsighted - he wears glasses, I wear contacts (hard gas permeable ones if that matters).

Has anyone tried Ann Fielding's Snorkel Maui? Her website makes it sound like a good choice for me.

Thanks for all your help.

I have contacts and have never had a problem with snorkeling (as long as the mask fits). There are also some rental places that have pop-out mask glass to put in stonger glass for those needing glasses. Personally, I'm a stong swimmer and didn't mind wearing a life jacket once in a while for snorkeling. However, I wear it around my waist instead of around my neck so that it was super easy to float-I'd say go for it!

I would encourage you to go to a local pool (YMCA, etc) and try snorkeling. While the ocean can present a number of challenges a pool cannot, It should give you a pretty good idea on how you'd perform. FYI- If you snorkeling from shore and have some swimming abilities, you should be ok.

I have not snorkeled in Maui but you should be able to go out with a snorkeling boat that includes lunch and equipment. My BF cannot swim so I bought snorkeling vests that we could use-- they were terrific. The tour boat also had waist floating devices and even innertubes available for non-swimmers. The employees are lifeguards and keep an eye on the snokelers. Some even floated around on surfboard to make sure everyone is okay. I think this is a great way to do it if you are a beginner. After this one outing on the Big Island we felt comfortable to do it on our own. I bought my own gear, but as I said they do provide equipment and I think rental places can provide magnifying or even prescription snorkels. Don't miss out--snokeling is a blast!

I would recommend you purchase a mask and prior to your trips, practice, and when you get to Hawaii, just snorkel off of the beach. THat way if you wanted, you could just duck your head under water while standing and see them if you feel uncertain about floating. When we were in Kauai there were tons of fish off the beaches. No need to purchase a group outing for snorkeling, unless you just want to. Sometimes when you rent the items, they don't fit very well, etc. If y ou have your own stuff, you can snorkel every day if you want.

Thanks for all your advice and the encouragement to try snorkeling.

I live in a rural area and will have to drive 2 hours to purchase the snorkeling gear and try it out at an indoor pool (the outdoor pool in my town won't open til Memorial day and we will leave on June 8) so I probably won't get much practice in before our trip.

I will definitely try snorkeling off the beach and will at least consider an outing and using some type of flotation.

Thanks again and I would be glad to hear from anyone else who has any advice!

I prepurchased all my snorkeling gear from Joe Diver online. Snorkeling equipment is inexpensive and if you have your own the quality is much better than what is provided or rented.

Although you can snorkel right at the beach--we did this in Oahu, if it is busy people kick up a lot of sand and visibility can be poor. (However, if you are walking down lava on the BI this is not a problem--just make sure you have reef shoes and gloves--it is sharp and my hands learned that the hard way)

My BF not only does not swim our snorkeling trip was the first time he was ever in water deeper than his height! The snorkel vest and the knowledge that 6 lifeguards were watching made it very easy for him to conquer his anxiety. When your family all have their faces in the water it is easy to get separated.

Contacts should work fine. As for your son, you can purchase a mask with his prescription in it. It's not cheap but well worth it for those who need it.

I think if you use the hotel pool to practice snorkeling that you'll get the hang of it after a few tries. For me, it was a question of controlling your breathing. You didn't mention fins. Fins are great because they give you more control. And they're not so expensive. Get some fins.

I wear an older set of contacts that I keep just for snorkeling-the prescription is a little off, but water is a magnifier so I find it quite clear-got to keep them clean in between. We also found that purchasing your gear in Hawaii at a true dive shop provided quality equipment at not much money. The first time we snorkled we pre-purchased gear at a local sport everything mart
and it was 100% crap. We are very good swimmers, so our first day out in the water ended in about 30 mins after leaky masks. Whatever $ we saved wound up in the trash can. Go over and get fitted by an experienced person. Perhaps you could rent a mask and fins(I would buy a snorkle)and per -Tandoori Girl's excellent suggestion about testing out the feel of things in your hotel pool. The fins will assist your floatation. You could also wear a lightweight short wetsuit or jacket as suggested. I encourage you to go and have fun!

kcinmo
I am NOT a strong swimmer AT ALL but I have snorkeled in Mexico, St Thomas,Hawaii and Tahiti. All with a life vest and under safe conditions (meaning with a group)A great experience. You can do it and you will be glad you did!

I'm still a little bit uncomfortable in the ocean but we snorkel a lot. I discovered last year on Maui that you can get a snorkel vest--it's not really a life jacket, but this vest that you can inflate to your own preference level. I liked it because it gave me extra buoancy if I had to tread water to adjust something but wasn't inflated to its full bulkiness. Snorkel Bob had them, other places might.

Snorkeling isn't really "swimming" per se, all you have to do is work up the gumption to stick your face in the water and just gently float on your stomach and kick. It's easy.

I wear soft contacts when I snorkel and it's fine. You can get prescription masks, but the problem with that for me is that my eyes are so bad (nearsighted) that if I pulled off the prescription mask, I wouldn't be able to see at all, so contacts work a lot better for me.

Let me know if you have any more questions!

love
roxy

Snorkeling is so easy. Anyone of any size or health can do it. I snorkled for the very first time at age 37 and was extremely nervous about it as I am not a strong swimmer. I could probably save myself, but just barely. I fell in love with it (snorkeling, that is). Put the mask and fins on, and just lay on top of the water. It may take you a couple of minutes (literally - no more than a minute or two) to get your breathing under control and in rhythm, but believe me, if I can, anyone can.

Most decent dive shops can fix you up with corrective lens masks -- not exactly prescription, but close enough to enjoy the experience.

You will be surprised at how quickly you become acclimated to the water. Just don't touch the coral - it damages it - and wear a swim belt or snorkle vest if you feel uncomfortable about your ability to float.

I highly recommend this as a leisurely activity. I was surprised at how soothing this was.

The first time my family tried snorkeling we did it with an organized trip to Molokini. It was expensive but worth it to me especially worry-wise as I could ask all the questions I wanted and get all the instruction needed easily. They had wonderful belts that helped us to float so we didn't have to concentrate on swimming - just on snorkeling. They had a little board with a window for my young son who was water-wary to lie on and watch the fish below him. I'm not saying you have to do such a trip but you might enjoy some sort of organized experience for the first time, "get your feet wet" and then try it on your own. We found we loved the experience and then bought our own equipment to do it on our own. Have a great time!

Thanks again for all the great responses.

I was very hesitant to try the snorkeling, but I was afraid I would regret it if I didn't. You all have convinced me that I can do it!

The only thing I didn't see mentioned was water bouyancy. I have done most of my snorkeling off the beaches of St John USVI where the salt content makes the water very bouyant which makes it much easier to float. If the same is true of the water around Hawaii, this will help your confidence level. I wore a life vest when we snorkeled off a boat during rough water. Fins help tremendously. It is incredible to watch fish. Sometimes there are little ones that will cluster around a sea fan and just move with the current. Everybody in rythm. Since we were snorkeling in fairly shallow water, I used a regular mask. It would be great however to have one with better magnification. You might be surprised how much time you spend in the water when you snorkel. We always wore t-shirts to help prevent sunburned backs.

Yes -- you can do it and you will be very glad you did. Glad we could help.

Yes -- you can do it and you will be very glad you did. Happy we could help.

Oops -- thought I had changed my message before it went through. I Realized two "glads" seemed one too many. That will teach me to hit the return button too soon before proof-reading! (sheepish)

Snorkeling is wonderful! You can see so much! My 2 teens and I went snorkeling for the first time in Cancun 2 yrs. ago, and we loved it. None of us are very good swimmers, but it didn't matter. We had on life jackets and felt very safe. I would definitely advise getting an elastic band or something similar for your son's glasses. My son lost an expensive pair of sunglasses snorkeling, and there was no way of getting to the bottom to look for them with the life jacket on. (Also, you would get water in your snorkel.) I promise, you will enjoy the experience.

We just returned from Kauai and rented our snorkle stuff from Snorkel Bob's because we didn't want to lug the snorkel equip. we brought the previous year while in the Big Island. (it takes up so much room in a suit case!) We rented their highest quality and it was only $30 each a week. You don't even have to return it at the location you rent it at, we returned it at another on our way to the airport. Because the mask fit so well, I had absolutely no problem with my soft contact lenses. I brought extra pairs on the trip, just in case, but none came out. I think the boat trips are great your first time, but after that, it's a piece of cake, just read the guide books on where to snorkel and watch the surf conditions. We had a blast! We loved Kee and Tunnels beach on Kaui.