Last Updated: December 5, 2023
On the surface, snorkeling may seem easy and hassle-free. However, a lot can go wrong especially if the snorkeler isn’t adequately skilled.
You see, all water sports come with their fair share of dangers and in some cases, a few wrong moves can even lead to death.
So, should one undertake training before trying out snorkeling? While this is not a formal requirement in most tourist destinations, experts think basic training is important for snorkeling.
Training can help you manage your breath while underwater. Likewise, it can help you regain your stability if the waters become choppy. Above all, training equips you with the ability to protect delicate aquatic life.
Read on to learn why you should consider snorkeling training.
Is Snorkeling Hard for Beginners?
Snorkeling is an easy-to-learn training for any person with a penchant for water sports. The adventure requires just the ordinary swimming skills to master. A snorkel vest can help if you’re a non-swimmer.
You would only have a difficult time if you fear large water surfaces, a situation that may require help before you can venture into snorkeling.
Why You Should Have Some Training Before Snorkeling
Snorkeling training is necessary for various reasons such as:
- Protection of the marine life: Skilled snorkelers know how to protect marine life. Inexperienced ones endanger the aquatic environment by touching or stepping on the corals, sometimes breaking them.
- Personal safety: A trained snorkeler is in a better place security-wise. When trained, you will understand the water currents, sea life threats, and be able to identify any risky conditions that can endanger your life.
- Enhance your adventure: A trained snorkeler has the confidence and ability to try a variety of techniques such as drift snorkeling. If you can barely swim, you will be anxious, and limited to only the water surface.
How Do You Train for Snorkeling?
Snorkeling training should include skills that improve your experience, enhance your security, and protect the environment.
These are some of the skills you should train for.
1. Swimming Techniques
Granted, it is possible to snorkel even if you don’t know how to swim since all you need is a float vest.
However, great swimming skills will free you from the restricting float jacket so you can enjoy your beautiful adventure.
When you are a good swimmer, you will also have the confidence to interact with the marine life. Above all, you’ll be less anxious about your safety when you’re skilled in basic water safety and navigational hacks.
2. Safe Breathing Techniques
When snorkeling on the water surface, you breathe normally using the snorkel pipe to draw air from the surface. However, in some cases, you may desire to take things a notch higher by diving deeper into the waters.
Try doing that with no skills and you’re likely to end up running out of breath before hitting the surface.
Deep breathing skills include the ability to time the period you can safely stay under the water. If you overstretch your stay in the waters, you may faint due to the lack of oxygen.
3. Gear Familiarity and Safety
Snorkeling gear enables you to view the underwater, as you swim on the water surface and breathe from the air above. The snorkel tube must stick out of the water for you to be able to breathe.
Snorkeling training will assist you to choose, and purchase the appropriate gear. You will also be taught the skills to maintain the equipment.
Some additional skills you will acquire from the training include how to defog your mask, and clear water from the snorkel while in the waters.
4. Environmental Safety
In addition to personal safety, snorkeling also prioritizes the protection of the marine environment. It is important that snorkelers leave the habitation as intact as they find it.
Some marine species get stressed by human contact and should be viewed from a distance. Sometimes uninformed snorkelers take food with them to attract marine animals, while in essence, it is harmful to them.
Training will equip a snorkeler with key information of human interaction with the aquatic nature.
Why You Don’t Need a License to Snorkel
Snorkeling is a simple water activity that is as easy as swimming. Hence the reason you do not need certification to engage in snorkeling.
These are the reasons why you do not need a license to snorkel.
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Skills
You only require swimming skills to snorkel since you do so at the ocean surface. If you are a non-swimmer, you can use a snorkel vest or life jacket.
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Water Surface
Snorkeling takes place at the water surface where you are safe from the risk of drowning, or an unlikely threat from a marine animal.
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Breathing
You use a mask to observe the underwater life as you float on the water surface. While at it, you breathe directly from the air, hence not at any risk of drowning.
My unbounded love for the oceans and everything it has to offer motivated me to pursue my passion and become a professional scuba diving instructor.
I keep reading, exploring, and learning more about scuba diving and the underwater world all the time, so I’m excited to share my knowledge with fellow scuba enthusiasts and hopefully contribute a little to your development as a diver. I want people to fall in love with the oceans with as much passion as I have. Read more about me here.