Snorkeling can be a frightening activity due to lack of understanding about the ins and outs of the activity. To overcome this fear, it is essential to do research, choose a good location, go with a friend, take a snorkeling class, use proper snorkel gear, consider using full face snorkel masks, take a swim class, and breathe normally.
When snorkeling, it is important to stay close to shores with no riptides or strong currents and build up your level of comfortable deep water. If you feel nervous about deep water, don’t hide it. There are five reasons why you might be scared of snorkeling: 1.1) You don’t know what to expect, 1.2) You’re not a strong swimmer, and 1.3) You don’t panic.
To overcome fear, take a more empathetic approach and understand why you are afraid of snorkeling or swimming. There are various methods to keep your snorkeling mask clear of water, but it is crucial not to panic. If your mask fills up with water, it is best to remove it underwater if you want.
Panicking is the worst thing you can do, especially if you’re a non-swimmer, as it can disrupt your breathing and waste valuable energy. By following these tips, you can overcome the fear of snorkeling for the first time and enjoy the thrill of underwater adventures.
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I almost drowned at Saint Johns USVI snorkeling the East side of Hawksnest bay. I lived there at the time and was an avid snorkeler but I swam from near the beach where we moored my friends boat all the way to the point by Perkins Cay. While heading back a storm blew in bringing heavy rain and wind. It got choppy I was exhausted and then one of my legs started to cramp. I barley made it to a mooring bouy in the middle of the bay and clung to it till I thought I was strong enough to make it back. I did but barely, it scared the you known what out of me and I never snorkeled again without a inflatable vest. No one had a clue about my situation as they all went down into the boat when the rain started and it was also off season we were one of the few vessels in the bay that day.
Everyone always says to never swim alone, which is a good recommendation, but I humbly recommend not stopping there. Talk to your swimming buddies about how to signal distress to each other, have a general plan for what to do when someone is in trouble, and practice rescuing each other. (It is much harder to swim supporting an unconscious person than you would expect. You don’t want the first time you try it to be when your friend’s life is on the line).
Back in the early 90s I spent a few years living in Tenerife. I wouldn’t class myself as a strong swimmer at all, but I loved snorkelling, and on several occasions I used to snorkel about a mile around the coast to our appartement. I never felt in any danger at all (apart from the fear of sharks I had 😆) and with those flippers it was almost effortless. So I had to watch this article because if there was one water activity with all those deaths attributed to it, I would not have guessed in a million years that it was snorkelling 😮 I would probably blame the amount of cheap snorkel equipment online for a start, and I find those full face snorkels particularly scary. To anyone tempted to buy one of those – Don’t! You’re not a f@cking navy seal, a simple J pipe is probably the best design for simplicity, and when you need it to breathe, you need it simple 👍
It’s interesting to see pressure as the cause of fluid build up in lungs as the mechanism. I remember always finding that I have extra mucus to cough out of my lungs after snorkeling and attributed this to humid air and evaporation from my own breathing condensing back into the lungs. This study explains it well!
I’m a fairly experienced snorkeler but I did a snorkel tour on my last cruise holiday. It was probably a lot safer than I felt. The water wasn’t rough. But I was definitely not doing well. I didn’t feel safe because I didn’t have a designated buddy. I covered this by staying real close to the tour guides. But my heart was pounding and my breathing was certainly on the wild side. Looking back on it, I made the right call to stay on the boat and not swim the last area. I’d decided to keep the poor girl who’d been stung by a blue bottle company. I don’t think I’d ever go on another snorkel tour again. I also wonder just what affect undiagnosed high blood pressure might have had.
Open water snorkeling is a serious activity that most people think is completely safe. They think that because they have no experience with open water dangers. I do agree that all water sports should be done in pairs or in groups. My guess is that nearly all of these deaths occured in people who were alone.
As a kid I snorkelled by myself many times never thinking I was in any danger. But then there was the time I took a day scuba diving trip on a big catamaran, also as a kid, from the hotel on the beach in Hawaii, and we were as a group suiting up to go diving. At some point they said to jump in the water, but I had forgotten to inflate my buoyancy compensation vest. I also didn’t have my mouth piece (regulator) in my mouth, or maybe it fell out when I jumped in, but anyway, I sank like a stone. I had to kick my feet like hell to get to the surface. I couldn’t find my regulator as I desperately tried to stay on the surface, so I then grabbed the Buoyancy compensation inflation tube and blew it up until I could float. It scared the crap out of me and it appeared that no one even saw what happened, and I was like 14 years old! I could easily have drowned before anyone saw.
I knew a guy named Brad Day….little fella and from a very wealthy family from western Oregon…was walking the beach in Molokai Hawaii…..felt the urge to dive into a very rough and tumble surf…..he was 56, he also was athletic….alas he washed up on the shore and his 12 year old grandson tried mouth to mouth, he was dead (signs on the beach said “NO SWIMMING)!
Just some advice for anyone who inhales water into there lungs and you cough it up and think your ok, go to the emergency room or doctors, you can die from something called secondary drowning. Goggle it, you can save someones life. I found out about this after I inhaled salt water and Coughed for aat least a week like i still had water in my lungs. Luckily i got better. I found out later about secondary drowning.
Perhaps the problem with snorkeling is hypercapnia & respiratory acidosis induced pulmonary edema. As an open circuit scuba diver, I control my exertion and breath well within my air supply. Snorkelers can’t and are constantly exerting themselves while holding their breath while under water in a dive, and at the surface involuntarily, taking many short breaths – air volume that barely clears the snorkel, due to face being in the water, relaxation, excitement, hypothermia, fear of water getting in the snorkel, etc. snorkeling should be restricted to water less than chest depth unless certified as an open water snorkeler and equipped with fins and an inflatable buoyancy device or buoyancy compensator. Many snorkelers are unaware of the dangers of surf and riptides, corals & sea life. Snorkelers need to watch their breathing, just like scuba divers. Drown-proofing is another essential skill many snorkelers lack – if you become out of breath or get a mouthful of water, you need to know how to recover. Snorkeling seems like a very simple activity, but like scuba has many risks.
What a fantastic description of safety of scuba & snorkeling. Absolutely superb. Thank you for sharing this . I have heart problems, an abnormal heart rythum so snorkeling out of the question then, although scuba diving with full breathing apparatus is out of the question also ? I’d loved to learn to scuba dive . Many thanks for sharing such crucial information. With Love & Light from Niki here in the UK 🇬🇧 Stay safe 🙏🏻🙏🏾❤️💙💗
Thank you for the article was very informative! I have a question though. Shouldn’t that study include the amount of people participating in the water events? Fir example: Maybe there are 10,000x more snorkellers than free divers giving the number of deaths 200 and 44 respectively a completely different meaning!
I am a non-swimmer ( i can swim a little when i feel safe so I don’t really consider myself a swimmer). I am now in Aruba with my husband and we wanted to try snorkeling. We had a small accident when the waves where pulling us away from the shore (although we were very close to it, we could touch the ground). We struggled a bit to come back due to the full face mask. I didn’t realize it at first but then got much better once i removed it from my mouth. I thought i just got tired very quickly. Luckily we had each a buoy with us. Anyway, second try we went to some very very shallow waters where my husband was basically walking me. I didn’t want to risk it so he was so nice to hold my hand while I held into my buoy and enjoyed some safe snorkeling. We kind of marked a perimeter that was safe and sticked to it. There were some fishes and corals there so as my first time, it was cute. Better safe than sorry.
This seems like a thorough approach except there is a concern I have always had when traveling. Tourists are the ones using rented equipment. If they are cleaned with any disinfectant, it is not anything one would want to inhale. Any remnant of the disinfectant could cause bronchial irritation or even an allergic reaction which can lead to pulmonary edema.
I wonder how much of this is due to the recent health thing, that thing is known to cause lunge damage even after a seemingly mild case, I know I have it, and perhaps a lot more people also have reduced oxygenation capacity after getting the thing, which could contribute to breathing issues when doing above normal (to them) physical activities
Did they control if the salt concentration in the air that the snorklers breath may be a reason too? If you get salt water in your lungs the body tries to even out the mineral concentration of your blood with the mineral concentration in your lungs. The body does that by putting more water towards the higher concentration (in this case the lungs). As you are talking this was my theory why there was an edema.
It would be useful to see how many percent of each category (free diving, swimming, scuba) died. The large number of snorkeler fatalities could simply be attributed to the fact that more people snorkel than, say, scuba. So, if 1,000 people scuba and 100,000 snorkeled, and exactly 1% of each category suffered fatalities, then you would have 10 scuba fatalities and 1,000 snorkeling fatalities, but percentage-wise, it would be exactly the same, ie 1%
What the article/Survey doesn’t talk about is the average “Tourist” that come to Hawaii. Those with questionable swimming skills, over-weight, not use to being in an ocean environment, much less one like Hawaii, just for starters. I think the report said they tested 49 different snorkels. You can find about that many cheap foreign made snorkels right in Waikiki at the local ABC Store. I think they are on the right track, but clearly have a ways to go.
Best snorkel design? How do you find out what the best snorkel design is? How do you find the information about best air flow etc and which brands do you consider reputable? Giving this advise is all very well and pointing out the possible dangers of snorkeling is admirable. But, unless you can also give recommendations of design and reputable brands this info is just scare mongering in my opinion. I do however totally agree with your comments on full face snorkels. Also has there been any comparisons with other parts of the world where snorkeling is also a tourist activity?
I Snorkel in a Pool at my gym. From 2 to 3 Miles per Session. Doing Breath Holds from one end to the other. Along the Floor. 3′ 6″ to 7 or 9′ Depending on which pool I can use. Every now and then I get a Pain in my chest above the heart. Even at work. Last Night I did 220 Laps, No pain. Had some pain at work earlier in the day. I have Right Branch Bundle Block in my heart, Asthma like condition, Sinusitis. I have been using a Sherwood Tiga
Maybe I’ve missed something, I’ve been snorkeling and underwater metal detecting for over 20 years, for the last 12 years in cold water in Russia, in winter with a 9mm wetsuit and 24kg of weights. Never had the slightest problem despite often doing strenuous work underwater. I’m nearly 60 years old now and still doing it as often as weather permits. A few things, I would say, weight yourself to be neutral or very slightly buoyant and NEVER PANIC, also, if you feel not right, go home. Respect the sea, it’s the biggest most powerful thing on earth….
One man’s snorkeler is another man’s (or woman’s) free diver…it was called skin diving when I was growing up and we all learned to equalize and dove to 30 ft.and deeper for a minute or two during our skin diving adventures. I know that hard core (real?) free divers go much deeper. Just saying there’s a fine line.
i am dead set against ful face mask snorkel, a few times i was snorkelinmg with ppl waring them and 3 times i had to interveene as the person waring the ful face type snorkel was in serious distres, i have been snorkeling sinds i was a kid and i wood not tuch those type of full face mask snorkels with a 10 feet pole .
gosh, you are scaring me.. i never used a snorkel and I am going to cancun in one week and I’m planning to use one.. I bought gear and everything… i dont plan to dive only stay on top with a life vest… i bought ultra dry snorkel. How long should i wait to snorkel after 5 hr flight. no no no, i dont esnt to br scared.
Very informative, never heard of this. I wonder if they’re breathing very shallow and Using a lot of physical energy and their carbon dioxide level builds up till they pass out, then they float there till there till there larynx relaxes and water goes in there lungs at that point. Nobody notices and they basically drown. It would happen to tourists more cause they do not know how to breath properly through a snorkel and relax. They are totally out of there environment and are using lots of unnecessary energy cause they have no ideas how to snorkel and fins efficiently. People die all the time because they go into a environment that they know nothing about. It is so easy to die quickly in the ocean.