Snorkeling for the First Time by Green Edventures Student Laura Voorhees

My first snorkeling experience was very exciting yet scary. I love being in and under the water but being able to breathe and look underwater was quite different. It was sort of a claustrophobic feeling at fist because you know that your in water so your brain says hold your breath but having a snorkel gives you the advantage to still breathe.

We began our first snorkel, which was pretty much just the basics, in Fox Canyon. We had to begin with goggles on, snorkels in our mouths, and our faces in the water while we floated for 5 minutes. This was sort of complicated because one, we were in fresh water so you are less buoyant, and two, it is really hard for me to float, especially face down. After the float, we learned how to swim with our fins on. This wasn't too hard. Next was the free-dive. This was probably the more complex thing to learn. In free-diving you have to go from horizontal to vertical and equalize from the moment you start. Equalizing is how you control the change in pressure from the water of the water on your body as you get deeper. To equalize we hold our nose and push air through your nose at the same time, just like you make your ears pop (on a plane). Its pretty simple to learn, just complicated if you don't do it correctly.

Snorkeling is a great experience. You can see so many animals or other living things under the water. The best part of my snorkeling experience was probably swimming with the giant whale shark and of course seeing all of the fish. There are so many different kinds. I am glad I got to have this experience because many don't get the opportunity to. I definitely plant to (snorkel) in the future.