First impressions of snorkelling

First impressions of snorkelling, by Eric from the Atelier Bleu

To being snorkelling, in good conditions, you need as a minimum, away of seeing underwater (mask or swimming goggles) and a floating device to lean on and to be seen!

Choose a part of the beach where it is easy to enter the water, preferably a zone where there is sand or small rocks to avoid any fears you may have about what is under the surface!

Here is a tip for that first foray into the underwater world, an important moment that should not be missed, the shift from land to water.

Far from being just anecdotal, the moment when Homo Erectus (literally "upright man") leaves terra firma to float around in the ocean is very important! Finding new reference points, new supports, allowing the water to enter the ears, and feeling the weightlessness of the body are just some of the new feelings that disorientate your senses.

Give yourself time to get used to these new reference points. The light is different, the field of view is slightly restricted by the mask, the depth of this field of view is restricted with increasingly darker blue tones, the breathing is different, through the mouth if you are using a snorkel or clipped if you lift your head out of the water… All these impressions need to be analysed, understood, accepted, in order to learn about the surroundings and gradually become more interested in them…

This step will be considerably easier if you have a floating device to support you when your feet leave the bottom. This substitution of physical reference points is reassuring, facilitates the horizontal position, makes it easier to get used to the breathing technique if you are using a snorkel and gives you some form of support that you recognise before seeing nothing but the vanishing reference points that are typical of the underwater world…