Snorkeling, and is it fun?

Question

I'm going on a cruise trip with my mom, and thought I was going diving. Apparently, I'm going snorkeling as well. I'm a little disapointed but wonder if I should be. Is snorkeling as fun as scuba diving? Is there any point of really making a mini trip of it or can I just do it on my own? It doesn't sound very exciting but I've never done so... I just get the image of floating around on the surface of the water, but I dont want to jump to conclusions or anything... opinions?

Answer 1

Snorkeling is great in shallow water.  Say up to 30ft deep.  You don't have all that clunky scuba gear to worry about and you don't have to sit through a long class to do it.  If you're a halfway decent swimmer and can hold your breath for 30 seconds or more, you'll be able to dive down to get close up looks at the coral and reef fish.  No constant bubbles to scare them either.  Most important thing is to make sure your mask fits properly before going in.  Nothing messes up a snorkeling trip worse than a leaky mask.  Have fun.

Answer 2

In the right locations, snorkelling is a blast. Yes, you are floating around, but in the right locations, the fish will swim right by you, even bump into you like you aren't even there. I have only been diving once, and of course it was amazing, but I am not certified, and carrying around the large tank is quite heavy. I go snorkelling everywhere I go, and I love it. Don't be discouraged, trying new things can be fun if you give them a chance.

Answer 3

I've gone snorkeling and love it.  You can dive if you want, you just don't have a breathing tank on your back so you can breath underwater.  Unless you are a licensed SCUBA diver, you won't be able to scuba dive.  You can however, do something called SNUBA and you don't need to be licensed to do that.  You are hooked up to air lines on the boat and you put on a special mask that allows you to break underwater.  Maybe look for something like that.

Answer 4

I've gone snorkeling several times, it's a blast. You can dive as deep as you can hold your breath. That being said, you do mostly just float on top of the water. Normally the places that you are taken to snorkel are all shallow water, not places you would be scuba diving anyway. You will love it as those places are full of fish and beautiful coral. Normally to get PADI certified to dive takes about at least a month and that is just for a beginner. Some places will train you over the course of a half dozen training dives, but even then you need to dive with instructor afterward. Diving without getting certified first would be very dangerous. Honestly unless your mom is going to train too, it probably isn't worth the effort to learn to dive just for a cruise.

Trust me, you will love to snorkel. It's much more exciting than you think. If you get the chance to Snuba, you should try that too. They take you to a little deeper water and you can act like you were scuba diving. That being said, other than the total immersion of water and breathing it's not really like scuba diving. The air hoses to the tanks on the raft are not all that long so you don't get to go exploring like Scuba.