The Undersea Park at Grand Isle

To enjoy the snorkeling trails you should become comfortable with basic skills such as using your mask and breathing through your snorkel, clearing your mask and snorkel of water, preventing mask fog, operating your snorkeling vest, executing a proper surface dive, and kicking with fins.

The Simple Skill of Snorkeling

After you receive your Snorkel Pack take a few minutes to make sure your mask, fins, snorkel vest and rash guard fit comfortably. Your mask should snug up to your face with a little inhale from your nose, the strap on the mask should be snug but not too tight, and your snorkel should be attached to the left side of your mask strap. The fins should be snug on your feet.

Comfort is Key

To really enjoy snorkeling is to get comfortable wearing your mask and breathing through your snorkel. If you wish, you can take a few minutes to practice in the pool before venturing out to the trails.

Once at the beach, stand in shallow water (without your fins for now) and practice by bending over and putting your face in the water with your mask on and your snorkel in your mouth. Look around and breathe until you are comfortable. Now lie down and float in place. Breathe normally and relax… you are on your way!

Mask & Snorkel Clearing

Exhale forcefully through your snorkel on the surface and the water should clear easily.

To clear out your mask, simply lift your head out of the water and pull the bottom of the mask slightly away from your face to allow the water to drain out or simply blow air out of your nose while you push against the top of your mask while it is on and the water will be pushed out of the bottom.

Mask Fogging

To prevent mask fogging use a defog treatment inside your mask before you begin snorkeling for the day. If it fogs while you are snorkeling, let a little water into the mask to wash the fog away and then clear it out. Sun block lotions inside the mask will cause fogging for sure. Using a defog solution before you begin is best!

Kicking with Fins

First, we never want to walk around in our fins on the pool deck or out of the water. It is easy to tip over or trip. It is best to put your fins on in the water.

Keeping your feet and fins underwater, slowly kick or “flutter’ your legs gently and slowly from the hip. Practice turning and changing direction and remember to try and keep your arms at your sides while swimming to reduce drag and effort. Your legs and fins should offer plenty of power to move you through the water. It is not necessary to swim with your arms while snorkeling.

Floating

Salt water is fairly dense and allows most humans to float very easily. To ensure your comfort we recommend that you use the snorkeling vest provided in your snorkeling pack. We also recommend that you practice putting air in and out of your vest in the pool before you venture unto the snorkeling trail. The vest is great to use if you are a bit tired or like having extra floatation while on the reef.

Surface Dives

Inevitably you are going to want to drop down under the water for a closer look. To do a surface dive, kick forward, bend at the hips, point your arms down and raise your legs straight up. Your body should glide down into the water. Arch your back toward the surface when you are at your desired depth and continue to kick. To come up simply look to the surface and kick gently as you rise. When you arrive back on top clear your snorkel and continue on.

If you have air in your snorkeling vest it will be nearly impossible to make a surface dive so let the air out before your dive.