I had someone email me and tell me that when they go snorkeling, sometimes they get a cramp in their foot while snorkeling. They wanted to know how to avoid this.
I told them there their maybe a couple of reasons may be a couple of reasons why you are cramping up while using fins.
1. You may have fins that are too small. If you are using full foot fins and you have wide feet or high arches, you will usually cramp up in the arch of the foot or the front part of the foot. If that is the case then I would suggest getting a more correct size or switching to strap fins.
2. Another answer could be that the blade portion of the fins you are using may be too stiff. Snorkelers use fins that have a reasonable degree of flexibility in the blade area to help reduce stress on the calf and thigh area of the user. The stiffer the blade, the greater the chance for cramping.
3. Or maybe you may be using improper kicking or kicking too hard.. When using fins the legs should be kept as straight as possible and the kick should be more from the hip rather than below the knee. If your knees bend when you are kicking then you are kicking too hard. Here is a video of a good example of a good snorkeling fin kick.
4. You may be low on potassium in which case bananas or avocados will help in that respect.
Well check out this new tool! How cool is this…. It is from WeatherUnderground.com and it is a site that shows to the day, what the water temperature is.
Do you see the bright red? That is water temperatures from 85 to 90 degrees, so it looks like if you want to snorkel in the warm waters, you better head to the South Pacific, Central America or South Africa.
U.S. Divers is a reputable brand for snorkel gear and they continue to rejuvenate their snorkel gear including their snorkeling fins. This video shows the Midwest Regional Sales Manager for Aqualung, U.S. Divers & Deep See, Jeff Wandschneider explain the difference of their most popular snorkeling fins, U.S. Divers Travel Trek Fins and the U.S. Divers Blast II Fins. Enjoy!
We often get asked a lot of questions and quite intelligent ones. How can I stay underwater longer was the most recent and so I went to go and research the answer.
I found a website about How to Hold to Hold Your Breath Longer that incorporates breathing exercises. You can also hold your breath longer by a process called hyperventilation. This involves taking 3 or 4 quick breaths in succession immediately before you go underwater. Place emphasis on your exhales by blowing as much air out of your lungs as possible. The last inhale before descending should be as deep as possible.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the gas that we need in order to trigger the brain to initiate the response to inhale. CO2 is the byproduct that results when the body metabolizes the Oxygen (O2) The body needs the CO2 to reach a certain level before it is triggered. Doing the forceful exhalations you are trying to get as much CO2 out of your lungs as possible. This extends the breath- hold by tricking the brain into thinking it doesn’t need to breathe.
I learned it eons ago and have taught it to a countless number of Scuba Divers and Snorkelers. I teach for Visibility Unlimited and it is extremely important that no more than 4 breaths be used because excess hyperventilation can cause you to pass out or experience what is called “Shallow Water Blackout“. Here is a link to an article I found on shallow water blackout. Being able to hold your breath longer in warm water than in cold water, is because your body works harder in colder water.
I received a very nice email from a fellow snorkeler, Amalia and she told me about how you (we) can go diving with the sharks in Maui, at the Maui Ocean Center.
Years ago, I have had the pleasure to visit the beautiful islands of Hawaii many times and I was totally unaware of this wonderful experience. (though this program might have just started in the last few years).
If you know scuba diving, you will know that the diving in Maui is not inexpensive. You will pay an average of $125.00 for 2 tanks and there is no guarantee what you will see. Here at the Maui Ocean Center, you will be in the water up to 2.5 hours for $199.00. You will experience in the 750,000 gallon tank, sharks stingrays and thousands of tropical reef fish.
Though the Maui Ocean Center only offers the experience of scuba diving, we hope that one day they will realize that us snorkelers would love to experience this adventure also.
While most of us might know how to wear a snorkeling vest, there might be some who never even seen a snorkeling vest and this is why we made this video. We hope you enjoy it. Oh and the actor is Roy (actually not an actor) but many of you know him for answering our phones and answering many of your snorkel gear questions. Enjoy!
Who says snorkel vests can’t be fashionable? Do you want to impress the fishies or those on the beach? Or just want to wear something fun!
SnorkelingOnline.com offers bright colors on our snorkel vests that include neon yellow, royal blue, gold and even hot pink. So you want to go more fun, maybe something with flowers? Well we can help you and we have a large selection of styles and colors.
For those who like something more masculine but still would like bright color snorkel vests, check out our snorkel vests that have a nice postcard print on them. And for those of you that like basic solid snorkel vests in bright colors, we also offer them in all styles.
For being in the travel industry for so many years, our number 1 job for a successful vacation was to qualify the traveler. Meaning find out exactly what they were looking for. Was it fine dining, beautiful beaches, historical sites, SNORKELING?? Whatever it was, I was to find the perfect vacation for our clients.
Well after many many years, I finally found a tool that did what I use to do… qualify your likes & dislikes. Fodors & Discover has teamed up to make this free internet tool, 80 DEGREES. Answer a few questions and they will give the top 10 destinations that you should travel to.
I tried it and found that 80 DEGREES is right on but I was disappointed to see that it only covered the Florida, Hawaii and the Caribbean. Hopefully within time, they will cover the rest of the world.
