How adventurous are you? Do you live near the Adventure Aquarium in New Jersey? Grab your swimsuit because you can jump in the water with the sharks! YIPPEEEEE – For $165.00, you can go snorkeling with the sharks, barracuda and stingrays. “Dan Russo, aquarium biologist, said there are three different species of sharks in the exhibit. There are brown or sand bar sharks, sand tiger sharks and nurse sharks, he said. The brown sharks are the most inquisitive and the nurse sharks just sit and cuddle. I call them best friends.” This interview was conducted by Kelly Roncace, NJ.com.

The Adventure Aquarium also offers a fun adventure with the Seals for only $145.00 and you get to meet up close the grey and harbour seals and learn how to communicate with them and feed them treats.

One of my favorite creatures is the penguins and the Adventure Aquarium also offers an upclose program with the Black footed African Penguins. You will have the opportunity to learn how the aquarium cares and feeds them and you can even help with training.

Snorkels are designed to allow the user to breathe while keeping their face under the water. In order for this to happen, the mouthpiece end needs to be in the mouth and the non mouthpiece end of the tube needs to remain above the waterline. Should the entire snorkel go below the waterline, one of two things will happen:

1. An open end snorkel or semi-dry snorkel will fill with water, cutting off the access of air to the user.

2. A dry snorkel will close off the top portion of the snorkel meaning that no water will get in but again the access to the air at the surface is cut off to the user.

For more information on how to chose a snorkel, read Snorkels, Select the Right One.

The reason for the snorkel tube’s length has a lot to do with what is called dead air space. When you breathe in normally you take air into your lungs where it is utilized. Respiration only takes place in the lungs but there are air spaces such as the sinus cavities, mouth, and windpipe that also get filled with air upon inhalation. The air in these areas is not being metabolized or used. This is in essence “dead air”. Your lungs are able to bring enough air in past these dead air spaces to get the supply that they need in order to function. Add a snorkel into the picture and you have added another “dead air”. Air is there but the body is not using it. Granted having a longer snorkeling tube does not sound bad so far but the problem with having a longer snorkeling tube has more to do with your exhalation. When you exhale most of what you are exhaling is carbon dioxide which is poisonous to the human system. Your exhalation goes out the same way it comes in which mean it travels through the same dead air spaces that were along the path during your inhalation. You don’t get rid of all of the carbon dioxide when you exhale as these dead air space are also holding on to some of it. Your next inhalation will contain some carbon dioxide from those dead air spaces but the lungs are big enough to take in that as well as getting enough good air to still function properly. Adding the snorkel, which you inhale and exhale through means, that you will be inhaling some of your exhalation from that as well. The snorkels of today, are made so that the body can still get enough fresh air into the lungs. If you made the tube longer then you would be re-breathing more of what you exhaled which is not a good thing.

You might have noticed that snorkels for children, are shorter than snorkels for adults. The reason for this difference is that the child’s lung capacity is less than that of an adult. A child using a snorkel meant for adults will not be able to “breathe past” the dead air spaces to get enough of the good air that their bodies need to continue functioning properly.

My apologies to the people who addressed the issue of our lungs not being able to pull air down a tube greater than 2 feet in length. I was remiss in not completely answering the question with regard to that and I should actually have started out my answer with “One of the reasons for the snorkel for the snorkel tube’s length has to do with what is called dead air space.” The answers given regarding our lungs not being able to pull the air down is correct with regard to tubes that would be over 2 feet in length. My answer was addressing the part of the question of “Why are the tubes on snorkels so short?” which does deal with being able to breathe past dead air spaces. I am quoting the following from this link on Wikipedia.

“The maximum usable length of the snorkel tube is around 40 centimetres (about 16 inches). A longer tube would place the lungs in deeper water where the surrounding water pressure is higher and the lungs would be unable to inflate when the snorkeller inhales, because the muscles that expand the lungs are not strong enough to operate against the higher pressure.[1] Snorkels also create what is called “dead air space”—when the user takes in a fresh breath, some of the previously exhaled air remains in the snorkel and is recycled into the lungs, reducing breathing efficiency and causing CO2 retention. The greater the volume in the device, the more this problem is exacerbated.”

My apologies that my answer was (pun intended) not “deep enough.”

To learn the difference on snorkels, read Snorkels – Select the Right One.

Have you seen the new snorkel equipment piece that is called FishFlips? It is a great snorkel tool that is waterproof, wearable around your wrist and a UV coated book with over 80 pictures of fish. The FishFlips are easy to read the names of common fish seen by snorkelers in Hawaii, Baja, South Pacific and the Caribbean. These fish ID books are fun for all ages and is a terrific learning tool for kids of all ages. The FishFlips are inexpensive and a great gift for those who are going on vacation.