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.

Send me a postcard!

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.

I found a fun website that I thought I would share, National Parks Traveler, that talks about Americas National Parks. With our winter here, we all could use a break and I could not think of a better place to go snorkeling, in warm waters.

The site has a checklist for the U.S. Virgin Islands, that is a must to read. The Virgin Islands are located in the Caribbean and include St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John.

Of the three islands, St. John has the best snorkeling opportunities. I would suggest stopping at the visitor center in Cruz Bay to get a map of the best snorkeling sites. I wont go into details of lodging but they do have a very popular campground, Cinnamon Bay, which has fantastic snorkeling off of the beach and if you are not staying at Cinnamon Bay, you can still snorkel there.

In 2001 President Clinton established the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument to protect the coral reefs. The water surrounding the 12708 acres include coral reefs, seagrass bed, mangroves and sandy bottoms. A must for snorkelers.

Salt Pond Bay is another popular but quiet snorkeling site and sometimes called Concordia Bay which a trail leads you to the beach.

When you are packing your bags to go to St. John, dont forget your snorkeling gear. Have a fantastic vacation!

With the east coast getting hit with many feet of snow and us in Chicago are expected to get a few inches. But those that live in the north and especially in November-April, it is not unusal for us to think “snorkeling warm water” anywhere. Yep for us northerners, we travel a few times a winter to get through it.

I came accross a website that I thought would interest you. I personally have not had the opportunity to snorkel in the Dry Tortugas National Park but it looks like fun.

The Dry Tortugas National Park is located 70 miles West of Key West in Florida and only accessible by boat or plane. What is there to do at the Dry Torgugas? SNORKELING! Yep, pack up your snorkel equipment and jump on the ferry to experience the best snorkeling in the Keys.

They do have day trips that do include your snorkel equipment but because snorkel equipment is personal, you may want to bring your own snorkel mask, snorkel and snorkeling fins.

Snorkeling is such a famous family sport and I wanted to write about famous people who snorkels. Hmmm, who is the most famous snorkeler??? Being from Illinois, I have to choose President Obama and his family. President Obama who grew up in Hawaii, is not unfamiliar with the snorkeling in Hawaii. I found some old clips and news stories when President and family went snorkeling in Hawaii. But they all point to one snorkeling location, Hanauma Bay. Here is a snorkeling article from 2008 when the President visited Hawaii.

Now the major question… Does President Obama rent or own his own snorkel equipment?

Snorkel Equipment is a big part of snorkeling. Actually without it, you can not say you were snorkeling. I dont know what you would call it. That is just one question that we receive.

Our job is to make your snorkeling experience an enjoyable one and answering emails and the phone is part of our job. And I do have to giggle with some of the questions that we receive. Besides the common questions and comments about snorkel equipment, here is one of my favorites and I asked Roy to answer this. The common question is “Why am i so afraid of the ocean?”

It is quite common to have a “fear” of the ocean. It is huge and can be very intimidating. I am a scuba diver and did a lot of diving in lakes and freshwater bodies of water but it was a year before I did my first ocean snorkel trip with my new snorkel equipment.

I walked out onto the beach the first day and went “wow that’s big” (talking about the ocean not anything else LOL). You start thinking of things like how deep is it and what’s in there and until you actually go and do it, it can make you nervous. I have turned my fear into a healthy respect for the ocean and the more I snorkel it, the more respect I accrue.

The night before leaving for my ocean trip, I was too excited to sleep and ended up watching JAWS and JAWS II which really isn’t advisable before leaving for your first Ocean snorkel trip. When I got into the water though I was a little disappointed at not seeing a shark. I said “a little” disappointed mind you. I saw a lot of other neat critters thoughand am happy that I am one of those people who are able to explore the other 78% of this earth’s surface.

Find out the neat stuff about the ocean, grab your snorkeling mask and snorkel, begin to explore the shallow areas where you are comfortable. You will be surprised at some of the neat stuff you will see.

With summer upon us all, vacations are being planned. With the economy, well the way it is, drive vacations are very common. I came across this website that I would like to bring to your attention and could be valuable to all snorkelers in the Midwest.

In 1992 through 1997, Nancy Washburne drove in the spring, summer & fall, over a 1000 public access Michigan inland lakes and kept notes off every experience with detailed information of the vegatation, names of fish and the locations. Included with the print, she took over 80 hours of video in which PBS TV aired 3 programs, Michigan Out of Doors.

The name of the book, Snorkeling Guide to Michigan Inland Lakes is still a popular choice for those who would love to experience the fresh waters in Michigan.

Another part of our job is to go on the internet and answer snorkeling questions that we find and we will now share some with you, as you may have the same questions.

Going snorkeling and Im not the best swimmer, should I be worried? I know how to swim, float, backstroke, etc. But Im not sure how to tread water. I have been snorkeling before, but never without a flotation device. Im worried about staying afloat. Should I be or is it not even a big deal? Will I figure it out, sink, drown, etc?

One thing that is in your favor is that people are more buoyant in salt water than they are in fresh water. I would suggest using a snorkeling vest which is different than a divers’ flotation device (called a BCD). The snorkeling vest is usually worn deflated while snorkeling and is orally inflated when the snorkeler needs to rest. It can be worn partially inflated as well. There is nothing wrong with wearing the snorkeling vest as I feel, even those that swim well should wear one. It adds to a higher degree of visibility in the water because of the color and lends a hand when a hand is needed. Read, Snorkeling Vests – How to Select the Right One.

Why am i so afraid of the ocean? I like the beach and i can sit in the really shallow bits, I’m fine in pools to ???

It is quite common to have a “fear” of the ocean. It is huge and can be very intimidating. I am a snorkeler and did a lot of snorkeling in lakes and freshwater bodies of water. The first time I went to the ocean, I walked out on to the beach the first day and went “wow that’s big” (talking about the ocean not anything else LOL). You start thinking of things like how deep and what’s in there and until you actually go and do it, it can make you nervous. I have turned my fear into a healthy respect for the ocean and the more I go into it, the more respect I accrue. The night before leaving for my ocean trip, I was too excited to sleep and ended up watching JAWS and JAWS II which really isn’t advisable before leaving for your first ocean snorkeling trip. When I got into the water though I was a little disappointed at not seeing a shark. I said a little disappointed, mind you. I saw a lot of other neat critters though and am happy that I am one of those people who are able to explore the other 78% of this earth’s surface.