Snorkeling
An Activity that Lasts a Lifetime
Editorial by Joel Simon

Over the last twenty years, I have had the privilege to teach literally thousands of people how to snorkel. Many of these students have been over 60 years old. Some have been over 70. Others have been over 80. The oldest was a spry 92 years young. During this period, I too have been educated, and inspired.

It seems I've been preparing for this role since childhood when I learned first to snorkel and later to SCUBA dive. During junior high school my friends and I started an Explorer troop focused on marine biology. In high school I was a counselor at a YMCA summer camp on Catalina Island dedicated to teaching kids snorkeling and marine biology. In college I was certified as a NAUI instructor and along with several other instructors, co-taught the university SCUBA diving course for many years. During those summers I taught a college accredited SCUBA and marine biology class in the Caribbean to graduating high school students.

So when I was offered the opportunity to teach snorkeling and marine biology to seniors on board a large sailing vessel in the Caribbean, I thought, ah, this will be easy and a lot of fun. I was half right. It was indeed a lot of fun. In contrast to my college students, these pupils were not pressured by prerequisites or final exams. They hadn’t passed any swim tests. They weren’t recent graduates of Red Cross Advanced Swim Class, or Water Safety Instruction courses, and they didn’t hold Advanced Lifesaving certificates. They hadn’t read any of the classic biology texts. At least not for forty years. They didn’t know Echinoderm from "a kind of germ" and they didn’t care. Except for "E pluribus unum", Latin was an archaic tongue.

Most of these people were on vacation, and simply wanted to enjoy the marine environment firsthand by immersing themselves in the sea and watching the tapestry of life on a coral reef. My role was to facilitate this wish. However, they educated me as much as I did them. We learned together.

Specific techniques and hints on snorkeling for seniors are discussed in our tips feature this month. But the most important advice is not about how to use fins, masks, or clear snorkels. Rather, what I’ve learned, through years of interaction, is that snorkeling is an activity appropriate for any age group, including those over 60.

As our bodies mature with age, and as our minds increase in wisdom, there are many compromises to be reconciled in the realm of physical activity. Some sports become risky for bones that break more easily and heal more slowly. Other activities may lose their appeal as being too self-indulgent and lacking adequate social or intellectual components to maintain interest. And some athletics simply become too strenuous.

Snorkeling, on the other hand, is a skill easily mastered by anyone comfortable in the water, regardless of age. Bolinas, CA resident, Alan Margolis, now in his nearly 70’s, recently summarized his learning experience: "If you can breathe, you can snorkel." The amount of physical energy expended while snorkeling is entirely up to the individual. I’m sure we all know people who delight in kicking vigorously, measuring their prowess in either speed or distance. Often, the most successful snorkeling may be no more than peacefully floating above an enchanting scenario of corals and fish.

Regardless of when one learns to snorkel, it’s an activity that can last a lifetime. On a recent cruise in Fiji, I met a couple on their honeymoon who were just learning to snorkel. With love in their hearts, and dripping gear in their hands, I overheard the bride ask her husband: "We’ll be snorkeling together for the rest of our lives, won’t we hun’?" A kiss confirmed the answer.

Of all the wilderness experiences available today, snorkeling may best allow us to mingle, intimately and benignly, with the wildlife in their own realm. There are no barriers, no walls, no windows, in the sea. And if you become stimulated to learn marine biology, with or without Latin, there is no better classroom.

For young and old, novice and expert, snorkeling offers an opportunity to experience a truly magical world, an experience aptly described by Persis Webster, a 72-year-old grandmother after snorkeling with her young granddaughter. "I feel as though we’ve just been to the ballet. I don’t know why it took me so long to try this out."