Please tell me about snorkeling at CC

[bobbiwoz]

They are hanging on the lifeguard towers and are free to use. No need to go to the equipment rental line.

Thank you! That's great!

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

Just a few comments.

1) Flotation vests are required, but they are free to all on Castaway Cay. They are GREAT, because they help keep you horizontal, or allow you to float and rest with no effort. If you want to dive underwater to see things closer, they are easy to deflate and then re-inflate when you come back up.

2) The coarse is pretty long. I liked how they marked interesting underwater features with buoys on the surface, but doing the whole thing took my teenaged sons and I over an hour. That's a lot of swimming, even with flippers and the vest. So be prepared. Not that you have to do it all, but it is a semi-circle in shape, so if you do half, you are going to do it all.

3) I know bringing your own gear is a pain, but it may be better stuff. The masks my mother bought for my sons (her grandsons) were full face masks. Also they were self draining and self blocking. So if you went underwater a float blocked water from getting in your breathing tube, and when you resurfaced, it cleared the water from the tube automatically. Likewise if some water got into your mask, a one-way valve allowed it to drain out. The mask I rented on the island was the conventional type, so I had to clear the tube manually each time by blowing, and clear the mask manually by lifting it once my head was above water. No big deal, but theirs was easier.

One last thing. There are CM's on shore just before you enter the water, to explain the course to you, and where to go and what to see, but if you don't look for them, you might miss them as you enter the water. Look for them and ask them. They will explain it all to you.

 

[JoieNsk]

Just a few comments.

3) I know bringing your own gear is a pain, but it may be better stuff. The masks my mother bought for my sons (her grandsons) were full face masks. Also they were self draining and self blocking. So if you went underwater a float blocked water from getting in your breathing tube, and when you resurfaced, it cleared the water from the tube automatically. Likewise if some water got into your mask, a one-way valve allowed it to drain out. The mask I rented on the island was the conventional type, so I had to clear the tube manually each time by blowing, and clear the mask manually by lifting it once my head was above water. No big deal, but theirs was easier.

This full face mask - is it something like this?

http://www.scuba.com/US/scuba-gear-...fej2emWEPBMh_kQwOpvz1s5m0R8_OFRoz8aAi9S8P8HAQ



It looks kind of claustrophobic to me )) But I guess if you can go underwater with it, - I think I would even consider buying it and dragging around ))

I generally am not comfortable in water and always afraid to go underneath the surface, as think I might panic when the water would fill the breathing tube. And sometimes I really really want to go into the water to be able to look at something more close, but always afraid though my husband explained me couple times how to do it.

 

[JoieNsk]

Never mind...

Just read at the description of that mask from the link in my previous post, that you can't use it for going under the water.

"The Full Face Snorkel masks are not designed for diving under the water, though, as they do not offer any way to reach your nose in order to equalize the pressure in your ears".

I didn't get what it was about, but answers my question anyway.

I guess I just need to get brave some time and try to use traditional mask and traditional method. Should not be that bad as others can do that ))

 

[truck1]

Never mind...

Just read at the description of that mask from the link in my previous post, that you can't use it for going under the water.

"The Full Face Snorkel masks are not designed for diving under the water, though, as they do not offer any way to reach your nose in order to equalize the pressure in your ears".

I didn't get what it was about, but answers my question anyway.

I guess I just need to get brave some time and try to use traditional mask and traditional method. Should not be that bad as others can do that ))

Here's what happens in the water. Water presses down equally on everything. For every 33 feet you go down you gain 1 atmosphere of pressure. So whe you put your head below the surface and try and go to say 10 feet, the water will press on your inner ears. To combat this, a diver or snorkeler will do 1 of a few things. The most common thing is to pinch your nose and blow to equalize the pressure. With the full face snorkel masks don't have that option. Also since they typically have a larger volume of air in the mask you will typically will be more buoyant in the water and will force you to the surface. There are other ways to clear your ears with out pinching your nose buts it's kind of a learned technique.

 

[truck1]

BTW if any one needs or wants snorkeling advice feel free to ask.

 

[Boopuff]

A lot of women we see (and some men) are turned off by diving or snorkeling, because they had a bad experience. Mask leaked, or they got a headache etc. (We had 1 woman say that she was basically thrown off a boat onto 60 feet of water, over weighted with poor fitting gear)99 times out of 100, its either a snorkel mouthpiece was too big, or they had a bad fitting mask. Once we get someone dialed in, it becomes a whole new world.

That was my first experience snorkling! Thrown off the back of a catamaran in Puerto Rico. No idea what I was doing, no lesson nothing. Spent the entire time on the boat waiting for everyone. Maybe I'll try to learn at home before heading out!

 

[mmouse37]

I bought a full face mask a few weeks ago and have been practicing in the pool. I brought it with me on the Fantasy for snorkeling at CC on Friday August 19th. Loved it!!! It worked like a charm, so much better than a separate mask and snorkel. My daughter's boyfriend borrowed it that day and did the whole course...he loved it as well. He got some great shots and saw this beautiful sea turtle. He said it was pretty big. I found the full face mask so much simpler to use. Plan on bringing it again on my October 7th Magic cruise!!!





MJ

 

[JoieNsk]

Here's what happens in the water. Water presses down equally on everything. For every 33 feet you go down you gain 1 atmosphere of pressure. So whe you put your head below the surface and try and go to say 10 feet, the water will press on your inner ears. To combat this, a diver or snorkeler will do 1 of a few things. The most common thing is to pinch your nose and blow to equalize the pressure. With the full face snorkel masks don't have that option. Also since they typically have a larger volume of air in the mask you will typically will be more buoyant in the water and will force you to the surface. There are other ways to clear your ears with out pinching your nose buts it's kind of a learned technique.

Thank you!

 

[JoieNsk]

BTW if any one needs or wants snorkeling advice feel free to ask.

I found actually plenty of videos on Youtube when people who look like they know what they are doing are swimming completely under the water with the full-face mask on.

From what I understood - you can use it for that, just can't go real deep?

 

[JoieNsk]

...He got some great shots and saw this beautiful sea turtle. He said it was pretty big.
MJ

That is really cool!

I didn't know you can see turtles at CC. We only saw some fish, my daughter saw a stingray once though.

Also when me and my husband were there in May, we saw a lot of funny creatures on the bottom, who looked like they were snails, but big spotted snails. Have no idea, who they were, but always was worried not to step on one and kill it, as they were everywhere.

 

[mmouse37]

That is really cool!

I didn't know you can see turtles at CC. We only saw some fish, my daughter saw a stingray once though.

Also when me and my husband were there in May, we saw a lot of funny creatures on the bottom, who looked like they were snails, but big spotted snails. Have no idea, who they were, but always was worried not to step on one and kill it, as they were everywhere.

I went out later in the day than he did and of course didn't bring the camera....but I saw a few stingrays and many fish. I did not go out as far as the Mickey and Minnie statues. He has pics of those too.

MJ

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

We rented on CC. Took my son half an hour to get used to the mask, and he wasn't pleasant about it. He had a kid mask and I had an adult mask and we ended up swapping. His head is large and mine is normal and that worked.

I wished we had had our own! Because that extra half hour and a good amount of time in the water meant that we outlasted our sunscreen and we ended up burned.

THIS. We bought our own equipment because my son and daughter have big heads and the adult stuff was too big and the kids too small. It was best to take them to get fitted and now it's simple each time we go out.

 

[Starwind]

What about fins ?

We have our own snorkel, mask and fins, but the fins are bulky and quite frankly won't fit in our luggage.

If we bring our own snorkel and mark, are we able to rent just fins on CC ? If so, what is the cost ?

If not, are find necessary or a "nice to have" or a "don't really need them" item for doing the snorkeling path ?

SW

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

Yes, those masks are like the ones my sons used. They didn't find them claustrophobic, but then they aren't that sensitive to such concerns. I will say that they liked having their face and nose covered together as it was easier to manage than a separate tube in the mouth.

As for diving to depths, I'm not recommending anything in particular. In our case, I can say that 95% of the time they were at the surface, looking down, with only their face under, not their ears, but they did dive down to look at things regularly without issue, but it was only like 10 or so feet down, and they came up and the pressure equalized right away as the water drained automatically from the breathing tube.

I can also speak about renting fins. Unfortunately, Disney only rents the whole package: mask, snorkel and fins. So if you don't want to bring fins, you'll have to rent the whole package or do without. Since my sons preferred the masks they brought, I think it was still worth it for us. Plus we did save one rental, since we rented two sets of equipment, they used the fins and I used one of the masks.

Thus, I can address your other question too. Snorkeling without fins? Sure it can be done. I did it. And I kept up with them. But it was definitely more work than snorkeling with fins. I have a pretty strong freestyle and breast stroke (which I use to rest up while swimming), so I was OK. If you aren't a strong swimmer, you will be better off with the fins. Remember, to do the whole course, (though admittedly not in a hurried way) we were swimming for an hour straight. We rested occasionally by holding onto our vests and floating in place, but we could never touch the bottom except by diving under the water.

 

[bumbershoot]

are not designed for diving under the water

It's a snorkeling mask; with snorkeling you're not *diving*. I think we can ignore the "under the water" part and focus on the "diving" part, and I bet that would be great for nice light snorkeling.

From what I understood - you can use it for that, just can't go real deep?

That's what I get from looking at the page and the picture and reading the reviews where people used them for light snorkeling.

 

[truck1]

I found actually plenty of videos on Youtube when people who look like they know what they are doing are swimming completely under the water with the full-face mask on.


From what I understood - you can use it for that, just can't go real deep?

Correct. You can get down a little but the full face masks really aren't designed to go too deep. If you ever see a true free diver(Advanced snorkeling) they use a small mask, and a basic snorkel.

 

[truck1]

Thank you!

Your Welcome.

 

[JoieNsk]

Thank you very much to AncorsAway2016, Truck1 and Bumbershoot for the info!