You'll want an exposure suit of some kind on all dives to protect you from heat loss and from abrasion. As covered in Chapter Four, water conducts heat from your body about 20times faster than air at the same temperature. Because of this, you can become dangerously chilled in water temperatures that would be comfortable in air. In very warm water you may not need thermal protection, but you still benefit by wearing something to protect you from incidental scrapes and stings.

The primary attraction of snorkeling is the opportunity to observe underwater life in a natural setting without the complicated equipment and training required for scuba diving, and without the exhaled bubbles of scuba-diving equipment. Snorkeling is also a means to an end in popular sports such as underwater hockey, underwater ice hockey, underwater rugby and spear fishing. Although donning a mask and snorkel and swimming in any body of water would technically constitute "snorkeling, " by and large it is generally accepted that a "snorkeler" would don such gear and practice such activity within the vicinity of a reef, wreck, underwater formation or other submerged objects either to observe fish, plants, organisms andor formations. Being non-competitive, snorkeling is less a sport and more a leisure activity.

You'll want an exposure suit of some kind on all dives to protect you from heat loss and from abrasion. As covered in Chapter Four, water conducts heat from your body about 20times faster than air at the same temperature. Because of this, you can become dangerously chilled in water temperatures that would be comfortable in air. In very warm water you may not need thermal protection, but you still benefit by wearing something to protect you from incidental scrapes and stings.

The primary attraction of snorkeling is the opportunity to observe underwater life in a natural setting without the complicated equipment and training required for scuba diving, and without the exhaled bubbles of scuba-diving equipment. Snorkeling is also a means to an end in popular sports such as underwater hockey, underwater ice hockey, underwater rugby and spear fishing. Although donning a mask and snorkel and swimming in any body of water would technically constitute "snorkeling, " by and large it is generally accepted that a "snorkeler" would don such gear and practice such activity within the vicinity of a reef, wreck, underwater formation or other submerged objects either to observe fish, plants, organisms andor formations. Being non-competitive, snorkeling is less a sport and more a leisure activity.