First Snorkeling experience with goggles and a noodle

by Susan
(Columbia, SC USA)

My husband and I were in Maui, Hawaii. (Is there any other Maui?) We had been to several beaches and I absolutely refused to swim in the ocean. Several (20+) years ago I got stung by a bad jellyfish and later caught in a riptide, so I had sworn off the ocean. Anyway, my husband found a cove with no current to speak of and talked me into the water. I could see the fish under water but would not stick my head under. (I grew up on the lake so it wasn't like I didn't swim like a fish) He had some goggles and we both had noodles and he kept telling me to look through the goggles, that I would love it. I kept insisting that I could see the fish just fine. Finally to make him happy, I decided to look under. So, I put on the goggles, held my nose and ducked under, and that was all she wrote. I fell IN LOVE with snorkeling. David had to take the noodles back where we rented them from and when he came back I was way out in the water. From then on, I've been hooked. We've been to Hawaii 4 times and the Virgin Islands (American and British) and Florida. I got camera cases and new snorkel equipment and have gotten some good videos and photos. I'll share some with you at the end of the article.

While in the Virgin Islands my brand new snorkel equipment was stolen. Two weeks after we got home I had a brain hemorrhage and they didn't know if I would make it or not. I was under lots of pain medication and in lots of pain but my sister in law said the first night in ICU that I was continuously digging in the bed covers looking for something. Whenever she asked what I was looking for, I always responded "my snorkel mask". Is that love or what?