Goggling – The New Snorkeling for Kids

Snorkeling and diving are one of the few ways to become completely immersed in the actual habitat of wild creatures, to feel like you’ve become a part of their lives and world.

Viewing wildlife from a hide or watching quietly at a distance are soul-nourishing ways to encounter nature but there is something even more connected about being in water, the element of marine life itself.

This is the third in my things to do at the beach series, a novel way to get kids used to being underwater before learning to snorkel; goggling – wearing a mask or goggles to view marine life from the safety of a kayak, inflatable or surfboard!

So can you snorkel with goggles?!

Start Your Kids Goggling Young!

Teaching young children to snorkel and engage with marine wildlife from an early age is a great way to encourage respect for the wild and a love of adventure, though it can be pretty chilly in our northern UK waters. ‘Goggling‘ (snorkeling with goggles) is an easy way to break them in gently whilst staying relatively warm. It can even be done from the safety of rockpool edge – you don’t need to be in the water!

So what on earth is Goggling?!

Well first, the back-story; why I think all children should learn to snorkel (and goggle!)

My own first snorkeling experience wasn’t until I was 26, on Egypt’s Red Sea coast.

Learning to Breathe

Confidently donning snorkel and mask and not caring about the ungainly nature of the fins (flippers to the uninitiated) I waddled and flapped into the warm sea, morphing seamlessly into a mermaid en route. Well, in my head anyway.

Unfortunately, as soon as my face went below the surface, my breathing stopped!
“But of course,” eyes said to brain, “nobody can breathe underwater.” The mask and snorkel were clearly not computing.

Epic Fail

It was a wild adventure fail of epic, humiliating and frustrating proportion. Manly perseverance merely rendered me breathless and claustrophobic. Occasional fish rewarded my farcical flounderings so I spluttered aimlessly in the shallows trying to appear un-phased and confident to any amused sunbathers who might have noticed my peril. Ariel I was not.

Stingray Redemption

Suddenly from nowhere, and inches from my face, a small yellowy-green stingray with stunning blue spots glided past (the imaginatively named Bluespotted Stingray!!)

I gasped (read ‘breathed’) and flicked a fin to follow this magnificent little creature. Half an hour later it was apparent that breathing had occurred! Nature’s teaching in action.

What an experience. Who knows what other fish I saw, but that little stingray was unforgettable and without him I may not have subsequently learnt to dive.

Fair-Weather Snorkeler?

It has since been a great privilege to have snorkeled around the world, unfailingly blown away by the sheer beauty of the underwater habitat and the richness of its inhabitants.

Particular highlights include the charismatic Clownfish in Thailand, brooding Mexican barracudas and giant parrot fish, beautiful cuttlefish and squid, nurse sharks and manta rays in Belize and my favourite tropical fish, the juvenile Yellow Tailed Damselfish, which are not yellow-tailed when young but midnight blue, almost tangibly velvety, with turquoise neon spots.

Being trailed by Ramoras was interesting too; quite a sensation on a non-wetsuited body to have little fish attempt to chew off your bacteria and dead skin!

[Note the lack of cold water locations in the above list. An all-weather camper I may be but where water is concerned I am woefully tropical-blooded!]

Turtle Love

Snorkelling with turtles is the most magical of underwater adventures, experienced regularly whilst living in Mexico and most memorably on our wedding morning in the Seychelles when Wild Daddy and I snorkelled before the main event – Mother Nature’s perfect wedding gift!

All these are the reasons I want Caroline to learn to snorkel.

So What is Goggling Again?

It’s ingenius! Caroline dreamed up the idea for underwater marine observation without the effort nor, more importantly, the cold (especially if wearing a wetsuit);

Simply wear swimming goggles or a snorkel mask, sprawl on an inflatable with head over the side and order Wild Parent to move said inflatable at one’s whim!

Wild Parents eh? Who’d be one?!

The first time we tried it Caroline was so ecstatic to see crabs walking on the seabed and the odd fish swim past that I’d have happily dragged her around on the dinghy all day.

PLEASE try Goggling, it’s great fun for everyone!!

Safety First

When using any inflatable in the open sea rather than rockpools there are important safety guidelines to consider. Read my beach safety guide and rip tide survival guide for comprehensive life-saving information, always check local tide times, coastguard warnings and the weather forecast and use a long length of rope to ensure the inflatable can’t drift too far away from the dutiful wild parent.

Top Tips for Goggling

• Avoid claustrophobia – some children get claustrophobic wearing dark snorkel masks so look at spending a little more and buy a clear or lighter silicone mask frame
• Mask or goggles? – having tried goggling with both, I prefer using a proper snorkel and mask as you can stay face-under as long as you like
• Breathing – having goggled in just swim goggles I found the cold water took my breath away so I couldn’t stay under for long. Breathe out while under water to help regulate breath

Get the Gear

Click photos to find the best prices on Amazon for goggles, silicone snorkels and masks, sets with fins and even a full-face mask with a Go-Pro mount!

And here’s a really informative snorkel kit review from the fab Rona blogging at Salt. Well worth a read if you’re researching new gear.

KIDS SNORKEL & MASK

KIDS SNORKEL & FIN SET

ADULT FULL-FACE MASK WITH GO-PRO MOUNT

TODDLER GOGGLES

ADULT SNORKEL & MASK

ADULT SNORKEL & FIN SET

But you MUST try goggling. Go on, you’ll love it!

Sign up to Kids of the Wild to receive all my posts by email, and follow things to do at the beach for kids entertainment ideas in the school holidays. And did you know kids can learn scuba diving from age 8? Learn more in Troy Mayne’s guest post on kids’ diving