First Day Snorkeling With The Fishes

Similan Islands snorkeling
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Snorkeling for the first time in the Similan Islands is a thrill I don’t think Elliott and Ollie will forget!!

 

I think that most divers can explain to you where their love of the sea came from. Whether they grew up by the sea or they remember a holiday snorkeling with their family the sea seems to evoke nostalgic memories. Recently I was lucky enough to share the day that my cousins children (Ollie, 5 and Elliott, 6) first experienced how fascinating the sea can be. Being able to share the first experience of snorkeling with them is a memory that I wont quickly forget.

The sea at the moment is not completely flat and over the last week the average wave height is about 0.7 metres. On the journey out to the Similans on the 17th of December the waves were about that height so the journey was the first adventure for the boys. The speedboat travels at 30 knots and skimming over waves of that height does make for a bumpy ride! The boys were not 100% happy with the bumpy journey but both put on brave faces. Their faces changed from a poker face to the widest grins I have ever seen when Similan Island number eight came into view. Elliot declared that he was going to get straight off the boat and start snorkeling and he did just that!

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Learning to dive or snorkel can be a lot to do with over coming a fear of the unknown. Ollie and Elliott showed no such fear but instead a complete fascination with the unknown. Elliott took the boats fish slates and was quickly naming every fish he saw. He invented a very interesting way of communicating by shouting through his snorkel, which is a technique I think I will be using on future snorkel trips! We saw trumpet fish, Picasso triggerfish, sergeant majors, and even a banded sea snake.

I was so proud of my young relatives and really can’t describe how nice it was to be able to share my passion for the ocean with them. Elliott has told me that when he grows up he wants to work for Big Blue; I think we would be very lucky to have him! Less than two years and he can do his first bubble maker. I can’t wait and I don’t think he can either.

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