Snorkeling is the #1 Cause of Visitor Drowning in Hawaii

This is a must-do experience as most snorkeling spots don’t allow fishing so the fish are tame and come right up to you.  However, it’s also dangerous.  The combination of Hawaiian waters and the inexperience of the snorkelers result in making snorkeling the most deadly visitor activity.

I give you 5 easy tips that will go a long way to keeping you safe while snorkeling – enjoy!

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Transcript:

hey are you planning on snorkeling on
your trip to Hawaii I mean it’s really
fun right I mean and everyone everyone
talks about snorkeling in Hawaii it is
amazing you do see like incredible sea
life it’s it’s a must do actually I mean
who wouldn’t want to swim at Little
Fishies right but you know what you
might be a little surprised to find out
that snorkeling
is the number one cause of drowning for
visitors who come to Hawaii
and you know the sad part
is that you know most of those drownings
could have been avoided so in this video
I’m going to give you some really simple
advice some things that you could do
that’ll keep you safe
that’ll keep you from drowning
when you go snorkeling in Hawaii
[Music]
Aloha I’m Peter K and I moved to Hawaii
in the 80s when I was 21 years old
and I’ve lived here ever since and I am
living the dream
this channel is for people of all ages
who want to live in Hawaii so if that’s
you this is your channel get subscribed
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let’s talk about the top five things
that you can do snorkeling to keep you
safe and keep you from drowning
number one
talk to the Lifeguard first now I go in
this in much more detail in the first
video in this series about staying safe
but really simple
talk to the Lifeguard these guys know
the conditions they know the beach they
know the area they know if there’s
dangerous conditions that you need to be
aware of the best time to talk to a
lifeguard is when you don’t need to
number two snorkel with a buddy never go
in snorkeling by yourself when you do go
snorkeling
with a buddy
you gotta keep an eye out for each other
let me tell you a quick story I had a
good I went snorkeling with a really
good friend of mine my best friend from
high school and he’s a scuba certified
good swimmer right so we go out and we
go on some deep water right it’s pretty
hairy but we’re okay when what we’re
doing he’s experienced I’m experienced
right it’s all right but
we didn’t pay attention to each other
we didn’t look out for each other
and you know I’m snorkeling around and
all of a sudden I look around
and he’s nowhere
I don’t know where he is and I can’t
find him
and you know so I started looking well I
did find them
but we had drifted really far apart and
so right there in the water I told him
hey man we got to look out for each
other because we cannot get uh you know
we can’t let each other get drifted too
far apart otherwise you’re defeating the
whole purpose of having a buddy because
when you need help you’re not going to
have it so when you go with a buddy keep
an eye out for each other make sure you
don’t get too far every so often look
around make sure you know where they are
and make sure that they’re doing the
same thing to make sure they know where
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okay number three
you want to warm up in shallow water
so what I mean by warm up is
you know unless you’re an experienced
snorkeler you’ve never done this before
you know there’s gonna be maybe the one
the first time you’re gonna put a mask
on you
you want to do all this in really
shallow water shallow meaning you know
like let’s say waist high right no
deeper than waist high because you want
to do it so that you know if anything
happens you just got to stand up that’s
you know keep that in mind freak out
stand up and you’re good and really what
you want to do
in this shallow water
you want to test out the equipment you
want to make sure that your mask isn’t
leaking you want to make sure you got
the the snorkel tube right if you got
fins on you want to make sure you got
your fins on you want to make sure
you’re comfortable make sure
everything’s working good
make sure you’re really comfortable in
the snorkeling snorkeling mode and do it
until you’re really confident number
four
practice diving
you know
people don’t understand that you know
again if you’ve never been stroking
before you know you kind of like don’t
realize sort of what you got to do when
you dive underwater because that snorkel
tube
is gonna fill up with water
and so you have to get a little
comfortable with how that’s going to
work so you want to practice that and
you want to practice that in the shallow
waist high water
you want to dive down make sure you know
if you’re in if you’re in waist high
water you should Dive Right to the
bottom it won’t be deep three you know
three feet maybe right you want to dive
down get to the bottom of the water make
sure you’re fully immersed make sure
that tube that snorkel tube gets fully
filled up with water so you know how to
deal with it and of course obviously
when the tube is full of water you’re
not going to be breathing so you got to
learn all that so what you got to learn
right is these fundamentals before you
dive you take a deep breath
you know put your tongue over the tube
so water doesn’t go in your mouth go
down to the bottom come back up but you
know you want to surface up where you’re
still looking down you’re still looking
at all the little fishies but you’re
going to surface so that your back the
back of your body is just kind of broke
the surface and then blow out that tube
hard to clear it and then you could
breathe again I think that you know I
don’t have any empirical data to back
this up but my guess is that a lot of
people who haven’t struggled before get
kind of freaked out with the with the
idea you know of taking a deep breath
going underwater having that tube fill
up with water and having to blow out
when you surface practice that in
Shallow waste high water so you feel
comfortable and finally number five
don’t touch the reefs
now look you might say wait wait wait
wait how how does that how does touching
the reefs uh how do I drown from
touching the reefs okay well you’re not
gonna drown but you could get really
hurt because
those reefs
it’s like razor blades man it’s razor
and I mean razor sharp if if you touch
those reefs even the most slightest
touch
there’s a really good chance you’re
going to get a cut I’ve been snorkeling
and going in the water since the 80s do
the math how long I’ve been doing it
okay I still cut myself to this day we
go in the water you know and I go over
the reefs and I kind of I accidentally
you know hit a rock or hit a small piece
of coral I don’t go I do not walk on the
reefs that’s just insane but still you
know I walk in the water and I’ll come
across a piece of coral and Wham you
know I’ll get a cut the worst part the
worst part it’s not just a cut because
if you what what could happen is you not
only cut yourself an open wound but a
little piece of coral comes off and gets
buried in the cut
and that’s a problem man because Coral
that’ll never heal right that’s never
going to heal so you gotta you gotta
basically
in addition to like you know and
antiseptics won’t do it like putting you
know hydrogen peroxide or iodine or
whatever it’s not going to do it it’s
like a little it’s a little piece of
living it’s a little organic rock so the
only way out is you got to dig that
thing out
I’ve dug out my share I’ve dug out my
share of coral pieces but every so often
you know the coral piece gets lodged
into my foot in a place where I can’t
reach it so then what I gotta do is I
gotta I gotta
I gotta bow down and I gotta ask my wife
you know in submission like an idiot hey
honey
and I got a coral buried can you kind of
dig it out and you know you know then I
I catch all kinds of stuff for that
right because I’m stupid don’t do that
so what are those five things really
quick
talk to the Lifeguard
find out the conditions swim with a
buddy make sure you know where each
other are at
go into the shallow stuff get yourself
acclimated make sure you know how the
Equipment Works kind of figure out how
all that works number four in the
shallow water practice diving do the
whole hold your breath dive under come
up blow it out kind of thing until
you’re really really comfortable right
and then find number five do not step on
the coral unless you want to get your
feet cut up or your legs cut up and have
Coral lodged in cuts that then your
spouse is going to have to pull out and
give you all kinds of you know what over
all right you got a question for me
in the description I’ve got a link to a
form fill the form I’ll put your name in
there tell me where you’re from so I can
give you credit on the video I’m Peter K
and I have been enjoying the beach
relatively safely since the 80s I’ve
only gotten hurt a few times and I’m
going to pass that knowledge on to you
I live in the most beautiful place on
Earth I’m living the dream and so can
you aloha