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Comment by 1024core | Hacker News Reader

Recently I was in Hawaii, snorkeling in an area where I could walk around. I don't now how to swim, but I have been in shallow pools before. Unbeknownst to me, I was slowly drifting into a deeper area as I was busy just looking down at the fishies. Suddenly I realized my feet no longer could touch the bottom, and an initial panic set in. Then I quickly reasoned that I would just sink to the bottom (which was, about, 8 feet or so) and push myself off of it to reach the surface, then take a deep breath and do a doggie paddle-sort of a motion to get closer to the rocks nearby. If I had panicked, I would not have been able to hold my breath long enough. Luckily I did not at the moment and managed to reach the rocks (which were about 3 feet deep).

After that day, I swore to be more careful next time!

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Might I suggest that swearing to learn to improve your swimming skills may be more beneficial to your long-term survival? Plus a lot more fun once you have more confidence in the water.

I did learn some lessons. My kids are enrolled in swimming classes now! :-D

Snorkeling without knowing how to swim seems like a pretty bad idea in the first place…

Can't argue with that! Lesson learned.

I live in a seaside tourist town. Here we learn to swim as young children, it is impossible not to know how to swim and now, as a parent, I understand that only the peace of mind of knowing that my children could swim without problems gave me the peace of mind to take them to the sea and be able to (fairly) relax. I often read about people who drown because they were swimming on the seashore without knowing how to swim. Often more than one (the first in difficulty forces others to attempt a rescue). They are often people who know little about the sea, newly immigrated non-EU citizens.

I honestly cannot understand how a sane person can enter the water knowing that any problem, a hole, a higher wave is an almost certain death sentence.

Could it be that in addition to teaching us to swim, our parents taught us to fear and respect the sea? And that this simple precaution "is out of fashion"?

I also grew up in a seaside town. Gorgeous place. Beautiful but we grew up with a healthy dose of respect for the sea. maybe we saw too much. But I would postulate the difference is in understanding the sea is moving, constantly in motion. If you do not understand that simple notion, it might be easy to misjudge.

The idea of snokeling without knowing how to swim seems incredibly risky.

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