[ad_1] By Victoria Simpson on July 16 2020 in Travel Image credit: Anna Die Gradwanderung/Shutterstock.com Many people have died snorkeling with full face masks that are marketed to tourists but seem to trap bad air and water inside the mask. In the US, people have died snorkeling in Florida, and especially in Hawaii, which has
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Snorkeling can be an amazing pastime. It can take you into the bedazzling worlds beneath the seas, and show you life as you have never seen it. Some of the top snorkeling destinations worldwide let you get a glimpse of Earth’s best reefs, and look beneath the surface to frolic with the fish.
Snorkeling can also be dangerous, however. Not everyone who does it has a great trip back to shore. Snorkeling in places like Hawaii is actually a leading cause of death among tourists. Thirteen times more visitors die in Hawaiian waters than at any other destination around the globe.
Astoundingly, people visiting even drown in water that is only waist deep. To be able to snorkel, you need to be a relatively strong swimmer. This is because your breathing is limited with snorkeling. It is also difficult to stand up in shallow water when you are wearing fins, and you can end up floating face down for too long.
From 2005 to 2014, 128 tourists visiting Hawaii drowned while snorkeling. Most of these people were men in their 50s and 60s, and a majority drowned in less than three feet of water.
Anyone can drown while snorkeling.
Here are 7 snorkeling trips gone wrong that you wouldn’t want to repeat.
Snorkeling can be a tricky art to perfect for some people. This is in part because snorkels have a “dead space” that is filled with air that does not have much oxygen in it. This is the air that you exhale, and not all of it is cleared from the snorkeling tube. Inhaling too much of this air can increase the carbon dioxide levels in your blood and make you feel sleepy. If you are too sleepy, you might drown.
This could be what happened to Alexa DiGiorgio when she drowned snorkeling in three feet of water in Hanauma Bay, Hawaii in June of 2014. She was just 41 and visiting the hot spot location with her family when her husband noticed she was not on the beach. She was being rescued by lifeguards, as she had drowned in three feet of water, snorkeling. She did not survive.
Lifeguards in that area say they rescue about two to six visitors each day swimming in just two to three feet of water. Some tour guides tell visitors they do not need to know how to swim in order to snorkel, which is clearly not the case.
If you ever ARE going to go snorkeling, it seems best to avoid a full facemask. Guy Cooper, a retired nurse from California who now lives in Hawaii, very sadly lost his wife to a snorkeling accident on Pohoiki Bay on the Big Island in 2016. She was a strong swimmer and she had experience snorkeling. When she was found, she was floating with her face up but her full-face mask brimming with water, pulled over her face, with her mouth and nose exposed. She had been snorkeling in the water for less than an hour.
No one really knows how this woman ended up drowning but her husband strongly suspects it was the plastic full face mask that did it. It seemed to have trapped either a bunch of water inside it, or a bunch of bad CO2-filled air that left the wearer gasping for oxygen. These masks are marketed to consumers as something that is beneficial to use as they let you see a lot underwater, and you do not have to worry about both a mask and a snorkel. There is just one piece.
Even certified divemasters are calling these masks “death masks”, however. The only reason they still seem to be on the market is that they are being sold to tourists who are happy to buy them on Hawaii’s beaches and on Amazon, where bad reviews are sometimes removed for the sake of selling.
Hawaii has yet to ban these masks but one thing is for certain: there is no need to gamble with your life to see some fish. Stick with a two-piece set up.
The location of this death is uncertain but an online post tells of a group of 62 snorkelers who went out with just one guide for a trip. By the time the guide got around to picking everybody up- including the poor soul who drowned- it was too late. The man had died.
Water accidents can happen at any time but it is always important to know your swimming level, and to wear a life jack even if you can swim. You never know when you might get too tired, but have to stay afloat.
One lifeguard from Hawaii also pointed out online that, when there is a large group of snorkelers, everyone has their head face down in the water, and they are not necessarily moving much. It can be hard to tell who is actually having trouble.
Snorkeling deaths know no bounds. Even the chief financial officer of Domino’s Pizza succumed to the pastime on vacation. David Bauerhfield was just 51 when he died snorkeling in Mauritius. He was vacationing with his daughter and his wife when it happened. Bauerhfield was just 150 feet from shore at the upscale Belle Mare resort when he died. A coroner ruled the cause of death to be asphyxiation caused by drowning.
In 2019, Clifford Moody was found dead from a snorkeling accident at just 59 years of age in less than 10 feet of water. It happened at the Grecian Dry Rocks off John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in Key Largo. Snorkeling is a popular activity in Key Largo with many companies offering tours and lessons catered to tourists, but buyer beware.
It is important to stay away from boats while snorkeling or swimming to avoid disasters like the one mentioned below. Image credit: Patryk Kosmider/Shutterstock.com
Sometimes the act of snorkeling can be OK but the boat that takes you out is unreliable. Shelly Bot of Canada flew to Thailand on a vacation with her husband when she was killed by a boat in the water. The couple had gone snorkeling. Another tour boat decided to take a short cut to its destination. In doing so, it ran into Bot, breaking her neck, killing her instantaneously. It was a sudden accident caused by unsafe tour practices that often go unregulated.
The Great Barrier Reef is a sight to see-just make sure there are not any deadly jellyfish in the water when you visit. The water temperatures have increased with global warming and it is believed that Irukandji jellyfish are now further south than they used to be. This has caught snorkelers in Australia by surprise, causing two French tourists to the reef to die within minutes of each other in 2017, along with others that year. The Irukandji jellyfish is one of the world’s most venomous creatures, and its sting can kill, which it seems to be doing.
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