1.2 Snorkelling

Our older members fondly regale us with tales of year-long diver training programmes in which the first three months focused entirely on snorkelling. In today’s world we probably wouldn’t get any new divers if they thought it would take a year to get qualified, but we still regularly teach snorkelling skills to our Ocean Diver trainees. For existing members, we offer snorkelling refresher evenings in our programme. In 2019 all the divers booked on the ‘blue sharks’ trip attended a snorkelling training evening beforehand. The trip was booked out immediately and had a large waiting list. Unfortunately, it was also one of those that fell victim to the weather gods, so we have no wonderful photographs of those beautiful blue sharks. It’s back on the programme for 2020 and again sold out immediately. Our biggest snorkelling event of the year was for the Islington Summerversity programme offering free school holiday activities to Islington schoolchildren. Mary Brown, former Diving Officer and one of our most experienced instructors, explains:

“Clidive took part in Islington Council’s school holiday programme called Summerversity. We offered a free snorkelling lesson and a try dive. This was advertised through a booklet that was sent to all the schools in Islington. It was also advertised in Islington Life, a magazine that is delivered to all households in the borough. Twelve places were quickly filled, which was perfect as it allowed us to develop a high-quality experience for these young people. In total, 29 people showed interest, demonstrating the potential demand. The twelve lucky ones enjoyed a 30-minute introduction - with lots of photos, a look at the kit and instructions on fitting masks - followed by 90 minutes of pool time. Feedback from participants, parents and instructors was all fantastic.”