Your Quote of the Day

“There's nothing wrong with enjoying looking at the surface of the ocean itself, except that when you finally see what goes on underwater,you realize that you've been missing the whole point of the ocean. Staying on the surface all the time is like going to the circus and staring at the outside of the tent.”
― Dave Barry

"I know that you believe you understand what you think I said,but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant."
Robert McCleskey

That's the truth, Ed. Have you ever snorkeled in the GofM? How fat is Tomball from the gulf?

I have never snorkeled, as I am not a good swimmer. in fact, I have been swimming since childhood, but cannot tread the water for more than a few minutes. My body is not a swimmer's body.
The Gulf is at least fifty miles away.

From your pic, Ed, you look to have a good bod for swimming. The problem with the old method of teaching swimming is that folks were taught to way overdo it. Like everything that has been learned well, slight movements are what's best, not the overly active motions, which are energy consuming and self defeating.

But snorkeling makes everyone a good swimmer because it removes the frightening feeling that scared swimmers have - "I can't keep my breathing holes above the waterline".

First, treading water is unnatural. You don't see water animals trying to frantically keep their heads out of the water. The difference between being comfortable in water and being tired and scared is really tiny.

I've often done 5 hour snorkel floats where in water time at one time has been over an hour. Even without a snorkel, it's easy to be in the water for as long as one wants, subject, of course, to hypothermia concerns.

The secret is to keep as much of your body in the water as you can. Think alligator. Stay relaxed. A relaxed body can stay afloat just by keeping one's lungs naturally full. Breathing out will cause a slight drop but by the time you take your next breath you can stop the drop.

A body with muscles tightened by fear is effectively a stone. Combine that with a raised appendage, an arm say, and that will cause a body to quickly go underwater. When one's brain thinks "I can't stay above the water", drowning isn't far off.

The waterline, in my static lung full position with all body parts in the water is below my top lip. Breath out position, I drop to eye level, breath in and I'm back to lip line.

Combine that with a snorkel, which obviously moves your breath hole that much higher, and you can take smaller breaths which will put your static hold line in the middle of your forehead or a little higher.

The other super important part, when you are sans snorkel, is to breath with a wide open mouth which prevents sucking in your breath, and water. Then any water that falls in by gravity doesn't cause a choking situation. The air, being much lighter, moves past the water without pulling it along.

With a wide open mouth, at the bottom of a pool, I can breath right off a scuba tank with no regulator on. I just crack the valve a little and breath in with small, wide mouth breaths.

The whole process is all about nuance.

My body will not stay on top of the water, no matter how many lessons I get.

You're not thinking 'alligator', Ed. And with sea water, it's even that much easier. My static level marks that I described are for fresh water.

You would have to be there, in my case. I have had some patient teachers who had to give it up. The simple act of relaxing to float does not work for me. No way I would snorkel. One day I decided to swim the Nueces river, in Corpus Christi. It was the longest swim of my lifetime. I reached the other bank and rested a few minutes. As I came back to the first bank, I reached out to be pulled in by a friend. He threw his hand up to make me do it on my own. As I surged back and sank in the water, he had to pull me out or watch me drown. I was young and in the best condition of my life at the time.

Of course, if you can't relax, you can't float. But all that you are saying, Ed, is, "my mind won't let me do what needs to be done to float like any human being can do". It's not possible for a human being to sink and drown, if they do it right.

Yes, swimming, like sprinting/running, can tire a body out and leave one short of breath. But what do we do when that happens? We relax and breath in and out 'til we get back to equilibrium.

That can also be done in the water if a body can control the mind. I can assure you that it has nothing to do with any physical limitations.

I figure it's because I have abnormally large bones for my size.

I'm not going to be able to get you to set a new world breath hold free diving record, Edgar, but I can assure you that it has nothing, absolutely nothing to do with anything physical. It's all in your head, being able to control your fears by knowing you can do what needs to be done to stay afloat for hours at a time.

I have seen huge [human] stones turn into mermaids with just a little instruction - "geeze, is it that simple?" they would say.

Wouldn't you like to live Dave Barry's quote? I went from feeling like my lungs would explode at 10 feet to breath hold snorkeling at 65 feet. It took me a while to reach a comfort zone at each greater depth, but once there, once I had made the mental adjustment, I realized that the physical capability was always there, untapped.

I was never afraid to swim. Did it all the time, in the irrigation canals. I just recognized my limitations as I grew up.

You may poke a man's fire after you've known him for seven years.

English Proverb

You just didn't understand or know how to overcome those limitations, Ed. But this horse needs no more floggin' - it's long dead.

Have a good Xmas season! Best to you and all yours.

Now that I have passed my 70TH birthday, I will never find out if you or I have the right take on this situation.

Right back at you, re holiday cheer.

“Are ye the ghosts of fallen leaves, O flakes of snow, For which, through naked trees, the winds A-mourning go?”
― John Banister Tabb

“I've made peace with myself.
Good for you. That's the hardest war of all to win.
Didn't say I won. Just stopped fighting.”
― Joe Abercrombie, Best Served Cold

"The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators."
Edward Gibbon

“Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.”
― Groucho Marx

“It has been said, 'time heals all wounds.' I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone.”
― Rose Kennedy