Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Published Monday, November 19, 2007

HAY RIVER - While the snow may fly outside, the swimming pool in Hay River will be preparing some people for adventures in warm tropical waters.

Kerry Buhler, a lifeguard and swimming instructor at the swimming pool in Hay River, will be teaching a class on snorkelling beginning Nov. 24. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

Starting on Nov. 24, the pool will offer a course in snorkelling, otherwise known as skin diving.

Christy Davis, the pool's aquatics supervisor, said a lot of people from Hay River go to warmer climes for their vacations, especially during the winter, and would be able to use snorkeling skills.

"It gives the family another thing to do while on vacation," she said.

"It's the fun and easy way of swimming in the water," adding a person doesn't need to have scuba gear.

Davis herself has gone snorkelling while in Mexico.

She said snorkeling is most exciting in the Pacific or in the Caribbean, where the water is clear and a person can see colourful fish and the bottom of the ocean in shallow areas.

Skin diving involves a snorkel - a tube by which a person can breathe while swimming along the surface and looking down into the water - a mask and a set of fins. The tip of the snorkel has to be above water.

Davis noted a person can also dive 10 to 15 feet under the water.

"It's an opportunity to see something different that you might only get to see on the Discovery Channel," she said.

Each participant in the course - which will be held over four Saturdays - will get to keep a snorkel, mask, a set of fins and a backpack.

The classes will accept a maximum of 10 people as young as eight.

Davis said there are a lot of skills to be learned, such as breath control, how to stay underwater, how to surface safely and hand signals to communicate with other divers while under water.

She said the bottom of the Hay River swimming pool will be adorned with items for people to investigate during the class.

"There will be a whole new world down there," she said.

The instructor for the course will be Kerry Buhler, a lifeguard and swimming instructor at the pool.

Buhler was snorkelling in Costa Rica last winter, when she also earned a professional diving certificate for scuba diving.