How to Snorkel Underwater (for Beginners)

The Snorkel is useless when underwater. Remove it from your mouth when diving

Step 1: Your Snorkel Is Useless Underwater

How the snorkel tube can help you underwater? Forget about it. It's completely useless once you go underwater. It wasn’t designed for that—it’s for floating around when you’re resting after a dive.

So, what’s the first step to real underwater freedom?

Getting comfortable without your snorkel underwater. Yep, it’s time to ditch it (temporarily).

The Drill:

1. While you still have the snorkel in your mouth take a deep breath—fill your lungs.

2. Remove the snorkel from your mouth.

3. Put your face in the water and just chill. No diving, no moving—just hang out for 10 seconds holding your breath.

4. After 10 seconds, take your face from the water, put your snorkel back in, breath through the snorkel and rest.

5. Rest for about 30 seconds, then do it again.

Repeat this five times.

Step 2: Time to Dive 🌊

Time to snorkel underwater

Now that you’re comfortable without your snorkel, it’s time to actually dive. But first—fins on. Any fins will do. Don’t stress about which ones right now.

Your Mission:

1. Take a deep breath.

2. Remove the snorkel from your mouth.

3. Dive.

🚨 One Warning: If you feel pressure in your ears—STOP. That means you’re going too deep. Just return to the surface and take it easy. The goal here is zero pain—just getting used to diving.

Repeat this five times.

Pay attention to your nerves. You might feel a little anxious—that’s totally normal. I’m a certified Freediver and have been snorkeling for more than 20 years, and I still feel that little rush of excitement. And that’s the beauty of it.

Step 3: Dealing with Ear Pain When Diving

Equalising your ears to the water pressure

Feeling some ear pain? That’s actually a good thing. It means your body is working perfectly, and you’re diving deep. Congratulations! 🎉

But here’s the deal: the deeper you go, the more water pressure builds up on your ears. That’s what’s causing the discomfort.

The Equalisation Trick (Your First Freediving Skill!)

🫢 Step 1: Pinch your nose with your fingers.

🌬️ Step 2: Blow gently against your fingers, like you're trying to inflate a balloon inside your nose.

👂 Step 3: Both ears should “pop” (or feel like they are releasing pressure).

Try it now—you don’t even need to be in the water to feel it!

🎉 Congrats! You just learned a fundamental Freediving technique: Equalising. You’re becoming a freediver without even realising it.

🔁 Practice this five times right now.

🚨 IMPORTANT: Make sure both ears pop. If only one ear does, try again.

Here is a video I made showing people how to do that:

Equalising While Diving 🐠📹 (Because Underwater Videography Needs You Pain-Free)

When you're underwater, you’ll need to do this many times. Here’s how it works:

📏 1 Meter Deep – You feel pressure? Equalise. Boom—pain gone.

📏 3 Meters Deep – Pressure builds up again. Equalise. Back to comfort.

📏 5 Meters Deep – Yep, time to equalise again.

Every 1 to 2 meters, repeat the technique. It’s that simple.

If you’ve seen any of my underwater videography, you’ll notice I’m always touching my nose. Now you know why!

Equalising is your best friend underwater. Master it, and you’ll be diving deeper with zero pain in no time. Ready to take your underwater skills to the next level? Grab your mask, hit the water, and start practicing! 🌊📷