Before we went to Rottnest we had to learn the basics of snorkelling and some safety rules. The first thing we learnt was SAFE SNORKEL. SAFE SNORKEL is an acronym that we used to remember what we had to do at Rottnest. SAFE SNORKEL stands for:
S- Safety
A- Accidents
F- First Aid
E- Emergency
S- Sun
N- Nourishment
O- Ocean
R- Reef
K- Keep together
E- Environment
L- Leave no trace
After we had a good enough understanding of SAFE SNORKEL we headed over to the pool to practice or snorkelling techniques. We learnt multiple types of entries such as the stride, wade, compact and rollback entry. We also learnt how to duck dive, clear our masks underwater and equalize our ears. To duck dive, you kick down really hard, then you hold your nose and breath out through it to equalize your ears. Equalizing stops you from getting that pressure feeling in your ears when you’re duck diving deep down. In case your mask filled with water all you had to do to clear it was tilt your head back, lift up the bottom of your mask with two hands and quickly blow out with your nose.
Soon enough we were ready to go on snorkel trips to Coogee during our 2 hr double periods on Wednesdays until the Rottnest Excursion. We learnt what it felt like to snorkel in the ocean and we saw lots of fish and structures such as the cannon and the star. We also had the opportunity to practice our duck diving and equalizing when we tried to go under the star.
Finally, we had one more task to do before our excursion to Rottnest. Team building. We had two activities, the first was leading a group of blindfolded people to a circle, and the other was getting the whole class to cross through the skipping rope.
