All of our snorkeling safaris take place in the topics and one of the characteristics of tropical climates is rain. Although we typically run our tours in the “Dry Season” for each destination, it is not uncommon for it to rain at least once while on any of our tours. I take that back, if you are on an Egypt snorkeling safari there’s about a 1,00% chance that it won’t rain. When it does eventually start to rain on our tour the first question I invariably receive from guests is, “Can we still snorkel in the rain?”
To which I respond, “Yes, absolutely, but we need to keep a couple of things in mind.”
The first thing to keep in mind while snorkeling in the rain is your snorkel. Obviously, we don’t want it filling up with rainwater, so the best thing to do while you’re snorkeling is to take one of your hands and hold it over the top of your snorkel so it makes a nice air-tight seal. We don’t want any water getting in!
I am of course JOKING!
Now that I have your attention. Let’s talk about this seriously. While we do hope to be snorkeling in nice sunny weather, as we discussed earlier rain happens in the tropics and we just have to roll with it the best we can. Now, unless it’s very windy, stormy, and just otherwise unpleasant, which is not a very common occurrence on our safaris, we may postpone the snorkel until conditions have improved. However, if it’s just a quick tropical afternoon shower we almost always carry on with the snorkeling as planned.
Snorkeling in the rain can be great! Yes, it may seem unpleasant at first as rain typically involves clouds that block most of the sunlight, but once you’re in the water it’s great. The water usually feels much warmer than the dreary terrestrial temperatures and somehow it also can seem brighter underwater despite the cloud cover. Fish don’t care if it’s raining so there’s no real change in the marine life, and I can tell you right now that I would much rather be in the water snorkeling with the fishes than cooped up on a boat or in a bungalow in the rain. For those of you who are keen photographers, the rain hitting the water makes a magical and very unique pattern on the surface which can really spice up your underwater imagery!
