Snorkeling on Castaway Cay for someone who can't swim

[Cackyschmackers]

I've never heard of anyone drowning with their life vest on, but I have never actually researched that.

If for some reason you become unconscious due to accident or health situation, some life vests will leave you face down in the water. Only certain life vests keep you upright and face out of the water if unconscious. Not sure the ones on CC are that type.

 

[Napoleon Dynamite]

If for some reason you become unconscious due to accident or health situation, some life vests will leave you face down in the water. Only certain life vests keep you upright and face out of the water if unconscious. Not sure the ones on CC are that type.

The life vests on CC are required if you are under a certain height for Pelican Plunge. If there was a risk of kids dying while using them, I doubt they would require them. If your child becomes unconscious next to you with a life vest on, I'm sure you would notice. Your child could become unconscious and drown without a life vest on. So...we will live on the "edge" so to speak, and make her wear the life vest on our cruise this month if she wants to snorkel

 

[_auroraborealis_]

If for some reason you become unconscious due to accident or health situation, some life vests will leave you face down in the water. Only certain life vests keep you upright and face out of the water if unconscious. Not sure the ones on CC are that type.

Exactly this. It is extremely possible to drown in even a Coast Guard approved life jacket. Parents are constantly and rightly warned not to rely on a life jacket to keep their child safe in water. In open water, they can also cause a false sense of security for some with swim skills.

fit is also important. The wrong size jacket, or poor adjustment, can also be risky.

If you Google, you will find plenty of boaters who drown in life jackets, alas.

The life jackets at PP are an insurance thing. They are not a guarantee, and children can still drown while wearing them.

 

[Cackyschmackers]

The life vests on CC are required if you are under a certain height for Pelican Plunge. If there was a risk of kids dying while using them, I doubt they would require them. If your child becomes unconscious next to you with a life vest on, I'm sure you would notice. Your child could become unconscious and drown without a life vest on. So...we will live on the "edge" so to speak, and make her wear the life vest on our cruise this month if she wants to snorkel

The snorkel vests are not the same vests as the PP ones. And I never gave you advice; I.was stating facts.

 

[Napoleon Dynamite]

The snorkel vests are not the same vests as the PP ones. And I never gave you advice; I.was stating facts.

If you had read my post, I said my daughter wears a life vest then puts the snorkel vest over it since it's required for visability (uninflated)

 

[Napoleon Dynamite]

Exactly this. It is extremely possible to drown in even a Coast Guard approved life jacket. Parents are constantly and rightly warned not to rely on a life jacket to keep their child safe in water. In open water, they can also cause a false sense of security for some with swim skills.

fit is also important. The wrong size jacket, or poor adjustment, can also be risky.

If you Google, you will find plenty of boaters who drown in life jackets, alas.

The life jackets at PP are an insurance thing. They are not a guarantee, and children can still drown while wearing them.

If it's an insurance thing, then I'm surprised they aren't required for kids under 48" in the snorkel area. Since afterall, the snorkel vest is NOT a life jacket.

 

[FigmentSpark]

We did the CC Sting Ray and Snorkel and DS's vest kept uninflating. If I was relying on that to save his life, he'd have not been allowed in the water. They aren't that great. Now, when we did the Dolphin swim, we were given real life jackets and those felt more like they could save a life.

 

[Cackyschmackers]

If you had read my post, I said my daughter wears a life vest then puts the snorkel vest over it since it's required for visability (uninflated)

I quoted only one sentence of your second post and my response was to that.

 

[Napoleon Dynamite]

We did the CC Snorkel and DS's vest kept uninflating. If I was relying on that to save his life, he'd have not been allowed in the water. They aren't that great. Now, when we did the Dolphin swim, we were given real life jackets and those felt more like they could save a life.

Yup, they definitely deflate! That is why we do a real life vest!

 

[Cackyschmackers]

If it's an insurance thing, then I'm surprised they aren't required for kids under 48" in the snorkel area. Since afterall, the snorkel vest is NOT a life jacket.

Everyone no matter age or height is required to wear the yellow inflatable vest in the snorkel area.

 

[Napoleon Dynamite]

Everyone no matter age or height is required to wear the yellow inflatable vest in the snorkel area.

Yes, I know. We have cruised quite a bit Like I said, IF it's an insurance thing at PP, I'm surprised they don't require a life vest while snorkeling for children under 48". That water is deeper than PP Not sure why you are wanting to argue with me, but I'm not going back and forth with you. Enjoy your next cruse

 

[elaine amj]

I am pretty relaxed about these kinds of things and I would still suggest caution. When we were there I first went out with my girlfriend. She can swim ok but gets nervous in open water. She did fine, but found it pretty tiring (it is a long swim - about half an hour out and half an hour back).

Later I took her husband and my husband out. Our friend does not know how to swim but has been practicing floating. He is reasonably confident and not the type to panic. With the life vest (inflated), snorkel, and fins, he felt comfortable enough to attempt it. My DH can swim but does not care for long distances and while physically fit, is not a strong swimmer.

Our friend did well, liking his fins and feeling comfortable in the inflated vest. He swam pretty well with all his gear. My DH likewise did ok, hanging on to our friend or to me sometimes for a rest - I insisted on several floating breaks.

They both survived the snorkel trip but both found the trip back very tiring. I knew I would get them both back but it took quite a while. The main reason they were fine is because both are calm individuals not given to panicking. When tired, they had the sense to take breaks and float in their inflated life vests. They both enjoyed the snorkelling and were happy they did it.

As for me, the snorkel was fun...but man, I sure enjoyed the lengthy swim! I usually swim laps..so to have the freedom to swim and swim and swim in a safe place and only do ONE lap makes Castaway Cay my very favourite place in the world to swim. My DH always reminds me to be cautious and swim reasonably close to people and shore when I swim outdoors. Which generally means I Am still stuck with swimming laps both in lakes and in the sea.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Life jackets improve outcomes and likelihood of not drowning. They are not failure proof. Children can drown in as little as one inch of water. There is also dry drowning. Life jackets are a precaution, not a guarantee.

Assuming they are a guarantee is one of the dangers water safety experts advise against.

 

[mrswillson]

As most of the other posters above stated, it's not worth risking lives when there are countless other options for your family to enjoy on Castaway Cay. A life vest is not sufficient and will not protect someone from inhaling water and potentially dry drowning, nor will it be of any assistance in rough currents. Be smart and don't attempt it.

 

[Msmit002]

I echo the sentiment stated previously: If you aren't a capable swimmer, choose a different activity. Snorkeling at CC isn't it. Furthermore, first time snorkeling in the ocean isn't the way to 'learn' to snorkel. If you know you want to snorkel on vacation, first take your equipment to your local pool, with calm water, and you can touch the bottom and learn there. THEN you can try it out in the ocean with the waves crashing into your snorkel.

Now, for those that pass the first Litmus test, we (DS 12 and me) enjoyed snorkeling at CC. True, there isn't an abundance of sea life variety. And, other than a lot of sea grass, there isn't much until you go out about 30m or so. Now, DS and I are VERY strong swimmers (we swim competitively) and we found that snorkeling at CC wasn't our most challenging dive but it wasn't our easiest either. We paid attention to the tide chart for the area and snorkeled out during ebb when the tide was going out and then returned on the ebb when it was coming back in and that certainly helped with fatigue and allowed us to stay out for about 3 total hours.

We do wear the required visibility vest (it is by NO means a life preserver) and we have our own gear that fit us well and we are very comfortable with so that also helps. But all in all, we would absolutely snorkel CC again and I look forward to taking my nephew out the next time we are there since he too is now learning to snorkel and swimming competitively.

 

[bbel]

There is no rule saying that if you're snorkelling that you have to go all the way into the lagoon.

I've been on snorkel duty way more times than I can count and just standing on the shore I've had the sting ray and other fish come up to my ankles, I've seen numerous starfish and shells.

If a child really wants to snorkel, no way would I let them go out their depth if they can't swim, but there's no harm in paddling, any adult can go in with them with or without gear as long as you both have the vest on. Obviously you won't see as many fish or the statues that way but a young kid can say they 'snorkelled' at castaway even if the water doesn't go above the knees.

At the end of the day, the life vests/jackets are life preservers, not life savers!

 

[Jess_S]

Just anecdotally on the possibility of drowning while wearing a life vest: I allowed my son to go down a water slide at WDW wearing a life vest even though he couldn't swim. I waited for him at the bottom. As he was coming down the slide, I got distracted by another small child who needed help. I did not immediately retrieve my son. He wound up on his back rolling from side to side like an overturned turtle because he didn't know how to right himself. In the 5 seconds that it took me to get to him and grab him, his face dipped in the water (though I don't believe any got in his mouth or nose). The lifeguard recognized what was going on as a drowning risk and was preparing to jump in as I grabbed my son. In hindsight, I made a bad decision allowing my son to go down the slide at all and I am sharing this because I think it could help others avoid a similar mistake.

My second anecdote is that I have personally gotten into trouble snorkeling as a grown adult who is a strong swimmer. (I took swimming lessons as a kid up through lifeguard training and have swam in rough ocean conditions with no problem). While snorkeling in Hawaii in choppy water, a wave splashed into my snorkel and I swallowed a good deal of water. This caused me to involuntarily "feed the fish" my breakfast, which, in turn, made me feel light headed and weak. I had to flag down the tour operator and get a tow back to the boat because I was physically unable to swim that distance.

What I hope these stories illustrate is not that snorkeling is scary or dangerous, but rather that there is an inherent risk even for a strong swimmer or someone wearing a life jacket. I absolutely do not think it is safe for a non-swimmer to take a 5 year old snorkeling.

ETA: You're right lanejudy that I assumed the 5 year old was to be left in the care of the non-swimmer. I inferred that from the fact that the OP asked if snorkeling was safe for a "non-swimmer and a 5 year old." It makes more sense that the 5 year old would be going with his parents and the OP is just worried about how he'll do.

So I'll revise to say that I don't think it's safe for a non-swimmer to snorkel and I would have reservations about the 5 year old even if he is wearing a life jacket.

 

[lanejudy]

Unless I am mis-interpreting the OP's post -- it is the OP (adult) who is a non-swimmer and her family thinks s/he will be fine doing the snorkeling with a life jacket. OP does also mention a 5-yr-old GS but he can swim.

OP - as a former lifeguard, I agree with you 100%. Don't let your family push you into an activity where you aren't comfortable, any activity but most especially one in the water. You certainly can rent snorkel equipment and stay in shallower water if you are fine with that; there won't be as much to see, and you won't be "with" your family (assuming they swim out into the lagoon), so I don't know if that would solve your dilemma. As for the child -- others have shared experiences of young (and older) kids who found it to be a tiring experience. Based on such reports, I would not take a child that age unless he truly has the stamina for distance swimming. Most 5-yr-olds I've seen, even those on a swim team, still find 1-2 laps in a pool to be tiring. However, this is a decision for the boys parents to make -- and if they are strong swimmers willing/able to help him, that will be their choice. Maybe his parents would be receptive if you recommend a different activity that you do with the child while the rest of the party goes snorkeling -- maybe biking or just building sand castles.

It's not that life vests are bad or shouldn't be used, but parents need to remain responsible for their kids in the water. Unfortunately, too many think the life vest replaces the need for the parent to be within arm's reach of a child.

Enjoy your cruise!