River snorkeling

[riversnorkel]

Just thought I would shoot you guys a link to my river snorkel youtube videos.
The picture quality is not so great, both from compression and from using a poor quality camera.
There has been a growing interest in swimming whitewater, usually just one trip out to the river convinces folks it's a good time.
We would regularly swim the Wenatchee this summer, conditions were good later in the season. I stumbled into several large schools of Chinook salmon, some upwards of 30-40 pounds! Hope some of you manage to get out and explore this offshoot of diving, it's an amazing experience in the right conditions.
I'm in the process of building a proper website and if it's ok with the admins, I'll post a link to it when I get it up and running.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnAyoEOVk_A[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oMaZ062EFo[/youtube]

[whatevah]

Hi - this is excellent - really like what you've done with the video. I have done some snorkeling in rivers to observe salmon - never the Wenatchee but the Skagit, Skykomish and also Campbell River on Vancouver Island. It is really a blast and I'm glad to see others are out getting some of the fun. Please do post more of your video and a link to your site - I'd love to follow along with your adventures I'm actually trying to get a small group together to go up to the Adams River in BC in a couple of weeks - quick weekend trip to snorkel with Sockeye in their spawning colors - record return to the Fraser this year and a big portion will be funneled through the Adams. Hope to get some amazing photo/video of bright red and green fish!

[spatman]

nice videos! looks like a lot of fun. i might have to look around at some of our local rivers....

[ArcticDiver]

Nice!

I've snorkeled a local river. Actually more fun than diving it. Everyone should try it. You might like it.

[Blaiz]

uhmmm ok sounds intriguing... how does one DO it? rent a wetsuit? weights required? what about permissions?

moar info plzkthx!

[ArcticDiver]

uhmmm ok sounds intriguing... how does one DO it? rent a wetsuit? weights required? what about permissions?

moar info plzkthx!

Can't speak for places where I've not been. But where I went I chose to use a wet suit even though the water temperature was in the high 40's because there were a lot of in-water hazards and a bright sun. I didn't want to snag an expensive dry suit and the sun kept me warm enough. It was snorkeling so I didn't use any weights. I did do a couple breath hold dives but nothing significant. The river was public so I did have to watch for boat traffic. After all, no one would expect to see a snorkeler. For the most part I stayed out of the boat channel and made a point of waving at the few boats I saw.

THE biggest thing to look out for was current that might sweep me into sweepers or other hazards I couldn't swim or drag myself out of. With no rescue available that was sort of important. But, I run boats on rivers so I'm able to read the current pretty well and had no problems. A slower running or more open river wouild be a piece of cake.

Oh yes, the fish were tres cool!

[riversnorkel]

Thanks for the kind words, river snorkeling is a lot of fun and I have a lot of enthusiasm for getting the word out to people that might enjoy it.
Some of you posted some good questions and concerns. As far as safety goes, just start small, gain experience in safe conditions. Always swim with a partner or group and remember you should always stop and scout ahead for dangers.
I started swimming in big calm pools and drifts and playing in gentle rapids.
Feel free to join my facebook river snorkel group and check out what's going on. I'm in Alaska right now, so I can't swim for 2 more weeks, but would be glad to get out when I get home.
Whatevah, your Canada trip sounds amazing! You are going to have a great time, feel free to post up your video on my page, I would like to have others see it.
There were some old trip reports here about folks river snorkeling, I'm sure you could serach for them.
~Russ

Facebook LINK:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/River-Sno ... 2343334649
You can also double click the videos that I posted and check out the youtube page I created.

[spudgunman]

I would be down for a club river snorkel

[riversnorkel]

Would be down for a swim when I get back from AK. in 10 days.
Water quality/ level dependant.

[riversnorkel]

New video up from this last week's swims.
The chinook have reached a zombie state, so sad.
In their honor I used a emo classic from Radiohead.
Still up for swimming if any of you want to tag along.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBJLl3XV-8A[/youtube]

[no excuses]

whats that thing I see hanging from youre mouth, I am not familier with it???

[Norris]

Pretty cool stuff

[derek b]

Awesome,

I subscribed to you on facebook.