INFORMAL PLAY: NORTHERN COAST DIVING

"Just keep swimming" is what we kept telling ourselves during our day long snorkelling adventure in Sosua. When picking who we wanted to snorkel with, we wanted to make sure we chose the best in the business. Enter Northern Coast Diving, established in 1988 and one of the top rated in the region.

We met with the owner, Michael who was beyond friendly and had the answer to every question we could think of, not to mention a good grasp on the Sosua area as well. He informed us that we would be heading out for a 3 hour session to two different reefs of the shallow waters of Sosua. Armed with our Olympus TG-4 underwater camera and GoPro Hero 3, we were ready.

Our guide, Alejandro was unbelievable, he has been doing this for 20 years and knows all the waters around the island like the back of his hand. After giving us the primary safety tips at the HQ, he gave us some flippers, mask, breathing tube and a life jacket and walked us to the beach where our little adventure started.

Here he was showing us white sea urchins, these ones you are able to pick up and touch but stay away from the black ones.

Alejandro wanted to make sure we had the best experience possible. He brought some fish food with him and a feeding frenzy ensued, allowing for tons of perfect photo ops. Check out the rest of our underwater photos below.

Thank you Northern Coast Diving for this memorable experience! Snorkelling is definitely a good introduction to diving, we definitely recommend you try this out for yourselves. Here are some tips we think newbies like us could benefit from;

Snorkelling Tips:

1. If you're not a strong swimmer, wear a life vest just in case. The flippers do act as a floatation device but swimming around for three hours gets tiring. It's better to be safe than sorry.

2. Getting used to breathing through the snorkel takes a few minutes. Practice doing so before jumping in.

3. Make sure you wear water proof sunscreen! We had to learn this the hard way when our backs ended up with sunburn.

4. Guys, if you have a beard - beware. It could potentially create a gap between your face and the mask like it did for Mike, allowing water to get in from time to time.

5. It can get pretty cold in certain areas underwater. I suggest wearing a dive suit, I know I will next time.

6. Make sure you know where your guide is at all times. It's a whole other world under there, last thing you want is to get lost.

7. Just have fun! It's not scary, it's actually an amazing experience for the curious mind.

#Travel