The Rankin Zoo

Coral has always loved being in the water and this past summer she learned how to really swim. Last winter I did a pretty good job of getting her to the indoor pool on a regular basis (1-2 times per month) so she wouldn’t lose her love of the water. This winter I haven’t done nearly as good a job (as in, until last weekend we hadn’t been to the pool at all).

For months I’ve been talking to Coral about snorkeling. She has some goggles and at some point along the way acquired a mask and snorkel (actually 2-3 sets). She has actually managed to snorkel in our old claw foot tub – but that’s not much of a test of her true snorkeling skills.

On Sunday we went to the pool and took our gear with us. I think one key was that we stopped and bought some swimming caps (Coral calls them helmets for some reason) on the way – which makes putting the mask on much easier. As it turns out, Coral is a natural. First of all, I wasn’t sure if she would remember how to swim but within about 10 seconds of getting into the pool she was off and swimming. After a bit of that we decided to try snorkeling.

The first mask was a bit big and didn’t really work but the second one did. Coral stuck the snorkel in her mouth and put her face in the water. About 30 seconds later she popped up to exclaim that she could see feet and some rings that some kids were playing with. She had great form, seemed very comfortable, and definitely enjoyed it.

I think if we had better fitting gear she would do better – she still had several cases of water in the mask and/or snorkel. But now I think I need to figure out how we can go snorkeling somewhere with more interesting scenery.