Snorkeling from a canoe?

[BubbleFL]

Some days I wish to explore new areas but I don't feel like taking the boat out. Has anyone here used a canoe? I am trying to think of some modifications that would make my 14ft canoe work better for being my base station.

[james croft]

I use a canoe a lot for snorkeling as well as diving. It works fine as is and I did not feel that I needed to do much in the way of modifying it. I use either a 16 or a 17 ft canoe. For scuba my tanks lie nicely on the bottom and I store the rest of my gear on top of them. For snorkeling it is even easier.

Sometimes I pull my canoe along with me and attach a line to pull it with to the bow of the canoe. It tows easily and tracks well. I also have a small anchor stowed with a throw bag so I can anchor in an area and look aroung without having to worry about my canoe drifing of. fDon't forget a dive flag as well as the rest of your required safety gear like PFD's, etc.

Usually I can bring the canoe to shallow water to re-board it, but it is not a problem to re-enter in deeper water by "leap frogging" over the stern or bow or entering from the side by holding onto the gunnels on either side and equally distributing the weight and then kicking hard and sliding over the gunnel.

I use both a canoe or a kayak depending on where I go but I find a canoe to be ideal for much of the diving I do in rivers or calm water.

[Seraphimx]

Shouldn't be too hard with practice, just secure you paddles and gear in place or in big packs so you don't go crazy bringing your stuff back if you fail once. Multiple small packages are harder to go get than one or two large packs.

Also like james croft said, bringing the boat to a shallow spot is easier than doing the whole drill, I do know it supposedly easier to keep the balance while boarding from water at two man from water, one on each side. But I've never done it.

Usually I'm with my brothers, so when we want to jump in the water, we stick two canoes one next to the other. Two people stay in boat, 2 people swim, get back in one at a time and it blocks the boat that's being boarded from flipping.

On a side note Kayak would be easier no?
You got storage space to put you fins and snorkel. When I go canoeing I see a lot of people in Kayak practicing "emergency" situation where they flip and leave the kayak. Looks kinda easy with practice. While with the canoe you look like a stranded whaled try to get up in the canoe without flipping it.