Yes Mandy. It’s great that you can go to Lanzarote in the winter, but how do you snorkel and draw in the Netherlands when it’s a bit colder?
Because I’m a diver, I have equipment for cold water. I wear a wetsuit or drysuit in colder water. I realize that it may be less accessible for some people to snorkel and draw in cold water. But I still want to describe it here. And I also regularly show in the next vlogs that it doesn’t always go smoothly.
In the winter, the water in the Netherlands is too cold to snorkel and draw in a swimsuit or thin wetsuit for a long time. You not only need a thicker wetsuit, but also gloves and a hood. The thickness of the suits depends on the water temperature and your physical condition. There are tables for the thickness of the suits, but that can differ from person to person. Below is a table that I found on the O’Neill website.
I am very warm-blooded myself and often wear protection that is thinner than the prescribed lists. But I also know divers and snorkelers who need thicker protection than the recommended thickness.A wetsuit should not be too loose, but also not too tight. The principle is that a layer of water runs into the suit that you warm up yourself, so to speak. If your suit is too loose, you are constantly replacing your warm water with a new layer of cold water. That doesn’t really help. You can also have a wetsuit made to measure. Then you know for sure that it fits well.
For those who often dive or snorkel in cold water, a dry suit is a good solution. Here, if all goes well, no water runs into your suit. These suits are available in different types of fabric. Neoprene, trilaminate, etc. Some fabrics insulate, others do not. It can keep you warm for longer. When changing, especially after a diving or snorkeling session, it is nice to have warm and dry underwear on. It is also nice if you can use a full-face snorkel mask in that cold water. And I was lucky. In 2025 I snorkeled in cold water for the first time with a full-face snorkel mask. That was really great. Despite the fact that I also had a hood on, the mask did not leak. No cold face. No brain freeze. No cold mouth that made it difficult to keep the snorkel in my mouth. Really nice.
Why would you actually want to snorkel and draw in the winter? The water is really cold then? Yes, that is true, but on the other hand it is also clearer than in the summer. There is no blue-green algae. It is quieter around you. And at some locations there is still plenty of underwater life to see. There are also interesting observations to be made underwater in the different seasons. Whether there was enough underwater life in ‘my’ lake, you can see in this and upcoming Vlogs.
I went snorkeling and drawing in our local lake in mid-February 2025. It was my first time doing this in a drysuit. Normally I only dive with my drysuit. So I had never snorkeled with one. Therefore I didn’t really know how the balance was while floating and drawing. I first explored the water movement. I also checked whether it was easy to get in and out of the water. I haven’t lived here that long and I hadn’t snorkeled or dived in this lake yet. It all looked good. While I was changing, the wind picked up a bit. When I went into the water a little later, the wind caused the waves to increase. This meant that it was difficult to snorkel in the shallow part. The visibility was good. In terms of equipment, it was also good for writing on the clipboard.
I would have to go to deeper water and then possibly put on my fins. I didn’t know how that would work with the stability. Also because my hands were, literally and figuratively, full with the clipboard and full-face mask.Because I was alone, I decided not to take any risks. After all, you can drown in 50 cm of water. I broke off the snorkeling session. I really thought it was a shame, because the weather was beautiful. But: Safety first! And yet an experience richer. I could have determined that the water was clear. Drawing with gloves went well. The solution for the colored pencils also seemed good. And wearing a hood in combination with a full-face mask went fine. No leaks.
Below you can see in a video what the run-up to this drawing session looked like. In the next Vlogs you can actually see me drawing. But I think it’s just fair to show you safety precautions and examples that things don’t always go smooth.