Snorkeling

Who: Globe staff writer Stephanie Ebbert and her children, Anna, 8, and Nick, 5 Where: North Suburban YMCA What: Snorkeling at family swim time WOBURN — The image of my children that I cherish most is watching them in a pool paddling toward me, slippery and grinning, all dimples and delight. That's the image that sustained me during their early swim classes, which often felt more like an endurance test for moms than a lesson for toddlers. (All that singing and encouragement in the pool was inevitably followed by a nightmarish scene in a locker room full of desperately hungry and...

Who: Globe staff writer Stephanie Ebbert and her children, Anna, 8, and Nick, 5 Where: North Suburban YMCA What: Snorkeling at family swim time WOBURN — The image of my children that I cherish most is watching them in a pool paddling toward me, slippery and grinning, all dimples and delight. That's the image that sustained me during their early swim classes, which often felt more like an endurance test for moms than a lesson for toddlers. (All that singing and encouragement in the pool was inevitably followed by a nightmarish scene in a locker room full of desperately hungry and...

Australian officials said Wednesday they were investigating a dive boat company that accidentally left behind a U.S. tourist snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef, forcing the panicked man to swim to another boat for help. A spokesman for the company denied Ian Cole was ever in danger. But it drew immediate comparisons to the infamous case of Americans Tom and Eileen Lonergan, who died in 1998 after their tour boat left while they were scuba diving on the reef. Officials believe they drowned or were eaten by sharks.

Budgetary Concerns My partner and I are planning a trip to Montreal, and as twentysomethings just starting out in the work world, we need to be frugal. So I was excited to see that the city was featured in "Vacations that Stretch Your Dollar" on March 25 — until I saw that you advised eating at restaurants charging upward of $40 a person or where prices for a starter and entree "plummet" to $25 at 10 p.m. I'd like to know in what world a $40-per-person dinner is "stretching a dollar"?

Mention snorkeling, and most New Englanders envision vacations in the Florida Keys, Cancun, or Hawaii -- places where the sea is nearly as warm as bath water and colorful tropical fish flirt with swimmers. Not Alan Brickman. Nearly every day the lanky 49-year-old can be found face down in the chilly surf off Rockport's rugged Halibut Point State Park, communing with shy lobsters, sleek striped bass and bluefish, red-backed crabs, camouflaged flounder, lacelike jellyfish, and a seemingly endless rainbow of starfish.

You can be doing laps in the hotel pool or snorkeling among tropical fish and still listen to your favorite music or an audiobook. The SwiMP3.1G, a waterproof MP3 player made by Finis, clips onto most swim goggles and snorkeling masks, and is slim and sleek enough that it won’t get in your way. It uses bone-conductive sound technology to transmit crystal-clear audio recordings when submerged. Plug the device into your computer’s USB port to load songs and then choose a tune, select “shuffle,’’ or adjust the volume easily while wearing the SwiMP3.

Quasar Nautica US division: Tumbaco Inc. 7855 NW 12th St. , Suite 221 Miami 800-247-2925 www.quasarnautica.com Seven -night , eight-day cruise aboard Parranda, $2,600-$3,600, double occupancy . Round-trip airfare from the Ecuadorian mainland to the Galápagos Islands is not included, nor is airfare from the United States. Cruise passengers are also responsible for the Galápagos National Park tax of $100 ($50 for children under 12) , which must be paid in cash.

Santa Catalina Island can be reached by sea and air from various locations along the Southern California coast. The Catalina Express catamaran from Long Beach (800-481-3470, catalinaexpress.com) costs $56.50 round-trip. For general information , visit catalina.com . Where to stay Zane Grey Pueblo Hotel 199 Chimes Tower Road, Avalon 310-510-0966 zanegreypueblohotel.com Rooms $65-$75 through March, excluding holidays. Where to eat Armstrong's Fish Market & Restaurant 306 Crescent Ave. 310-510-0113 Head to the...

Laura Peluso, 25, analytics news specialist On a desert island, she’d need: my sewing machine, a library, and snorkeling gear What makes her a catch: my sense of adventure and zest for life Jon Lakow, 28, business manager/rock band manager He enjoys: working out in a boxing gym, soccer, weekends at the lake What makes him a catch: I am well traveled and always looking to take new adventures. 7 p.m. Tangierino, Charlestown Great expectations Jon: I had a pretty good feeling about the date.

WHO: Kathleen VonBehren, 49, and her daughter, Megan, 21, of Shrewsbury. WHERE: Aruba. WHEN: Four days in June. WHY: Megan had said she wanted to go to Aruba a long time ago, Kathleen said. The whole family has done a lot of cruises such as to Mexico and the Bahamas. Because Megan, a senior at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, had just turned 21, Kathleen decided to make that the theme of the mother-daughter trip. UNUSUALLY BEAUTIFUL: They were impressed with the beach, Kathleen said.

FOR NEARLY 30 years, Thomas Lew has been a diver. He's donned scuba tanks all over the Caribbean, exploring reefs and brushing up against vividly colorful marine life. It's a pastime that comes at great cost, however: Beyond the expense of getting to the tropics, Lew typically spends about $250 per day on the air tanks, equipment rental, and dive boats necessary to get out to good dive spots. That's why he often takes a day off from scuba diving to snorkel instead. "With snorkeling, you can carry your mask and snorkel in your luggage, and some of the best snorkeling is close to shore," says Lew, a...

Australian officials said Wednesday they were investigating a dive boat company that accidentally left behind a U.S. tourist snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef, forcing the panicked man to swim to another boat for help. A spokesman for the company denied Ian Cole was ever in danger. But it drew immediate comparisons to the infamous case of Americans Tom and Eileen Lonergan, who died in 1998 after their tour boat left while they were scuba diving on the reef. Officials believe they drowned or were eaten by sharks.

Laura Peluso, 25, analytics news specialist On a desert island, she’d need: my sewing machine, a library, and snorkeling gear What makes her a catch: my sense of adventure and zest for life Jon Lakow, 28, business manager/rock band manager He enjoys: working out in a boxing gym, soccer, weekends at the lake What makes him a catch: I am well traveled and always looking to take new adventures. 7 p.m. Tangierino, Charlestown Great expectations Jon: I had a pretty good feeling about the date.

MATTHEW TOWN, Inagua — “The chase is all,’’ my mother used to say about men. I think of this in the prickly mangrove bush where I have been waiting, curled like a pretzel since dawn, as my subjects take off the second before my shutter clicks. “Flamingos are tough,’’ says our guide, Colin Ingraham, a master of understatement. They pierce the sky in long, pink-and-black arrows, taking flight each time we come within a certain distance — always beyond the focal length of my lens.

You can be doing laps in the hotel pool or snorkeling among tropical fish and still listen to your favorite music or an audiobook. The SwiMP3.1G, a waterproof MP3 player made by Finis, clips onto most swim goggles and snorkeling masks, and is slim and sleek enough that it won’t get in your way. It uses bone-conductive sound technology to transmit crystal-clear audio recordings when submerged. Plug the device into your computer’s USB port to load songs and then choose a tune, select “shuffle,’’ or adjust the volume easily while wearing the SwiMP3.

WHO: Kathleen VonBehren, 49, and her daughter, Megan, 21, of Shrewsbury. WHERE: Aruba. WHEN: Four days in June. WHY: Megan had said she wanted to go to Aruba a long time ago, Kathleen said. The whole family has done a lot of cruises such as to Mexico and the Bahamas. Because Megan, a senior at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, had just turned 21, Kathleen decided to make that the theme of the mother-daughter trip. UNUSUALLY BEAUTIFUL: They were impressed with the beach, Kathleen said.

Cozumel is a jungle wrapped in a tropical coast surrounded by one of the underwater wonders of the world. Its reefs are part of the second largest reef system on earth, stretching southward from the Yucatan past Belize and Honduras to Panama. Coconut palms and resort hotels flourish on the coastline. The interior is impenetrable except for a few roads and paths, and there are no streams or rivers. Rainfall penetrates directly to the water table through the sandy soil or collects in brackish lagoons popular with crocodiles and other wildlife.

"We'd been to many Caribbean islands but never St. John. We knew the snorkeling was supposed to be some of the best in the islands. We wanted to escape winter before the rates went up, and also as a Christmas gift for ourselves.

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Santa Catalina Island can be reached by sea and air from various locations along the Southern California coast. The Catalina Express catamaran from Long Beach (800-481-3470, catalinaexpress.com) costs $56.50 round-trip. For general information , visit catalina.com . Where to stay Zane Grey Pueblo Hotel 199 Chimes Tower Road, Avalon 310-510-0966 zanegreypueblohotel.com Rooms $65-$75 through March, excluding holidays. Where to eat Armstrong's Fish Market & Restaurant 306 Crescent Ave. 310-510-0113 ...