The Apple Watch 10 Is All In on Snorkeling. I Took It for a Swim
As my shadow drifted toward it, the burgundy octopus retreated beneath a rock, sucking itself into a dark crevice. As I floated on the water and looked down through my snorkel mask, a wave crashed against the back of my head, and I realized I’d once again lost track of time while communing with the marine life on Maui’s south shore. I turned to look at my Apple Watch, which told me that I had been in the water for nearly 30 minutes without a break.
In the past, I needed an Apple Watch Ultra to use the Oceanic Plus app, which is designed for tracking scuba diving activities— My colleague Jesse Orrall explored this feature back in 2022. This fall, Apple Watch 10 was released, and with it came compatibility with Oceanic Plus, including updates for snorkeling.
I was going to a snorkeling hotspot in Hawaii shortly after the Series 10 was released, so I knew I had to take it with me to experience it.
As far as hobbies go, snorkeling is not one I indulge in regularly as my closest opportunity is the cold North Sea. The North Sea, which rubs shoulders with the coastlines of Scotland, Norway and other Nordic countries, is neither the most inviting nor the most interesting body of water to drown your face in.
But I’ve been lucky enough to snorkel in some great spots over the years, making it one of my favorite vacation activities. I swam with sea turtles in Indonesia, swam with rays, sharks and dolphins in Australia, and explored some of the most dazzling colorful coral gardens in the Red Sea.
Maui is famous for its sea turtles.
On my trip to Hawaii, snorkeling was pretty much the main focus of my beach time. As usual, I was armed with a mask and snorkel, as well as a GoPro for photographing the giant green sea turtles that Maui is famous for. I also have a small dry bag to store valuables that I keep clipped to my waist with my Apple Watch Series 10 on my wrist.
I’ve been advocating for the device as a travel tool since the original Apple Watch launched 10 years ago. Easily glance down at your trip details when you’re on the go; be able to keep tabs on activity and sleep when you’re crossing time zones; staying connected on the go means when you go on holiday or on a business trip, it’s truly play a role. Along with my phone, headphones, GoPro and Kindle, it’s a piece of technology I can’t even imagine now.
Series 10 has a “waterproof” design with a waterproof rating of 50 meters. The watch detects when it is submerged, triggering the water lock. When you come out of the water, you can press and hold the Digital Crown to drain the water from the grilles on both sides of the watch.
Another new feature for the Apple Watch this time around is the Depth Sensor app, which tells you the water temperature and the time you spent underwater. Combined with the Apple Watch Tide app, snorkeling is ready right out of the box.
For those who take snorkeling more seriously, the Oceanic Plus app is an additional $2/£2 per month investment. To do this, you’ll get a GPS activity map and log of each snorkel, which automatically imports any photos or videos from your iPhone and color-corrects them.
Taking Apple Watch overseas
Even before I hit the water, the Oceanic Plus app guided me to popular snorkeling spots with the help of its heat maps. I also use the built-in Tide app on my Apple Watch to learn more about sea conditions before I start snorkeling.
Apple Watch can help you understand the conditions of the ocean.
When I submerged the watch and myself in the ocean, the water lock activated and I could launch the Oceanic Plus app, or the free Apple Watch Depth app would pop up on the watch face. Both start a timer and tell me my depth (which isn’t very deep; I’m snorkeling, after all) and the water temperature.
The timer is probably the most useful feature when snorkeling with the Apple Watch. It’s easy to lose track of time while snorkeling, and a timer allows me to keep track of how long I’ve been swimming and helps me understand the sea conditions.
As I swim, the Oceanic Plus app collects data about my distance and route in the background. When I get back to shore, after holding down the Digital Crown and sizzling salty liquid from my Apple Watch, I can add additional details to the log for future reference, including visibility, surface conditions, and Currents, and notes about: What fish did I see (with the help of the app’s Ocean ID feature).
Because I had a GoPro with me, I did not use my iPhone to take photos or videos during the snorkeling. If I do this, they are automatically merged into my snorkel log based on the timestamp.
Skilled snorkeling companion
I love and appreciate the additional data you get when snorkeling with your Apple Watch, but I find the simple built-in depth app to be the most useful feature. The Oceanic Plus app proved very handy when reviewing each swim and noting where I saw it.
For example, when people ask me where I’ve seen sea turtles, I’m not only able to describe or vaguely point to those spots in a map app, but I can also show them the exact route I took to swim. If I’m ever lucky enough to return to Maui, I’ll be looking forward to revisiting some of the places where I saw the most exciting marine life and comparing and contrasting the results.
My eight-legged friend.
There is no doubt that if I snorkeled regularly I would get more out of the Oceanic Plus app. If I lived near a decent snorkeling spot, I’d love to track the different fish and creatures I see at different times and use trend data to understand their behavior and deepen my connection to the local underwater ecosystem.
For the casual snorkeler on vacation, I wouldn’t say the Apple Watch is an essential accessory. As Jesse pointed out in his diving test of the Apple Watch Ultra, the Oceanic Plus app does perform well when you’re using it to scuba dive rather than snorkel, and that remains true even with the improved snorkeling capabilities.
That said, if you own an Apple Watch Series 10 or Ultra model, it’s good to know that it’s wearable and can be used for snorkeling. The Oceanic Plus snorkeling subscription is very affordable, but if you’re like most people, the built-in Depth App feature on your Apple Watch will provide a wealth of easy-to-access, real-time data as you cruise the reef. Look for suspicious friends.
