7 Recommended snorkeling products

7 Recommended snorkeling products

• What do I need to do snorkeling?
• How to choose snorkeling goggles?
• How to choose the right snorkel tube?
• What fins are recommended for snorkeling?
• Do I need booties to snorkel?
• When do I need a safety buoy?
• What do I need a wetsuit or lycra t-shirt for?
• Biodegradable sun cream? take care of your environment

What do I need to do snorkeling?

In principle you only need a pair of diving goggles and a snorkel but there are other products that help us in the practice of this sport and improve some aspects. This type of diving focuses on going over the surface contemplating the seabed, so what I recommend here will be for this purpose. In another article we will talk about apnea. Next I'm going to guide you with the knowledge that I've been acquiring about which products are suitable for their practice, how to choose them when they have different characteristics, to avoid that you make some mistakes that I made and that you enjoy to the maximum your exits to the sea.

How to choose snorkeling goggles?

When it comes to choosing glasses, it's important to try them to make sure they fit perfectly and that you can be comfortable during the dive. Try them on by putting them on your face without the gum, and inhale them through your nose so they stick to your face. If so, and they stay stuck is that they fit perfectly.

You also have to be aware of any pressure points you notice, usually on the nose or forehead. There may be rigid parts of the mask that pressure you and even if you only notice a little, having them for a long time can intensify the pain and become a major nuisance and prevent you from enjoying the walk by the sea.

The last aspect I recommend is that the material is opaque. Those that are made of transparent silicone, let the sunlight through and depending on the position can create reflections on the glass and be annoying to your eyes and not let you see the seabed well, apart from the eye damage it can cause.

For some years now there has been another type of mask called Easy Breath that covers the entire face and with which you can breathe through the nose naturally. It's very suitable if you don't like to breathe through your mouth and many people recommend it. But with this mask you will have a limitation: you won't be able to dive more than one meter, because the air it contains will give you a lot of buoyancy and will push you towards the surface. For this type of mask, you will not be able to use the previous procedure, you will have to try them on and see that they are the right size. There are several sizes and they have quite wide rubbers so they will probably fit well to your face.

How to choose the right snorkel tube?

What you have to take into account to choose the tube that suits you, are several aspects. First, attach it to the rubber of your glasses and try to see how it adapts to your mouth. Those who are rigid have a problem, and that is that sometimes do not make a good fit between the grip of the rubber and the mouth. They remain a little tilted with what bothers us or we do not manage to face it well and that the mouth is completely sealed.

I recommend that you buy one that is a little more expensive, but with which you are sure to be comfortable. This tube has a flexible plastic accordion part, which can be twisted and perfectly adjusted to the mouth and also has a grip system to the rubber mask, which slides over the tube, to put it as close to your face.

Another factor that you have to pay attention are if they are open from above or if they have a water blocking system, so that when you submerge, it blocks the entrance of water. With this you won't have to be blowing hard to remove the water from the tube every time you make a dive.

What fins are recommended for snorkeling?

The fins will allow you to travel much more distance with less effort and therefore be able to explore more area with them. You'll also have more control of movement and safety in case the sea is a little rough. I don't recommend you to snorkel with the sea in that state, because it is dangerous and you won't have much visibility.

There are many types of fins for different modalities, snorkeling, diving, apnea or spearfishing. In the case of the snorkel, I recommend to use medium fins and with central hole, this will do that without much effort, you can overcome the surface with the fin and introduce the foot under the water and to give fins of great distance and to impulse you. If they are very big they will brake a lot on the surface, you will make a lot of effort, as soon as they get into the water and you will overload the muscles of the instep of the foot.

There are two types of fins depending on how the foot is adjusted, the cheaper fins fit snugly to the foot. And others do not have a heel and have a strap to adjust them from behind and fix the foot. In the case of the first ones, the contra I see is that you have to put them out of the water because there is no room for booties with soles and to enter the sea you will have to walk difficultly and backwards with them. The others however allow us to use them with booties and what I usually do is enter the water walking with them and then into the water, where it covers you by the waist, I put the fins comfortably.

Do I need booties to snorkel?

At this point it will depend on the places you are going to go for snorkeling. If you're only going to snorkel on sandy beaches, you don't need to. If you are going to gravel, bowling or rock coves, they will be essential to walk comfortably and suffer no injuries to the feet. I particularly recommend them, as the best places you will find for snorkeling are 90% coves and rocky areas. On sandy beaches, there are usually very large areas with only sand and although we are going to see some fish, it is going to be much harder to find and in the end we become monotonous sandy bottom. On the other hand, in rocky areas and areas with oceanic posidonia we are going to observe much more marine life, since they have places to protect themselves and the landscapes are more interesting to explore. The escarpines are cheap and will allow us to go to many interesting places so I recommend that you include it in your basic snorkel luggage.

When do I need a safety buoy?

If you are going to snorkel on beaches and coves where there are signaling buoys that limit access to boats, you do not need to carry your own buoy. But in case we want to cross this line or go out on other sides, you must use the signaling buoy so that you can be detected with distance. The greatest number of snorkel accidents are caused by boats or jet skis that do not see the person and pass over them injuring or even causing death, so it is no nonsense to use them.

What do I need a wetsuit or lycra t-shirt for?

The use of neoprene is necessary if you want to enjoy this sport throughout the year. It is impressive how with a suit of these we can be submerged in icy waters without noticing cold. In the end we end up losing some body heat, but makes it possible for you to practice this sport for about two hours straight. There are different thicknesses for each season of the year, I have used 5mm long for winter and 3mm short magnas for spring but it will also depend a little on each person, there are people who use in summer too. For my taste in summer there is plenty, but I recommend the use of lycra t-shirts to protect you from the sun's ultraviolet rays and also avoid the stings of jellyfish on contact with their tentacles.

Biodegradable sun cream? take care of your environment

When snorkeling, sometimes for several hours, it is important to protect ourselves from the sun's UV rays with sun creams, but we must also protect ourselves from some of these creams that use harmful chemicals both for our body, which we absorb through the skin and for marine life: fish, plants and reefs. In very touristic sea areas such as the Riviera Maya or Hawaii, sun creams that damage the marine ecosystem have been banned. All over the world they should take note and it is the obligation of all of us to be careful with nature.

The chemicals that are commonly used in many sunscreens and are harmful are: Octocrylene, Bezophenone, Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane, Hexylodecanol, Dimethyl Apramiada, Cetyl Dineticone, Methylparaben, Polyethylene, Propylparaben, Butylcarbamate. Check your usual sunscreen and see that it does not contain these elements. We can also consult the App Ingred for information on toxic products in cosmetics and food.