Hi, I live in San Diego (CA) and I want try snorkeling for the first time. I have a few questions before committing to buy the snorkeling gear.
Welcome to the Snorkelling/Freediving forum, Pardreamer! Living in Southern California as you do, you are fortunate to be based in what was one of skin and scuba diving's birthplaces. During one of my summer visits to the United States a few years ago I spent several agreeable days snorkelling at La Jolla Cove, not far from San Diego, with a crowd of other snorkellers. Everybody was having a great time. It's great to have access to such wonderful snorkelling in your own backyard. Snorkelling doesn't have to mean boarding planes and flying to remote and expensive tropical resorts.
1. Do I have to be a good swimmer? Right now I can swim about 200 yards before getting winded.
Snorkelling is a matter of matching your swimming skills to the conditions of the water where you are planning to snorkel. Your current ability would probably suffice unless you are planning to snorkel for long distances in very turbulent seas far from land. As in any activity with potential dangers, personal judgement must be developed and exercised when it comes to deciding whether it's safe to get into the water or whether it's better to turn tail and go home instead. If you're unsure, ask knowledgeable local people about water safety. They will be able to tell you about potential dangers such as hidden currents.
2. The water temperature San Diego is about 60F-70F (16C to 21C). Which wetsuit style and thickness do I need? Does this wetsuit help with bouyancy?
During the summer at La Jolla Cove I, like everybody else, was able to snorkel without a wetsuit. Whatever you choose in the way of exposure suits depends on how tolerant you are of variations in temperature. I snorkel in the cold all the year round North Sea with a vintage-style drysuit, basically just a thin covering beneath which I can wear different amounts of underclothing to keep me comfortable at various times of the year. Now I'm in my sixties and overweight, I feel the cold much less than I did in the late 1950s, when started snorkelling. You don't say how cold water tolerant you are. Choosing an exposure suit is something of personal odyssey. Don't expect to get it right first time.
3. Any advice for snorkeling gear?
The first thing I will say here is that you are asking about
snorkelling gear. Many SB posters make the assumption that snorkelling is just some kind of
entry pursuit for
freediving or
scuba diving. Having made this assumption, they will then advise you to purchase
freediving gear or
scuba diving gear, because they're freedivers or scuba divers and can't imagine that anybody would want to remain a snorkel diver. Well, I've been a simple snorkeller for more than half a century and I'm happy being "just a snorkeller". For me, it's a wonderful, self-contained, spontaneous pursuit in its own right. Unlike freediving or scuba diving, snorkelling requires little or no specialist gear.
Fins. When I snorkelled at La Jolla Cove, I noticed that my many snorkelling companions wore every kind of fins possible. Some wore the variety of non-adjustable open-heel fins nowadays associated with bodysurfing:
Others had the adjustable kind of open-heel fins commonly associated these days with scuba diving:
Others wore the kind of standard-bladed full-foot fins often associated nowadays with swim training:
Others opted for the kind of long-bladed full-foot fins commonly associated nowadays with freediving:
The common factor was that everybody was enjoying themselves immensely, each happy with their personal choice of fins.
If you go into some dive stores and ask for snorkelling fins, you may be offered something like this:
Personally, I think they look hideous and I wouldn't be seen dead in them. However, each to his own!
The most important criterion when choosing a pair of snorkelling fins, whether they are open-heel or full-foot, is fit. The foot pockets have to match your foot length-, width- and height-wise, nobody else's. No single brand of fins comes in a variety of foot widths to suit people with very broad or narrow feet. Many brands just come in a choice of three foot-length sizes: Medium, Large and Extra Large. Those actually labelled with shoe sizes are designed for a range of sizes, e.g. 10-12, so people with size 10 feet may find the foot pockets loose while the size 12s may find the pockets too tight. The former may lead to blisters and fin loss, the latter may lead to cramping. Then there's your expectations of what you want the fins to do. Fins aren't worn for speed, they're there for power, manoeuvrability and endurance. No single fin combines these attributes in equal measure, no matter what manufacturers and retailers tell you.
I recommend that you purchase a simple, inexpensive pair of fins to begin with. It's easy to lose a fin in the surf and you don't want that eventuality to represent a large financial loss. The chances are too that you will be ready to buy another, for you better, pair of fins once you've accumulated a little experience of snorkelling in a variety of conditions. Just make sure that they fit your feet properly and the blades aren't either too floppy or too stiff for your swimming strength. And if you're planning to wear socks are thin-soled boots, don't just follow blindly the recommendation that you'll have to get open-heel fins.
Socks or thin-soled boots can be worn with full-foot fins, so long as you wear the footwear when you're trying out the full-foot fins for size.
Masks. Choosing a mask is all about finding a model that fits your facial dimensions, nobody else's. Be wary of advice recommending one particular brand because it tops the polls in some diving magazine. It may suit everybody else, but leak water in your case. Personally, I use an old-fashioned rubber-skirted oval mask, because it fits my face perfectly and fulfils all my criteria in a mask.
My choice, however, is neither here not there for anybody else. Make your own mind up. Try the mask on in the store, check whether it remains on your face without attaching the straps when you create a slight vacuum by breathing in through your nose. Better still, try the mask in the water while you're snorkelling.
Snorkel. Again, the simpler and cheaper the better. A simple "J"-shaped breathing tube should be fine. You can always purchase one with the latest "must-have" gimmick later if you really want to.
4. Should I take a snorkeling course? Or just practice in the swimming pool before going out?
You're very fortunate if you have the opportunity to practise snorkelling in a public swimming pool. Here in the UK fins, masks and snorkels are banned from public swimming pools. Fortunately for me, when I began snorkelling in the late 1950s, snorkelling gear was permitted in public pools and I learned in relative safety. There were no snorkelling courses back then and I taught myself to snorkel.
Should you take a snorkelling course? Up to you. How confident do you feel? I would just make sure that it was a snorkelling course that you were signing up to and not "Freediving 101" or "Scuba Diving 101". As I've said above, snorkelling is a wonderful, fulfilling pursuit in itself and it doesn't have to lead anywhere beyond its own horizons. It's about fun, exercise, shared enjoyment
not about breaking personal breath-hold or depth records, unless that is what really appeals to you.
I mean, it is easier to get up with the bouyancy, but isn't it a lot harder to get down also?
