Buying your snorkel gear online may seem like the cheapest and easiest way to procure your new snorkeling apparel and equipment as the options are endless, but it might not always be the best place to shop, particularly for specific items like masks. Here is our list of recommendations for the best places to buy your snorkeling essentials.
Mask: Local Dive Shop
A mask is easily the most important piece of equipment in your snorkeling gear. It’s also the hardest to shop for as you need it to fit your face perfectly. We strongly advise that you only purchase a mask that you’ve tried on prior to purchasing it, therefore your local dive shop is the best place to get a good mask.
Snorkel: Online/Dive Shop
Snorkels are pretty universal in the way they fit so you could easily purchase one online. However, we are big fans of supporting local businesses so you might as well grab a snorkel from your local dive shop when you’re getting a mask. If you are going to purchase a snorkel online, we’d suggest getting one from Fourth Element. They are a fantastic company and we’ve partnered with them to produce our Snorkel For Good rashguards which are made from recycled materials.
Fins: Online/Dive Shop
Fins are pretty easy to purchase online if you know what you are looking for, but if you are new to fins and need some advice in choosing the best pair of fins for you we’d suggest your local dive shop. You might find a pair of fins that look good online only to find that they are far too firm or long for you, for example.
Exposure Suits/Rashguards: Online
Most exposure suits and rashguards are pretty standard in sizes, so as long as you know your size it’s pretty easy to shop online for these types of garments. With that in mind, we’d like to direct your attention to our friends at Fourth Element as they produce a huge variety of underwater garments from rashguards and thermals, to neoprene wetsuits. Not to mention if you purchase something from their Ocean Positive line you can rest easy knowing that what you’re wearing is made from recycled ocean plastics and other reclaimed materials.
