It is that time of the year that so many people are on their snorkeling vacation or a vacation with a little snorkeling. Either way it is important for you to take care of your snorkel equipment so when the next time you use it, your snorkel equipment takes care of you and your family.

Although the following is important after each snorkel adventure, it is more important that before you put away your snorkel gear in your closet or your garage, that you carefully know how to clean your snorkel equipment which includes your snorkeling vests.

The most important aspect of clean snorkel gear is USE FRESH WATER TO RINSE, repeat with fresh water and repeat again. This is the case whether your snorkeling adventures took you into salt or fresh waters. I want you to start reading our snorkel guides, Snorkeling Gear, Care & Maintenance which will cover all topics for keeping your gear clean.

If you just used your snorkel, here is how to Snorkels, Clean it and Store. And for your Fins, Clean & Store, and for your mask, click to Masks, Clean & Store. For those who use a snorkeling vest, we also have a topic on Snorkeling Vests, Clean & Store and we even have a topic on Snorkel Equipment Bags and Wetsuits & Lycra Suits.

It is important to take care of your snorkeling equipment because if you dont, you will be purchasing new snorkel gear before your next trip at SnorkelingOnline.com.  Please email us or call us on our toll free, 877-460-9515 if you have any questions, we are here to help.

Are their other uses for snorkeling goggles? Well there are a lot of people who think so.

I read a lot of blogs and I have to giggle when I read how when it is raining like cats & dogs or the winds are up to 30 miles per hour in certain parts of the country and people have to go out and feed the animals or get in their car. The writers think that they can just put on their snorkeling mask and keep their eyes protected from the environments. Now what happens when we put on our snorkeling masks? How do we breathe? Through our nose and then guess what happens. Your lenses fog up and any environment will not help your sight!

I googled trying to find pictures but could not find any, but I will continue looking for a person with their snorkeling mask on with fogged lenses.

What uses besides snorkeling, do you use your snorkeling mask?

We often get asked about used snorkel equipment, like my snorkeling mouthpiece is broken, should I buy a new one? Well that depends. Is the mouthpiece on your snorkel replaceable? If the answer is no, unfortunately you need to purchase a new snorkel. The tabs on the snorkel mouthpiece keep the mouthpiece in your mouth and without the tabs, it is extremely difficult. When you purchase your next snorkel, read the description to make sure that the mouthpiece is replaceable. Another tip is to make sure that your snorkel is made of silicone versus rubber.

Notice Photo A does not have a replaceable snorkel mouthpiece whereas in Photo B, the snorkel mouthpiece is replaceable.

Read more at Snorkels, Select the Right One.

Snorkel Equipment is a big part of snorkeling. Actually without it, you can not say you were snorkeling. I dont know what you would call it. That is just one question that we receive.

Our job is to make your snorkeling experience an enjoyable one and answering emails and the phone is part of our job. And I do have to giggle with some of the questions that we receive. Besides the common questions and comments about snorkel equipment, here is one of my favorites and I asked Roy to answer this. The common question is “Why am i so afraid of the ocean?”

It is quite common to have a “fear” of the ocean. It is huge and can be very intimidating. I am a scuba diver and did a lot of diving in lakes and freshwater bodies of water but it was a year before I did my first ocean snorkel trip with my new snorkel equipment.

I walked out onto the beach the first day and went “wow that’s big” (talking about the ocean not anything else LOL). You start thinking of things like how deep is it and what’s in there and until you actually go and do it, it can make you nervous. I have turned my fear into a healthy respect for the ocean and the more I snorkel it, the more respect I accrue.

The night before leaving for my ocean trip, I was too excited to sleep and ended up watching JAWS and JAWS II which really isn’t advisable before leaving for your first Ocean snorkel trip. When I got into the water though I was a little disappointed at not seeing a shark. I said “a little” disappointed mind you. I saw a lot of other neat critters thoughand am happy that I am one of those people who are able to explore the other 78% of this earth’s surface.

Find out the neat stuff about the ocean, grab your snorkeling mask and snorkel, begin to explore the shallow areas where you are comfortable. You will be surprised at some of the neat stuff you will see.

Think what you may, but when I was growing up, I was not a fish lover. I didn’t hate fish. They just weren’t high on my “things that interest me” list and it wasn’t until I put on a mask, fins and snorkel for my first peek into the ocean that their ranking on my list changed. From the moment I grabbed my snorkel equipment, placed my face into the water, I was hooked. The underwater world is amazing.

My first ocean snorkeling experience with my snorkel equipment was on the island of Guinaja, which is part of the Bay Islands of Honduras. I was lucky enough to be snorkeling with someone who was not only knowledgeable with regard to ocean marine life but also had the patience of a saint in dealing with my obvious lack of that knowledge. The minute my face went under the water, I was the proverbial “two year-old” in a candy store. Everything was so pretty and interesting but I didn’t know what anything was. I was constantly tapping my buddy and excitedly pointing at the cool stuff I was seeing (did I mention that my buddy had the patience of a saint).

My buddy would take a minute to let me know what the fish that I was pointing at was and even make a comment about the particular species, which helped me to remember it, just a little bit better. His additional explanations also made it much easier to explain to friends as to what I saw rather than saying something like, “I was about 2 foot long and green.” Description like that really don’t lend themselves to exciting, after snorkeling, conversations. They do however put you high on the list of receiving the most number of yawns and blank looks.

In an effort to keep you off the “yawn and blank look list”, I have decided to devote some blog space to highlight particular reef denizens that you, as a snorkeler might encounter. Though geared toward the snorkeling novice, I encourage any comments from people that might like to add any interesting information. This will hopefully help to develop a better understanding of those creatures as well as an increase in your appreciation.

The subject for this article will be the 2-foot long green fish mentioned earlier. The fish that I was actually describing was the Parrot Fish. This amazing fish is a multi-faceted member of the underwater world. The Parrot Fish has 80 different species that have been identified so far and spends its life in the more tropical regions of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, which is inclusive of the southern regions of the Gulf of Mexico. Adults range in size from 1foot up to 4 foot in length. A male Parrot Fish will usually have a harem of females but if the male of the harem dies a female will take over. This is not a symbolic take over, as the female will actually change genders becoming what is called a super male making it the ultimate gender bender.

The Parrot Fish gets its name due to the similarity of its mouth to that of a parrot’s beak. The more common species even have colors resembling certain species of parrots. Their pectoral fins are used in an up and down wing like manner, which does give them the illusion of flapping rather than swimming. The snorkeler will often see the Parrot Fish in shallow waters feeding on algae attached to corals. It actually bites chunks of coral with its beak like mouth in order to get at the algae.

Those of you that love to feel the sand of a tropical beach between your toes may be interested in the fact that the Parrot Fish played a very important part in allowing you to enjoy that feeling. Parrot Fish help to make sand. The hunks of coral that they bite off, go through the Parrot Fishes’ digestive system and come out the other end as (honest-to-pete) sand. This is a fact that I try not to think about when on the beach. Those engaging in snorkeling at night may find a Parrot Fish bedding down for the night. This is quite a site to see because they spin a protective mucous cocoon, which apparently deters other carnivorous fish from disturbing its slumber.

Well, I hope that I have been able to help you develop a better understanding of at least one of the fascinating creatures of the underwater world. I look forward to any comments you might have and hope that you have enjoyed the read. Well all except the part about the fish poop that is.

So next time you are near water, grab your snorkel equipment and jump in!

The first tip is to get a snorkel mask with a soft silicone skirt and avoid any snorkel mask that is not silicone. Snorkeling Masks that have silicone skirts will conform to the face better than the inexpensive masks found in the seasonal aisles of the “Mart” stores. Silicone can be more expensive than PVC or Siltech materials, but it is more resistant to the elements such as Ultra-violet rays. Silicone will also have a better life value. If you are unsure if the mask is silicone, see if the snorkel mask has tempered glass lenses. The lenses will have “tempered” written right on the glass. Manufacturer’s who spend the money on tempered glass are more likely to use silicone for the skirt as well. All snorkel mask skirts should have what is called a double seal, which will create a more effective barrier than masks without. You will find that all snorkel masks on SnorkelingOnline.com are silicone with tempered glass lenses.

For more information, read our snorkeling guide, Snorkeling Masks – Select the Right One.

You betcha!

It is important that SnorkelingOnline.com sells high quality snorkel equipment. It is important that you are happy with your snorkel equipment. And it is important that you have wonderful experiences with our snorkel equipment. See for yourself.

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Hi Cathy,

Thank you for your response and we did enjoy the trip. The equipment that you had sent came in very handy. The quality of the masks and snorkels and fins are outstanding and we enjoyed using them.
I appreciate your quick response and your caring attitude towards me as a customer. I will certainly use your company again for any orders of equipment and will recommend you to all of my friends and business associates. Thanks again for your excellent service.

Gary
New Jersey

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Hi Roy,

I just wanted to write to tell you that our family had a fantastic time on our cruise with our new snorkel equipment. We enjoyed the performance and the quality of the snorkel equipment that you sold us. We cant wait to use it again on our next trip to Grand Cayman. Thank you again.

Pat
Florida

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Because your opinion counts, we have added to our site a WRITE REVIEWS. Please take advantage of this opportunity and tell us what you think about the snorkel equipment that you purchased. Thank you again for the great emails that we receive. Your opinion does count!

At SnorkelingOnline.com, we strive to bring you the most innovative products to make your snorkeling adventure more enjoyable. Our new snorkeling line is Body Glove and their newest product is… well continue to read.

The newest dry snorkel on the market comes with a new twist, with a built in whistle. Body Glove was thinking with this one, the Alert Whistle Snorkel has a silicone mouthpiece, totally dry so no water will enter from the breathing passage and a built in whistle is on the base of the snorkel. (See the picture to the right, to see where the whistle is located.)

What a great feature to the Alert Whistle Snorkel and it offers a safety element if needed. Just take the snorkel mouthpiece out of your mouth and blow on the whistle as hard as you can, which can be heard 200 feet away. Watch for updates on our snorkel blog and our snorkeling newsletter.

With having a brick & mortar snorkeling & scuba diving location, we have been asked a thousand times, how can we stop our snorkel mask to stop leaking when we have a mustache. I LOVE telling the guys, SHAVE IT OFF. Off course I am laughing when I suggest that because the look on the guys face when I say that, is priceless! You would think I asked them to cut off a limb.

So not having a mustache, I asked fellow snorkeler, Roy, to give us some times on how to get around this “hairy” dilemma.

• Get a good snorkel mask with a soft silicone skirt. Avoid any mask that is not silicone because the silicone will conform to the face better than the inexpensive masks.

• If it leaks tighten it. While this may work with faucets and such, tightening the snorkeling mask strap will only serve to reduce the silicone skirt’s ability to conform to the face. The simple act of smiling or taking out the snorkel will cause leakage from other areas. You may have to play with how tight or loose the mask strap needs to be, but the position of the mask strap on the back of the head may solve a lot more problems than you might think. Positioning the mask strap higher on the back of the head, will pull the bottom of the skirt tighter to the lip but will still allow the rest of the mask skirt to conform the other facial features.

• You may have heard people suggest putting petroleum gels on the mustache to create a better seal. While this does actually work, using petroleum gels such as Vaseline will deteriorate the silicone over time and is therefore not advised. Using a food grade silicone gel will work and will not affect the silicone skirt. While this is a very viable means of taking care of leakage due to mustaches, it is really a bite getting the silicone gel out of the mustache when you are done snorkeling.

• If you have a very thick mustache, thinning it out will help. I have known guys to go so far as to trim their mustaches to create a wider space between the nose and the upper lip. This allows the inner seal of the mask skirt to seal directly to skin of the upper lip.

These are a few suggestions and they may or may not work for those with mustaches. If you have tried these and have not succeeded then it is time to kiss that mustache goodbye.