Snorkel Gear

HI,

Do most people bring their own snorkel gear or rent it? We don't own any and probably won't ever use it again, however, I don't want "crap" to use either. Do you worry about sanitizing it?

Thanks in advance.

[Darcy]

I bring my own mouthpiece and use their fins and mask. My husband brings his own mask and mouthpiece. His mask is prescription. The fins take up way too much room.

[bc3536]

We have rented everything except mouthpieces on 3 different occasions and they were all in good shape. I agree with Darcy the fins take up too much space.

[lv2cruise]

We used to bring our own gear...now I bring a small spray bottle filled with a water/bleach solution (stored in a zip lock bag) and sanitize the mouth piece myself.

[bigsky]

We always bring our own equipment. Sometimes we go to ports and want to go snorkeling on our own without doing an excursion.

[isle]

under this topic about snorkel gear. what have any one heard about not using black fins? can i paint them? any idea how much it cost to rent just fins?: you sure got that right, takes up room and are too heavy. im tryin to get down to 1 suitcase this trip

[bigsky]

WHy do you have to use black fins? Am I missing something here? Ours are blue and yellow. Yes, we have to take a seperate duffle bag for our snorkel gear. Wow! One suitcase! I always have so much to take!
Not sure of cost since we take our own. It pays for itself.

We have done both......brought our own and used the ones provided on excursion boats. In Puerta Vallarta the masks looked so old and beat up, but guess what, they worked great/didn't leak. My son has a narrow face and we went through so many masks before buying him one, but, in Belize, he used one on the boat, and, again, no leak! We never pack fins, though. Too much to carry for 4 people!

Truthfully, there is no reason to buy snorkel/mask/fins (any or all) if you think you're never going to use it again.

You'll save a few bucks, and you don't have to lug it around. The equipment you'll be renting (or getting 'free' with your excursion) will work just fine.

And the sanitization question: We have that 'ohhhh that's gross' mentality on a lot of things, but for whatever reason choose to ignore other things. For example, you may eat locally and never give a thought to the cleanliness of the dishes and glasses you use. You certainly handle money and touch doors every day, a couple of the most germ filled things in life. The snorkels are clean enough.

[Marc]

We have purchase our own snorkle gear including fins. Main reason is that I needed a prescription mask. Secondly, we want the option to snorkle without being on an excursion. We bought good fins as fins do matter. We also bought dry snorkles as they also help.

All you need to do is go to a local dive shop and they will fit you out wonderfully.