Snorkel Equipment-Rent or Bring Your Own?

[ieatchickens]

I am in a party of 8 that will spend some considerable time snorkeling at Horseshoe Bay, Tobacco Bay and Snorkel Park. What do you Bermuda veterans recommend?

 

Is it easy to rent snorkeling equipment at these locales or do you recommend we bring our own? Prices?

 

Since we are flying in, baggage space is a premium so I don't want to bring too much unnecessary stuff along.

 

Thanks

[timh111]

Hmmm, this is a personal preference kinda thing!! No matter where you cruise, if you rent the equiptment you never know who used it BEFORE you and you really don't know if the equiptment was correctly steralized. I had bought my own (very inexpensive) and when I get home, I steralize it, let it dry and store it away until next cruise. That why I know where it has been, who used it last and that it WAS cleaned properly!!

[BayStateguppy]

I have read some reports that mentioned places like Snorkel Park ran out of equipment to rent, so you might want to bring your own just for that reason alone.

[sarahc78]

We brought ours when we visited and it worked out perfectly!

[SoCal09]

I always bring my own mask, fins, snorkle. I have these compact travel fins that are awesome and pack well... and of course I would never put and strange snorkle in my mouth....yuck...

[JLC@SD]

I always bring my own snorkel and mask as they are easy to pack. Using their fins is less of a problem and it is harder to pack your own.

[bermuda triangle]

We always bring our own equipment. Snorkels, masks, and flippers. Sharing just seems sooo unsanitary..saliva swapping..athletes foot...ICK!!

 

Laura

[SoCal09]

Check these out on the internet: Aqua lung trek sort fins. They are compact and work great for snokelling. approx $35.

[ieatchickens]

Well I just went out and bought 2 sets of snorkeling gear. Thanks to all who helped out. Now I just hope I have room for all this stuff. :o

[iheartbda]

Well I just went out and bought 2 sets of snorkeling gear. Thanks to all who helped out. Now I just hope I have room for all this stuff. :o

You can always bag the fins. We always get along without them just fine at the places you mention. Maybe it's just us but when we used the fins, we did not like them and never took them again. Church Bay can be a different story.:eek:

 

We never found Horseshoe Bay to be very good for snorkeling.

[Charles4515]

You can always bag the fins. We always get along without them just fine at the places you mention. Maybe it's just us but when we used the fins, we did not like them and never took them again. Church Bay can be a different story.:eek:

 

We never found Horseshoe Bay to be very good for snorkeling.

 

I never found a good snorkeling spot at Horseshoe either. Church, never had good luck. It was always too rough when I went there.

 

Fins make moving through the water easier and less tiring. And they are good to have if there is a current. That said I often snorkel without them, usually don't pack mine them because of the space they take and weight. Any place that I really wanted fins they had them for rent or included them in the excursion.

[iheartbda]

I never found a good snorkeling spot at Horseshoe either. Church, never had good luck. It was always too rough when I went there.

We love the beauty of CB and it's never been crowded when we were there but we didn't see many fish and yes, it was rough...those rocks HURT!:eek:

 

Fins make moving through the water easier and less tiring. And they are good to have if there is a current. That said I often snorkel without them, usually don't pack mine them because of the space they take and weight. Any place that I really wanted fins they had them for rent or included them in the excursion.

Yep, that's what our scuba diving friend says but I STILL didn't like them.

We always found Tobacco Bay to be so buoyant that it was effortless. Of course if it's windy when the is coming in or going out, it can be more work. That's what we found at CB, it was too much work and not relaxing.:D

 

chickens,

If you go to TB, try to get there early because it can get crowded and lots of people can mean they churn up the water so it's not as clear. Another good time is later when most of the people have left......seems like the fish are not "scared off" and it might be more of their feeding time. So......before 11ish and after 4ish. Another good thing to do is just stay in one place around the rocks and wait for the fish to come out.:) Here's a picture at low tide. The brownish areas are usually underwater and all those nooks and crannies are where the fish hide out.

 

[SoCal09]

I really like using fins... it makes snokelling so much more pleasurable...just cruising along....totally relaxed and gently moving your fins and looking down, arms dangling....