The Holy Trinity of Scuba Gear: Mask, Fins, and Snorkel

When you start your Open Water Course, the dive centre will provide all the heavy, expensive gear (BCDs, regulators, tanks, and weights). However, almost every instructor will recommend that you purchase your own “Holy Trinity” as soon as possible: your mask, fins, and snorkel.

Renting a wetsuit that is a little loose is annoying; renting a mask that constantly leaks water into your eyes will ruin your dive. Here is how to buy the essentials.

1. The Scuba Mask

The mask is the most intimate piece of gear you will own. If it doesn’t fit perfectly, nothing else matters.

Fit is Everything

Do not buy a mask online based on how it looks. You must go to a local dive shop and try them on.

• The Sniff Test: Place the mask against your face without putting the strap over your head. Inhale slightly through your nose and let go with your hands. The mask should stick to your face and stay there. If air leaks in around your temples or under your nose, try a different model.
• Silicone Skirts: Ensure the skirt (the soft part touching your face) is made of 100% medical-grade silicone. Cheap plastic skirts (found in supermarket snorkel sets) harden over time and leak.
• Clear vs. Black Skirts: Clear silicone lets in more peripheral light, which is great for beginners who feel claustrophobic. Black silicone reduces glare, which is preferred by underwater photographers.

Pro Tip: Brand new masks have a silicone residue on the glass left over from manufacturing. This will cause the mask to fog relentlessly, no matter how much spit or defog gel you use. You must scrub the inside of the dry glass with regular white toothpaste for 5 minutes before your first dive to remove this film!

Insider Pro Tip: When performing the toothpaste scrub on a new mask, you must use basic, cheap, white paste. Do not use gel toothpaste (it lacks the mild abrasives needed to remove the silicone film) and do not use whitening toothpaste (the harsh abrasives can permanently scratch tempered glass).

2. The Fins

Fins are your underwater engine. The right pair will allow you to glide effortlessly; the wrong pair will give you crippling calf cramps.

Open Heel vs. Full Foot

• Open Heel (Adjustable Strap): These require you to wear neoprene booties. They are the standard for cold water diving and shore diving (like in Bonaire), as the booties protect your feet when walking over rocks to enter the water.
• Full Foot: These slip on like a shoe over your bare feet. They are lighter, cheaper, and strictly for warm water boat diving (like in the Gili Islands).

Blade Types

• Paddle Fins: The traditional, stiff plastic/rubber blade. They offer great power and are excellent for fighting currents, but they require strong leg muscles.
• Split Fins: These have a slice down the middle and work somewhat like a propeller. They require a much faster, fluttering kick and are very gentle on the knees, though they lack power in strong currents.

For your first pair, a standard, moderately stiff open-heel paddle fin (like the Mares Avanti Quattro) is almost universally recommended by instructors.

3. The Snorkel

Snorkels are the most debated piece of standard scuba gear. Many experienced divers hate having a snorkel attached to their mask because it creates drag and can get tangled in lines. However, training agencies mandate their use for safety on the surface.

If you are buying one for your first set of gear, keep it simple:

• Dry/Semi-Dry Snorkels: These have complex valves at the top and bottom to keep water out. They are bulky, heavy, and drag terribly underwater. Avoid them if you are primarily scuba diving rather than surface snorkeling.
• The J-Tube: The classic, simple plastic tube. It is cheap, lightweight, and perfectly adequate for the short surface swims required in scuba diving. Many modern versions can be rolled up and stuffed in your BCD pocket when you descend!