Recently my brother in law went to Catalina Island off of California for a scuba diving experience. He packed up his stuff, drove to California, hopped on a boat for 3 days and spent the 3 days on a boat sleeping, eating or diving. Recently he and I had a chance to visit about this experience and I was able to see pictures from his experience. The pictures were remarkable. He said the experience was amazing, but after looking at pictures and talking about the experience the conversation turned to swimming gear. In fact the conversation was longer about the swimming gear than we did talking about the experience.

I asked him if he had to pack lightly to be on a boat for 3 days with 8 other people. He commented that it was difficult to pack lightly when you are dealing with swimming gear for scuba diving. Then we talked about how critical it was to have the right swimming gear in order for this to be a great experience. Of course there is the oxygen and all of the specialty things that are specific to scuba diving, but what we talked about more were the clothing that they wore to go into the water. There were a couple of people who were sitting there with us and they were talking about the different wet suits they wore.

One of the ladies said that she wore a full wet suit. From the head cover to keep warm to the full sleeve, full length wet suit. She gets cold easily in the water and loves her full wet suit. This keeps her warm and it allowed her to enjoy her experience under the water. We looked at her pictures under water and you couldn’t even recognize her, because of how covered she was. Then my brother in law comments on what he wore in the water. He loves the lighter weight short suit. He didn’t wear anything on his head and loved the freedom in the water. He can handle the cold better so he doesn’t need the full wet suit. With this scenario it is obvious that every person who does things in the water has different needs for their swimming gear.

Then we turned to talking about the amazing pictures they captured under water. There is video and pictures. When we go on vacation or do things like this we want to capture the memories for years to come and show our family and friends. It is important to recognize that you can’t take any normal camera down in the water. Most cameras are not water proof and would just be destroyed if you take it down in the water. There wouldn’t be anything to show for the pictures you took. There are many different options for under water cameras. You can get cameras that are just cameras or you can get cameras that will capture video. There are different price points depending on the features you want with your camera.

Whether you are scuba diving or playing in a pool a water proof camera can be really fun. Recently my son was diving in a swimming pool and another child went under water and captured a picture of him underwater in the pool. It is one of the coolest pictures we have of him. Camera’s can become a wonderful asset to your swimming gear.

Whether it is scuba diving, swimming in a public pool, water aerobics, triathlons or other athletic water events and the many other things that people do in water swimming gear is a necessity for everyone. Some swimming gear can be optional and more for fun, but like with scuba diving some swimming gear is a necessity. If you are going to be doing a triathlon and are going to be diving into water you will need to have a wetsuit. If you are just a beginner you might not realize that the body heat is lost in water 20 – 25 times faster than on land. You also want to make sure you get a wet suit that is comfortable and flexible. You don’t want something that is so heavy that it weighs you down or slows you down.

Then when you are doing water aerobics it takes different swimming gear than a triathlon. You don’t necessarily need a wet suit, but you will want other types of swimming gear. For water aerobics you might want something that buoys you up. There are several different options, but to be able to get the most out of water aerobics you will want some type of buoy. Then there is the kickboard. There are several different types of weights for the water. You will want to look at what works best for you. There are several other types of swimming gear for water aerobics.

Have you ever gone to a swimming pool and got in and the ground was so rough that it hurt your feet? There is a public pool in our area that is very fun for children and families with all kinds of water slides, pools and a lazy river. The problem is you step into the water and it hurts your feet so bad that you get right out. We have gone there every year, but have realized that we need to have water shoes. This might seem like an optional piece of swimming gear, but for us we have recognized that this is a necessity so we don’t rip up our feet. Whether you are going to a public swimming pool or on the beach or in a lake or ocean, a piece of swimming gear that you might want to consider is water shoes.

The trick with swimming gear is deciding what is necessary and what is optional or for fun. You will want to take time to look into what you want and what you need depending on the swimming activities you will be participating in.