Technological advances make things easier.
Pointless tech is pointless.
Pointless tech is pointless.
Purge valves and wave guards are not pointless.
In your opinion. I disagree. Unnecessary additions.
Unnecessary additions.
Much like disk brakes and suspension, you can ride the WC track at Fort Bill without them, but it's a lot more fun with.
Which was my point.
you can ride the WC track at Fort Bill without them,
No I can't. In fact I doubt I could ride it with them.
I wouldn’t say I was an expert, but have done a huge amount of off piste snorkelling in the last 5 years.
Those Decathlon masks are okay for surface use, but if you need to dive down, you can’t clear your ears properly. I have both (my sons begged for the Decathlon one) but only ever use the normal type. Also if it doesn’t fit, it’s rubbish.
I got a great setup from Sports Direct a few years ago (Hot Tuna) and Mares fins from Amazon.
Use demister spray (£7 from amazon).
Enjoy.
Bit of a thread resurrection. Aldi had one of those full face things on their cheap shelf so I gave it a go. Prepared to be disappointed, wasn't. As mentioned previously, it takes a while to get the fit just right and I think it would fit someone with a thinner face than mine but that's a fit issue not the mask and does say that, like walking boots, you should deffo try before you buy. For surface snorkelling, fine. This was in Malta and there's enough to see at the surface so no descending issues. The air "washing" down over the glass kept it fog free and the bubbles diverted out of the side of the mask so fine clear view. Fitted with GoPro mount so took on on my swim to the pub and got some decent pics of the local wildlife. Had some water ingress until I got the straps right but cleared easily. CO2 buildup not an issue as exhaust air takes a different route out of the mask (side valves) to incoming air so you won't be recycling used air into your lungs. It will certainly be getting more use unless I try for another with a slightly more comfortable fit but it's not desperate.
Update from here too...we opted for full face Decathlon jobs for the kids and they loved them. I was pretty strict with them in terms of nausea, headaches etc get the thing of your head and take a break. Never really happened though and we found them easy to remove rather than the difficult process some had mentioned.
I used a normal style as I'm whiskered up and didn't want a full face leaking on me. I had far more issues keeping de-misted than the full face versions. The dive school suggested burning a silicon coating off my mask and even using toothpaste to keep it clear. In the end the best option was the old spit and rinse - I had been cleaning it too much!
I found the traditonal variety of mask gave better peripheral vision. As an aside, it was fascinating to see the island's marine biologist snorkelling - just diving down deep and seemingly staying there for bloody ages - all calm and gentle, god knows how she did it!
Had the best snorkelling this year. Saw 11 turtles in one go and every kind of fish including my new favourite ,the flying gurnard.
Mrs Zip got prescription goggles from a proper dive shop. They were excellent. One of our party went to specsavers and they were given a plus prescription rather than a minus.
Go to a proper shop.
