How to Take Off Snorkeling Gear and Steering Clear of Earplugs

When you are diving from a boat you should never remove your fins unless you are holding onto some part of the boat, like the dive ladder. If you remove your fins and there is any current it will be very difficult to swim back to the boat.

To remove open heel adjustable fins, loosen the buckle or stop on one fin at a time and slide the strap over your heel. Pull the fin off your foot and hand it up onto the boat.

To remove full foot fins, slide one finger in the heel of the fin and pop it over your heel. Grab the side of the fin and pull it off your foot.

What about removing your mask? Grasp both sides of the front of the mask and pull the mask away from your face until it just clears your nose. Lift the mask upwards and the strap will slide off your head.

To remove a Lycra dive skin, unzip the suit and peel it off your body. If will slide off very easily. Removing a thin tropical wetsuit is just as easy.

Removing a thicker wetsuit is a bit more difficult. First open all of the zippers on the suit. Next, unzip the jacket and peel it off.

If you have a jacket with an attached hood, unzip the jacket and flip the back of it up until you can grab the beaver tail on the suit. Lift the front edge of the hood up over your mouth. Bend over and pull the beaver tail towards your head until you can pull the folded back of the jacket over your head. Peel the arms down inside out.

To remove the pants, fold the top down and keep pulling the pants down your leg. The nylon will slide against itself. The most difficult part will be getting the cuffs of the pants over your feet.

As a safety note before you even get to the point of taking off your gear, never have ear plugs around for diving or snorkeling. The problem with ear plugs is that as the pressure increases as you dive deeper, the ear plugs can actually rupture your eardrum and be forced into your ears. This will cause you to suffer from dizziness as water enters the middle ear and could result in drowning and death. At the very least, if your eardrum ruptures you may end up with an infection and you will probably suffer from hearing loss after the eardrum heals.

To prevent any damage caused by ear plugs while diving simple be sure to never wear them for swimming underwater in general.