Dutch - 3/16/2012 6:13 PM
I will get back into this fray with a few extra points for you to consider and to thoroughly confuse the whole issue. I am like that, you see...
I like the soft skirt masks but they don’t like me. For some reason, I can wear almost any mask and there is no real leak. Give me a soft skirt and it leaks in no time. It is not supposed to be like that but with me it is.
I bought a pair of fins that were pretty expensive, in 1974. I still dive with them today with the only change being the spring straps holding them on my feet. Buy good stuff and take care of it and you won’t have to buy it again.
You don’t know it now so this may not help that much but...if you dive from shore, you need booties with a hard sole and therefore you need the fins that will work with them. If you will only be diving from boats AND in warm water, full foot fins are great.
Get the most simple snorkel you can if you have to have a snorkel for class. A tube with no fancy stuff on top and no fancy valve on the bottom. Just a mouthpiece and about a 1 inch tube. Learn to clear it properly from someone who knows what they are talking about (if they know what they are talking about and you show an interest in doing it properly, they WILL be happy to show you this skill!!!) and you will fall in love with snorkeling during your surface intervals.