What are your recommendations for a suit for a well dressed snorkeler?

We want to have a suit that will give us some warmth, dry fast so that we can snorkel 2 or 3 times a day, and be packable. We also want to be able to bob down to get a closer look at life on the bottom.

We are debating a micro neoprene, a polyolefin suit, or a three-layer suit of Lycra bonded to fleece with a waterproof membrane.

We want to be able to snorkel at night. What kind of light do we need?

We will be on Bonaire in June and am looking forward to the trip. Thanks for your help.

By June the water temps should be back up to around 80 (F). I personally would use a 3 mil neoprene fullsuit, but for snorkeling and especially if you tend to chill, I suggest the 3-layer with fleece. It would not hurt to invest in a 2-mil vest for the night time. A light depends on our needs for illumination and the phase of the moon. On the waning or moonless nights you can rent an adequate light from all of the diveshops... for that matter if you find the water too cool you can also rent a wetsuit and weights if necessary. ENJOY !!!!

You may actually find the fleece a bit warm for snorkling during the day in the warm sun. I usally use a nylon dive skin for snorkling during the day, mainly for sun and abrasion protection. They dry very quickly and don't take up much more room than a pair of socks, fleece on the other hand takes up a good bit more room and takes a lot longer to dry. At night, a fleece would be a bit warmer, that's what I use for night dives. I take both, but if you are limited, I would take a skin and rent a neoprene if you need it for night snorkling. For snorkling, neoprene is good/not so good depending on your comfort level and interest. It adds a fair amount of buoyancy, great if you want a bit of securtiy and a real pain if you like to submerge to get a better look.

Herman, snorkeling with a 3 mil fullsuit I 2 - 2lbs weights more than adequate for skin diving, as you say it depends on comfort level. And a "skin" provide no thermal protection.

Having been in the water in Bonaire for two hour stretches while snorkeling 2-3-4-5 times a day doing research (May to June) I can totally agree with Kelly. That is exaclty what we all ended up with after initially starting with dive skin. We found our energy levels were way down just from trying to keep our bodies warm. A hood, or an aquaband just around the ears is not a bad idea either.

Ijust returned from an awesome time in Bonaire. The water was a little colder than last year. I snorkeled 1 to 1 1/2 hours 3 to five times a day and found myself shivering near the beginning of my snorkels. I purchased a 3mm shortie with long sleeves while there and it did the trick. I am very bouyant and was using 4 lbs of weight prior to the wet suit and now I have increased to 6 lbs and probably need just l more pound. It proved to be an excellent investment!

Guess the message here is that the amount of thermal protection needed varies greatly and one has to judge that for themselves what is right for them. For me, I use the skin mainly for sunburn protection and snorkle for hours confortably but then I wear a light jacket when my wife wears a heavy coat. I do want to express a word of caution to novice/untrained snorklers about the references to using weights while snorkling. While there is nothing wrong with the practice, it can be dangerous if done improperly. Get some training before doning the weightbelts!!

Specifically with regard to your question of the light, Marlene, I think that you will find that any 4-"C"cell diving light will be sufficient. The water is quite clear, so you will not need anything more powerful. You will want something more than what you get with the little two or four "AA" cell lights.

We just got back and it was pretty cool in the water. I have both a skin and a micro Neoprene, didn't find the second any warmer than the first. My husband went in a Tee shirt. Bring boot shoes, very hard to walk on a lot of the beaches because of coral.