Before you go

What to bring snorkelling in Jávea, and what to leave at home

The list is short. What people forget is always the same three things, and two of them cannot be bought once you are standing on the rocks.

1 September 2026

Snorkelling needs less kit than almost any other water activity, which is exactly why people get it wrong: it is easy to assume you can improvise. You can improvise most of it. Two items you cannot, and one of them is the reason most first outings end early.

The two that decide the day

• A mask that seals on your face. This is the whole game. Test it dry: press it on without the strap and breathe in through your nose — if it stays put on its own, it fits. A mask that leaks means stopping every two minutes to clear it, and nobody enjoys their first outing doing that. Faces differ, so a mask that suited someone else may not suit you.
• Something on your feet. Jávea's coast is rock and pebble, not sand. Getting in and out barefoot over wet stone is how holidays acquire a limp. Reef shoes or old trainers you do not mind soaking, either works.

Helpful, but you will survive without

• Fins. They extend your range and cut the effort considerably, but in a small cove you can manage without. If you are flying with hand luggage only, this is the first thing to drop.
• A rash vest or thin wetsuit top. Less about cold than about sun: you float face down for an hour and your back is the only thing above water. This is the sunburn nobody predicts.
• A dry bag. Somewhere to keep a phone and a car key that is not a towel on a rock.

What is not worth buying

Full-face snorkel masks photograph beautifully and divide opinion sharply among people who do this professionally, particularly for anyone without experience. If you have never snorkelled, a conventional mask and snorkel is the safer thing to learn on. And there is no need to buy anything before you arrive: a guided outing provides the kit, fitted to you, which solves the mask problem entirely.

One last thing that is not kit. Which cove works depends on the wind that day, not on which one is prettiest. A famous cove with the wind blowing into it is cloudy water and an hour wasted; an ordinary one that happens to be sheltered will have you seeing the bottom at five metres.