There is basic equipment for snorkeling, which includes the right underwater camera. Also, you have to observe general rules of snorkeling etiquette.
An underwater camera that can be operated with the proper dive gloves is almost obligatory gear for any adventure. Make sure you purchase the right gloves, however, like a thinner neoprene 2mm or 2.5mm might be appropriate. You want manual dexterity combined with just enough protection from the elements.

What kind of camera should you buy? If you aren’t too serious about underwater photography, disposable cameras just like land disposables are a great option. Generally, they’re super-sturdy and reliable, and produce very presentable photos. You can buy one for around $20, but the drawback is that they use film and are not digital.

Moving up the snorkeling camera scale, waterproof cameras are for the more seriously inclined snorkeler, and for around $200 you get high quality digital photos of your snorkel adventure.

Finally, if you have a land camera you like, there are waterproof housings made for most brands. They’re very expensive, however, and you just may want to go ahead and purchase a waterproof camera made for underwater photography. With a waterproof camera, you’ll get great photos with no worries about leakage!

Now, here’s how to observe proper snorkeling etiquette while taking underwater photography. Yes, snorkeling has etiquette, just like most other activities and sports. But with snorkeling, the etiquette involves the lives of other living things.

You’ve taken a few instructions from the local dive shop, purchased some dive gloves and underwater camera gear online at a great store you found, and now you are ready to take your first plunge. You have to remember, when you enter the ocean, it’s just like you are entering somebody’s house: The home of all the sea life, reefs, plants and fish. Only this house has taken millions of years to build; you may be amazed by everything you see, but please look, don’t touch. For instance, coral is beautiful and looks like rock. It isn’t; it’s actually a fragile living entity made of lots of different living animals. Coral is not meant to be touched with your hands, legs or fins. If you do, you kill the sea life.

Here are some tips for snorkeling. Give yourself a rest from swimming while snorkeling, buy the right dive sock, tread water and don’t feed the fish.
When you go snorkeling, you’ll be tempted to bring fish food, stand on the reef, and feed all the fantastic fish you are going to see. Don’t stand on the reef or feed the fish. It’s like giving them fast food from McDonalds or Jack in the Box or – you get the idea.  Here’s why.

Feeding fish in their natural environment really wreaks havoc with the natural ecosystem. Fish are used to foraging and eating what’s available in their natural habitat. Other fish depend on those fish to eat what’s available, afterwards perhaps dining on those very same fish.  If you feed them strange food, next thing they are not going to eat something that’s natural to their environment. Maybe you gave them goldfish food. These fish are most likely not goldfish.  Maybe that’s like opening an underwater McDonald’s for fish. Next thing you know, they are ignoring the natural food in their world, and looking all over for McDonald’s, or Jack  in the Box, or you get the idea. Other fish that used to eat them are waiting for them to find a McDonald’s.  Don’t open an underwater McDonald’s. Don’t feed the fish.

You’ve read, and been told many times about not touching the reefs or feeding the sea life. But once you’re out there snorkeling, and looking at all the great things there are to experience, you will find yourself getting tired. The first thing you’re going to want to do is stand on the nearest reef to catch your breath. Don’t stand on the nearest reef. You’ll kill all the micro-organisms that go into making that reef. Remember, it may look like a rock, but it’s not.  Don’t be a reef murderer.

It seems natural that when you want to take a break, you will want to stand up to relax, and talk to your fellow snorkelers. Instead, try this: Lay on your back. Try it, you’ll find it’s very easy, what with the salt water and a good pair of dive socks and fins to take the strain off the effort. Or, as an alternative, try treading water with your knees bent close to your body. Either way, it’s better than stomping all over some poor reef.

Catalina has some great colors and sea creatures to see when snorkeling.
As a serious snorkeler, I used to partake in the activity at least once a day for the whole time I lived on Catalina, which was 10 years.  You can’t do anything on Catalina job-wise except wait on tables at restaurants, and other things that cater to tourists.   I got to be 30 years old, and decided I needed to figure out something career-wise.
I never knew how much snorkeling was part of my life until I had to leave Catalina, due to having to get something called a “real job.” Snorkeling opens up an incredible world of sea life that you never knew existed. Colors and creatures abound, including bright orange garibaldi and black perch. Practically every day, I would see this giant sea bass, nearly 7 feet long, who I got to know and named him Gill. I miss snorkeling and especially Gill. The good news is I found a real job in Florida, and can keep snorkeling.

As an avid snorkeler, having lived on Catalina, I thought I had experienced just about all the greatest snorkeling spots there are here in the United States, and that’s including Hawaii.

Then came my Florida trip. There are dozens of nice springs that are very accessible in north and central Florida. Scuba divers are partial to the caves in Florida, but cave diving is very hazardous and divers are always dying. Plus cave divers need very expensive dive gear.  The snorkelers in Florida call their particular sport “spring hopping.”