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Beard woes and re-energising our love of the ocean.
We are a family of 6 that emigrated to Australia back in 2007 and with so many
great beaches in Australia we always take the time out at least once a year to
get to one of our local snorkelling spots.
This Boxing day we picked Mettam’s Pool just off North beach in Western
Australia and this trip was more exciting than usual as we had just replaced our
traditional Snorkels with Ninja Shark Full face gear.
Having seen other people wear them last year, I wanted to surprise the kids for
Christmas, so I did some research and make sure that we purchased the best
quality, plus I have a long beard and a large face, so was a bit unsure if the
gear would even work for me but was tired of the constant fogging and
mouth pain on what was normally a 30-40 minute snorkel. We eventually found
Ninja Shark and found it great that I was able to chat to the team on their
website, I was happy.
We picked the ‘Air’ in large for the older boys (14 & 16), and the ’Air’ in Small
for the younger ones (9 & 12) all of which fitted and worked perfectly. I decided
that I wanted the latest and greatest for myself and my wife, as she has always
hated snorkelling and would seldom stay out in the water for more than 5 minutes.
So, we went with the Equaliser, which my wife was so glad about, as
she tried them all on, and the ‘Equaliser’ was by far the easiest to breathe
through. I, unfortunately, was not happy as it was a real struggle to get my face
in comfortably, and with my long beard even with the tightness, water was still getting in.
After a bit of negotiating with my eldest child, we swapped as I found the ‘Air’
Large so much of a better fit, and more of my beard fitted in, but I was still
finding that my beard was still poking through the bottom and sides.
Now, I had already made the decision to shave my beard based on the initial
feedback from the Ninja Shark team, so I proceeded to shorten my beard, until
I had a tight seal, which meant taking some off the bottom and the sides but
managing to keep the beard!
We arrived at Mettam’s pool early, and there were already a fair few people there already, the weather was just right, not to hot, or too bright, just a little bit of wind, which picked up as the morning went on.
The excitement was in the air, and all four of the kids donned on their gear and couldn’t wait to get in the water. Mettam’s is a great spot for younger swimmers, as there is a large outer reef that protects and keeps the waves at bay, and the inner waters contain
plenty to see. The increased visibility from the full face gear was so noticeable, especially with the ‘Air’ with its curved lens. The older boys went off on their separate ways, the younger boy stayed with mum in the shallows, and my daughter and I went out in search of the known good spots.
As always, we regularly met up when someone signaled a great find, and on this day we weren’t disappointed, seeing many schools of large fish, an octopus, some sea urchins, a big fat sea cucumber and much much more. One of the interesting things we found with the gear, was that we talked to each other a lot more, which was great as we didn’t even have to take off our gear.
Overall a great morning at the beach, and I have to say the gear was amazing, performing much better than any of us expected, and for the first time, all of us stayed in the water for a good 50 minutes, with none of us having to take our gear off once.
My only regret is that we didn’t buy the bundles as half of us didn’t have flippers and the dry bags would come in so handy to protect the gear and keep the sand out. Hands down this were the best experience we have had with snorkels, and cant wait to use our Ninja Sharks to explore more of our beautiful countries great Oceans.
