How to Get a Wetsuit
Go to Nook’s Cranny on your island and go over to the cabinet on the right. Open it up and you’ll see a number of different items you can buy on the spot. One item is a Horizontal-striped wet suit selling for 3,000 Bells. If that particular wetsuit doesn’t fit your fashion sense, then you can alternatively obtain a turquoise and black wetsuit with your Nook Miles. Go over to the terminal inside Resident Services. You’ll find the Nook Inc. wet suit for 800 Nook Miles. You can also buy a Nook Inc. snorkel for 500 Bells, although this is not required for swimming.
How to Dive
Make sure that you have a wetsuit in your pockets. Open up your pocket inventory and wear/equip the wetsuit. It will go over all of your other clothing, which will go back into your pocket inventory. This won’t take off your shoes, however—it shouldn’t have any effect on your swimming, but you may look silly splashing around the water wearing a pair of boots. If you’re ready to take a dive into the sea, approach the shore and stand near the water. You can walk into the water from the sand, or you can jump into the water from a dock or stone platform. Either way, enter the water by pressing the A button on your Nintendo Switch. You will move with the control stick on your left Joy-Con or controller, and you can paddle and stroke by pressing or holding the A button. You can dive into the water with the Y button—your villager character will submerge into the water for a few seconds. Press the Y button again to surface, or wait for a few seconds for your villager to come back up for air automatically.
Where to Find Sea Creatures
You likely aren’t swimming just for recreation—there are plenty of creatures to be found. 40 sea creatures are available in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and finding them is a relatively easy process compared to catching creatures on land. As you swim around, you’ll notice some areas where bubbles are coming up from underwater. These are where you can catch sea creatures like octopi and lobsters. There are 40 sea creatures in total, and you can donate any you find to Blathers at your island’s museum. To actually catch these creatures, all you have to do is swim to those bubbles and press Y to dive. Your villager will swim underwater and emerge with a sea creature in hand. Along with donating sea creatures, you can also give them to a non-playable character named Pascal. Find Pascal the sea otter also swimming around the water, and he’ll gladly take any scallops you find underwater for a trade.
