Is it spring but still a bit cold? Is the summer holiday over and thus also the swimming season? We believe that the swimming and snorkeling season starts early and lasts a long time if you have the right equipment.
You will find our product recommendations at the bottom of the blog.
Most children love to swim and snorkel. Some families live by the sea, others in the mountains, and when you think that it is "warm in the water" varies greatly. It is also easy to put the swimwear away when the summer holiday is over.
But is the swimming and snorkelling season really over, even if summer is turning into autumn? Here we share our own experiences and travel memories so that you can be inspired for a longer bathing season.
Season and temperature
So far we have experienced that we can have long sessions in the lake or river even when it is cool, but we also see that there is a big difference in how quickly the children get cold. The wetsuits with a zip, which are most commonly used, let water in, and the better you fill out the suit, the smaller the water change. It gets a little cold when you go out in the water, but this comes when the water in the suit eventually warms up.
If the weather is good, you can start the season in the spring, in the picture above which is from Tysnes on 13 May 2021, the water was still cool, and the air temperature was at its highest around 13 degrees. But because the weather was fine and the children were equipped with suits, neoprene socks and neoprene gloves, it went well. Minstemann had a thinner suit than the elders, as well as swimming shoes instead of neoprene socks, but with a high level of activity he kept the boil for quite a while.
We do not recommend taking the children into the sea before May unless they have a freediving suit, we discuss this at the end of the article. How long you can swim throughout the autumn will vary, here you just have to enjoy yourself until the children realize it's getting too cold.
A late summer day in the mountains
On a clear and fine day at the end of August in 2021, we drove to a river in Eksingedalen, close to 600 m above sea level. The children, with an age range from 4 to 10 years, were equipped with wetsuits and neoprene socks and gloves. Minstemann used bathing shoes because the socks were too big.
The thickest suits we carry are from size 8, so there were thinner options for the smallest. Bathing time may become more limited, but if they have a wetsuit in neoprene, it makes a big difference in any case compared to normal swimwear, and on our trip they kept the boil for a long time with wetsuits in 3mm.
For the youngest girl, the neoprene socks were a little too big, but that didn't matter on this trip where she wasn't supposed to use flippers. We have subsequently launched our Native socks all the way down to size 4XS.
The thicker overalls in our range come all the way down to size 8 years (from 25 kg and 132 cm) and up to size 16 years (64 kg and 170 cm). When the children are old enough, we strongly recommend choosing the thickest suits, on our trip the oldest used 6/7mm suits with a hood. They use the same suits when we swim and snorkel in the summer, so you only need one suit.
It is also possible to insulate extra with an adult singlet in a small size under the suit for the biggest children.
Neoprene socks (5mm or 7mm) and gloves (5mm) should definitely be used.
It was a whole day of swimming and ravaging, but a well-deserved barbecue and soda break along the way. With everything from swimming in the pools to sledding in the "water slides", this was an adventure-filled outing that the children are still talking about. This bathing trip would have been short-lived without good clothing, and in the vast and varied country we live in, there is "an ocean" of bathing opportunities both in sea, water and rivers.
Coasteering has also become popular and this equipment is great for that. This is an activity where you climb along rocks and cliffs, jump and swim. Over time, there have been more providers of this. It may be a good idea to use wet shoes instead of socks for coasteering and water sports.
Important: Swimming in a river requires local knowledge. The water level will be very different during the year and it is very important to make sure that there are safe conditions before you or your children swim there.
Also remember that children under the age of 7 should not use a snorkel.
Nothing like chilling in a pothole high in the mountains
We combined swimming with camping and cycling, definitely recommend :-)
Product recommendations
Wet suits
(Do not choose the thinnest wetsuits if the child is big enough to fit in the thicker suits)
Cressi Morea 3mm (3-14 years)
ONLY Manta 3/2mm (6-16 years)
ONLY Manta 5/4mm (8-16 years)
Cressi Endurance 5mm (8-16 years)
ONLY Manta 7/6mm without hood (8-16 years)
ONLY Manta 7/6mm with hood (8-16 years)
Neoprene socks and gloves
Frivannsliv Native 5mm neoprene gloves (size 3XS - 3XL)
ONLY S-flex neoprene gloves 5mm (size 2XS-2XL)
Frivannsliv Native 7mm neoprene socks (size 3XS-2XL)
Frivannsliv Native 5mm neoprene socks (size 4XS-3XL)
Bathing shoes
An alternative for the little ones where the socks are too big, or for water sports activities and coasteering
Cressi Coral junior (size 23-35, soft sole)
ONLY S-Flex wet shoes 5mm (size 30-50, hard sole)
ONLY S-Flex wet shoes 7mm (size 34-50, hard sole)
Junior suit for freediving
In 2022, we launched a 7mm freediving suit for children, which you can find here . If you, as an adult, freedive yourself, and want to bring your children along, this is undoubtedly the best choice. We do not recommend buying freediving suits for children if the adults do not use such suits themselves. This is because it takes some technique to get them on.
Jump into the sea (or the water) and enjoy yourself!
Greetings to us at Frivannsliv