How To Swim & Dive In Animal Crossing: New Horizons

How to get a wetsuit, how to get into the water, how to swim faster, and how to dive for sea creatures in New Horizons.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons players have a lot to look forward to right now. Not only is a new Mario update coming, but the search for young spring bamboo is also going on, which means there are new making details to learn.

There are changes to the game all the time, and one last summer let you do something you couldn’t do before, which is strange for a tropical island: go for a swim.

If you’re new to the game or haven’t gone swimming yet, here’s what you need to know about swimming and swimming really fast in the Nintendo Switch hit.

How To Get A Wetsuit For Swimming

• Requires: 3,000 bells

In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, if you want to swim, you need to buy a wetsuit first. Go to Nook’s Cranny to buy a jacket. You can buy the wetsuit in the cabinet where you generally buy tools, seeds, wallpaper, and flooring.

The price of the suit is 3,000 bells. You can also buy a wetsuit for 3,000 bells at your Nook Stop station.

They have new styles every day, so if you don’t like what you get, you can keep coming back. For 800 miles, Your Nook Stop also sells a swimsuit made by Nook Inc.

To wear the wetsuit, just pick it up in your collection, press A, and choose “Wear.” The wetsuit will be put on right on top of your clothes, so you won’t have to take off any shirts or pants by hand.

Your shoes and any socks or tights may still be supplied. You can still swim with them on, but if you want to take them off or switch them for something more beach-appropriate, you’ll have to do that by hand.

After putting on your wetsuit, you’re ready to go swimming.

How To Get In The Water

Go to one of your ocean’s beaches and get in the water to learn how to swim.

There are two main ways to get into the ocean: wading in from the sand or jumping in from your beach rocks, that narrow strip of land that sticks out into the ocean, or your pier.

Either way, to get into the water, you have to run up to it and press A. (You must have none of the tools in use.)

Swimming Controls

Press A to keep moving. When you press A, you’ll do a stroke, but if you hold A down, you’ll keep swimming. You can move around by using the left stick.

If you don’t do anything, your figure will just keep swimming in place. You can still use the analog stick to lightly paddle around while walking, but you’ll move very slowly.

Your character will never get tired of treading water, so don’t worry if you get tired of hitting A and just float around.

To swim quickly, just tap A as you move around in the water.

You have to swim back to a dirt beach to get out of the water. Just swim right up to the beach until your figure gets out of the water and can walk on land.

How To Swim

The most important thing you need to get into the water is a swimsuit. You can easily buy a swimsuit with the Nook twins, no matter how big the shop is.

All you need to do first is save up some bells so you have enough money to go shopping. But don’t worry about the bells, because what comes next is totally worth it.

Once you have your swimsuit, all you have to do to get into the water is get close to the beach and press A. Then you can swim around like a fish.

Now, if you’re in the middle of the sea and want to dive, all you have to do is press A once more. You can then catch some special fish, give them to Blathers at the museum, or sell them to get back the money you spent on the swimsuit.

How to Swim Fast in Animal Crossing

Just keep hitting the A button to move faster and get around your ocean. Once you’re in the water, swimming is easy, so just try to go as fast as you can.

Even though your character won’t die if you leave them in the water, we think you’ll want to get them out at some point.

So, to get out of the water, all you have to do is swim back to the shore. Once the water is shallow enough, your figure will come out of the water and walk up the beach.

How To Dive

• Requires: Wetsuit

If you don’t know how to dive, there’s no point in swimming in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Press Y while you’re in the water to dive. Your character will dive under the waves, and from there you can just use the normal controls for swimming—A to swim and the joystick to move around.

If you want to go back to the surface, just press Y again. But don’t worry, your character won’t run out of air and will come up for air when they need it, so you don’t have to time your dives.

How To Catch Sea Creatures

• Requires: Wetsuit

With the new swimming and diving features, you can explore the ocean around your island and catch new sea creatures and find rare wealth. You only need your jacket for this. You don’t need a net or any other tools.

When you’re swimming around, you might see columns of bubbles rising up from under the waves.

If you swim right over the bubbles and press Y, your character will dive under and, if you’re in the right spot, come back up with a sea creature like a sea star or a sea anemone. You can also find different kinds of plants, such as seaweed.

You can also dive into the water and look for little shadows to catch sea monsters. When you dive, the camera will tilt to show you what’s below you better.

The bubble columns and shadows line up, so it’s easier to find creatures if you dive under and move toward the shadows.

Once you reach the shadow, whatever is down there will be picked up by your character on its own.

You can find scallops and pearls, as well as new sea creatures to add to your Critterpedia and the museum.

Some DIY projects, like the new mermaid-themed set, can be made with pearls. You will meet Pascal, a red otter, on one of your swims. You can give him scallops in exchange for DIY recipes.

What can you do while Swimming in Animal Crossing?

You can catch things in the sea! Watch for bubbles in the water as you move around. If you see one, press Y to dive, and when you come up, you should have something like a sea anemone to show off.

You can also look for shadows after you dive. When you are underwater, the camera view will change. If you see a shadow, swim toward it and whatever it is will be yours!

But that’s not all. Keep an eye out for a washed-up Gullivarrr, who will ask you to dive for his lost phone. This is basically Gulliver dressed as a pirate.

Once you’ve found it by looking at bubble spots, he’ll be on his way, but not before sending you some pretty cool pirate stuff to thank you for your aid.

What To Do With New Sea Creatures

If you check your Critterpedia, you’ll see that there’s a brand new tab for “sea creatures.” This section is for anything you find on one of your dives, even if, as Blathers says later, it isn’t really a “creature.”

Seaweed, sea grapes, and other plants that live in the ocean will also be grouped here. Check out our list of all 40 new sea creatures that came with the summer update.

With the new swimming update, you can add new animals to your Critterpedia and give new things to your museum. Blathers will be happy to accept as a gift to the museum any new sea creature or plant you find while diving.

Like any other animal find, you can also use it as a decoration. Most of what we’ve found so far will fit in a normal display tank.

However, some things, like the seaweed, have a different way to place them that you can use to decorate your island.

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