In the Animal Crossing game series and franchise, interactions with water weren’t common.
With the release of New Horizons, players finally got the chance to explore the water with swimming! However, you can’t just jump right in.
Quick Links
How To Swim in Animal Crossing
Step 1: Get a Wetsuit
In order to start exploring the ocean, you will first need to obtain a wetsuit. This can be purchased from the Nook Stop Terminal, which is accessible early on in the game, or at Nook’s Cranny, Timmy, and Tommy’s store.
A wetsuit from either place will cost you 3,000 Bells, or 800 miles if you purchase the Nook Inc. wetsuit from the terminal in the Residential Services tent.
If you’re farther along in the game and have access to Nook’s Cranny, be sure to check back for different wetsuit designs.
Step 2: Change Into Your New Wetsuit
Once you have purchased a wetsuit, the nest step is to get dressed in it.
If you have a home and a wardrobe available, you can open the wardrobe and change that way or simply open your inventory by pressing the X button.
In your inventory, click on the wetsuit, and the drop-down menu will have an option for you to put the wetsuit on.
There is no need to worry about your normal clothes; the wetsuit will go over what your character is currently wearing.
Once you take the wetsuit off, the normal clothes will still be on your character.
Taking off any accessories, socks, or shoes is entirely optional, though, as they will not be removed or hidden when you put the wetsuit on.
Step 3: Learn How To Swim
If this is your first time playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons, then you will need to take the quick swimming lesson offered by the Nook brothers, Timmy and Tommy.
They will provide the information you need to jump in, swim, dive, and jump out. However, here’s a quick run-down on how to swim in New Horizons.
First, you can go swimming at any time, even in the winter season, so there are no seasonal restrictions.
You can enter the water from several points around the island, including at the beach shores, jumping from the flat rocks along the shoreline, and jumping off of the pier.
In order to enter the water, you need to press the A button.
After entering the water, press the A button again to paddle or press it multiple times to swim. You will slowly build up some speed when pressing the A button repeatedly.
Also, there’s no need to worry about drowning if you stop pressing A, as your character will continue to tread water without game input.
Lastly, in order to get out of the water, you will need to swim to the nearest beach and press A again.
When your character gets close enough, the water will become shallow enough for them to walk out of the water.
How to Dive in Animal Crossing
Aside from this being a new feature in the multiple Animal Crossing games, swimming allows you to dive into the water!
By diving, your character can find sea creatures that aren’t fish to donate to Blather’s Museum or sell, among other treasures.
When you’re out in the ocean, you may have spotted tiny bubbles that mysteriously come up to the surface.
These bubbles are where you want to dive, as they indicate a sea creature lurking in the water. Once you’ve swam toward a bubble spot, press the Y button to dive.
Your character will dive into the water, and from there, you can direct them toward the source of the bubbles.
They will dig around in the ocean floor for a moment and then swim back up to the surface to present their discovery.
Some sea creatures you will find include sea anemones, jellyfish, and shellfish, which aren’t accessible through normal fishing.
Remember when I said you could swim all year round? That’s because, throughout the year, you can dive for new creatures.
Every month and every time, you can find a different creature because not every creature is available at the same time.
So, be sure to go diving occasionally to rack in Bells or build your museum collection.
Also, keep your eyes peeled for shadows in the water.
These can be harder to spot with cloud shadows drifting across the top of the water, but your character can dive in areas without bubbles and sometimes discover some kind of trash, treasure, or creature at random.