How to Swim & Dive in Animal Crossing New Horizons

Swimming and diving are new features in Animal Crossing New Horizons. They were added in the free summer update, and they allow you to traverse the ocean in search of sea cratures. You can donate these to the museum, or give them to Pascal in exchange for DIY recipes. If you’re wondering how to take advantage of these new features, this guide will show you how to swim & dive in Animal Crossing New Horizons.

How to swim in ACNH

Before you can go into the water, you’ll need to buy a wet suit. You can either buy it from Nook’s Cranny using bells, or get one using Nook Miles. Once you have the suit, equip it and approach the water. Press A and you’ll jump right in. When you’re in the water, tap A to swim a short distance, or press and hold it to start paddling more vigorously.

How to dive

After you’ve obtained your wet suit and gotten used to swimming, you can start working on your diving. To dive, you just need to press Y while in the water. This will make you go under the surface. If you want to resurface, just press Y again. Keep in mind that your character doesn’t have the lung capacity of an Olympic diver, so they’ll resurface on their own after about 10 seconds, when they run out of air.

Swimming and diving are not just a fun diversion or a way to cool off during the summer. They allow you to collect sea creatures, which can be donated to Blathers at the museum. Some of them are required for the new crafting recipes, the ones obtained from Pascal when you give him scallops. That’s the only way to get your mitts on the new mermaid furniture.