On July 3rd, the first of two planned summer updates was added to Animal Crossing: New Horizons. The biggest change introduced in the newly-added patch is the ability to swim in the ocean surrounding your island. This significantly increases the overall area of players’ game worlds that can be explored, and includes an entirely new kind of undersea creature with its own tab in the Critterpedia app.
However, before any of the new content can be accessed, players will have to obtain a wet suit, which must be worn before the ocean can be entered in the first place. While Isabelle explains where the wetsuit is available in the first series of announcements following the addition of the patch, those accustomed to skipping through Isabelle’s routine lack of news very well may have missed her explanation, while others may simply have forgotten.
Where to Buy a Wet Suit
There are three kinds of wet suits: a horizontal-stripe variety, a leaf-pattern wetsuit and a Nook Inc.-branded version, all available through different methods.
The horizontal-stripe wet suit is the easiest to obtain, simply occupying a spot in the cabinet at Nook’s Cranny amidst the various tools and flowers sold there. It costs 3,000 Bells and can come in one of four colors: blue, red, yellow or black.
The leaf-pattern wet suit is available through the Nook Shopping app, also for 3,000 Bells. They can come in one of four colors too: light blue, green yellow or purple.
The Nook Inc. wet suit is available amidst the other Nook Inc.-branded items at the Nook Stop inside the Resident Services building. There’s only one variety of this version, and it requires 800 Nook Miles to purchase.
How to Use a Wet Suit
Wet suits feature their own unique icon in your inventory screen, which looks like a black full-body wet suit with gold trim. Putting it on from your inventory will override any other clothing your character may be wearing without sending them back to your inventory. You can remove the wet suit by navigating to the outfit section of the inventory screen and removing it as you would a standard piece of clothing.
To enter the water with the wet suit equipped, simply press A from the beach, a coastal rock or the pier. You can then swim by continually pressing A while facing the direction in which you wish to travel, and can dive by pressing Y. To resurface, swim up to a beach until your character is back on land.
With this in mind, this new virtual ocean is yours to travel freely, with its own unique ecosystem to explore.
