r/Catalina

We are a group of 3 friends who are visiting catalina in a couple of weeks. It's our first time snorkeling and we are kinda doubtful about the level of swimming required for it. We are planning to take a guided tour where they said that they will provide us with wetsuits. 2 of us know how to swim (but not regular swimmers so not a lot of stamina) and 1 person knows the bare minimum of swimming (almost nothing).

My concern is that it will be tiring to swim+snorkel for the 1 hour of the tour that we are in the water for since there will be waves from the ocean as well. The tour company said that they don't provide life jackets but I think we can rent them from some other shop. Would that be recommended since it might make staying afloat easier?

Any recommendations highly appreciated!

Next weekend I am taking my girlfriend to two harbor for a weekend and she thinks I plan to propose in Maui in June. The thought crossed my mind to propose this weekend in Catalina and surprise her - do you guys have any ideas of a good spot to do it (hiking is okay!) on the back side if we're staying in two harbors? Day time night time nothing's off the table - I even thought about doing it in the ocean while spearfishing and put the ring in a clam shell lol