Are you a snorkle keeper?

[chepar]

I use a snorkel when I do shore dives in other than 1-2 ft surf or the surface swim is really long.

Otherwise, it sits in my dive bag. I've been considering a fold up snorkel for my BC pocket, but all the ones I've seen don't really fold up very compactly.

 

[pinstripe1]

Though I'm a fairly new diver with only 50-odd logged dives, I have already had two occasions where I was glad to have a snorkle.

One was in choppy waters and a strong current where the surface swim to the mooring line was a significant effort. Swimming on my back was not an option and I wanted to save as much tank air as I could for the deep dive to come.

The second was in the course of a freak accident that left me without a regulator, again on the surface in choppy water.

I have never had the snorkle tangled in anything (never dove kelp, either) nor do I find it more cumbersome than, say, a console clipped to my BC.

Personally I find it a useful piece of safety gear, and am puzzled by the vehemence of some of the posters here.

 

[metridium]

pinstripe1 wrote...
Personally I find it a useful piece of safety gear, and am puzzled by the vehemence of some of the posters here.

Let's see....

entanglement hazard
increased drag
may cause mask leaks
utterly useless below 2'
may interfere with long hose deployment
may be mistaken for inflator in an emergency

What's not to love?

 

[diverbrian]

Another incident report. On my first cold water deep dive in my doubles, the doubles were adjusted loosely. Accordingly, I was sucking nitrox down at a pretty good clip fighting the tanks shifting.

My more experienced dive buddy got me down to about 125 foot and I got narced out of my mind (first time ever being narced). I didn't panic but I was trying to go up about the level where I got narced to clear my head. He warned me about the snorkel, but I thought that was being smart and conservative. I quickly discovered when I was trying to ascend that my power inflator feels a lot like a snorkel mouthpiece. You guessed it, I was drunk on nitrogen trying to control my buoyancy with a snorkel mouthpiece. I was in no actual danger and found an ascent line and climbed out at a controlled rate. But the snorkel that I confused for a power inflator.... it sits in my gear bag now except for when I am helping with class. I keep a collapsible snorkel for when I do my own diving. It stays in my BC pocket.

 

[dc4bs]

I couldn't even BEGIN to count the number of times I grabbed my snorkle to add/remove air from my BC.

My instructor spent his own money to buy me a rollup snorkle cause I told him I would never take another PADI class if he made me wear my snorkle and I wasn't about to waste my money on another one I'd never use.

Now I'm his divemaster... I have to have one during classes... Go figure.

I keep the rollup in my pocket other than during classes now.

 

[metaldector]

I don't use one, haven't had any problems. But if I did need one I'd buy a collaspable one and keep it in my pocket until necessary.

 

[victoriawtx]

It gets in the way....and messes up my hair. LOL

But seriously, I haven't used one since OW class. The only time lately that I have used it was when we went to a local river for 'diving' and it was only 5 feet deep!! So my buddy and I didn't dive with the rest of the people. (how could you?) We just swam, and snorkeled around, looking at the fish in the river.

 

[Braunbehrens]

I had a big fight over this with the DIR crowd a long time ago. I dive in California, sometimes in thick kelp. If you have a long surface swim, you need to swim FACING the way you are going, otherwise you end up in a bunch of kelp.

However, the snorkel does interfere. I don't use it on most of my dives, but if I have a long surface swim through a kelp bed I will use a foldable snorkel and put it in my pocket at the end of the swim. I know several local guys who do the same thing. I also know that some people use these in situations where the snorkel is "required".

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

I suspect one day the certifying agencys will actually ban the use of snorkles. They just don't make sense.

 

[PinkPADIgal]

When I was a DM, I worked with an instructor who never really cared if the DM wore a snorkel. Anyway, she got a call from the Course Director telling her that she must require all her DMs use a snorkel. She came out and told us. We all looked at her and laughed.

Now that I teach, I always use a snorkel. It is more habit than anything. It used to be a real pain but now, I don't even notice it. It is actually nice on shore dives...I can snorkel in/out and not burn air.

Amy