Are you wearing snorkel while SCUBA diving?

[Gill]

In some of the places where I go beach diving, snorkels are required by law. And I have seen life guards had out tickets for no snorkel. So yeah, I wear a snorkel.

 

[blackvans1234]

I do all beach diving, and I wear my snorkel all of the time, except if it is very flat, then I will not.
Which is why I voted sometimes


Lately, I have not been donning my mask until we're at the drop zone so why would I need my snorkel?

 

[SandyRobinson]

I view it as a piece of safety equipment and wear it for all ocean dives. IMHO, a worse case senario is a catastrophic air loss with sudden current. I have never had the air loss but dove French Reef (KL) once where the current went from 0 to 60 in a matter of minutes. It is either on my mask or in a tank bungee.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I carry one. it's in my pocket or in the dive bag if diving local. Underwater a snorkel is pretty useless and an entanglement hazard. Wasted money on a fanct dry snorkel early on cause the instructor suggested it. I tell my students to get the cheapest one they can. Preferably one that rolls or folds and can be taken off quickly.

 

[Jxh2297]

You can't use a snorkel in a cave =) don't use it in open water either

 

[eelnoraa]

With long hose, snorkel is a no go because it interfere with air donation. I haven't carried one for a long time even before I switch to long hose. I agree with the cheapest snorkel if you have to have one. Those fancy $50 snorkel is such a waste of money

 

[c0r3yz]

I always have mine with me, typically in my BC pocket. Depending on the dive site, I might wear it, but not too often. Like others have mentioned, we do more shore dives where we might need to swim a bit to our dive site and don't want to burn the gas before the dive even starts.

 

[g1138]

You see I learned a long time ago that if you have a non-plastic snorkel w/o the special purge valves and do-hickeys
AND if you place the snorkel further back along your mask strap
AND if you use a silicone snorkel keeper
IE basically going back to the old school days of snorkel wear

THEN wearing a snorkel is actually not a hassle and becomes very comfortable. I don't notice it at all.

However there are certain situations where I would ditch a snorkel. Those would be due to gear configurations, in high current, confined environments, or in areas where a surface swim in ocean conditions would be non-existent.
Haven't met any of those situations yet though

 

[CT Sean]

I view it as a piece of safety equipment and wear it for all ocean dives. IMHO, a worse case senario is a catastrophic air loss with sudden current. I have never had the air loss but dove French Reef (KL) once where the current went from 0 to 60 in a matter of minutes. It is either on my mask or in a tank bungee.

Not sure I understand this one. How does a snorkel help in an air loss with current?

Personally I leave mine unless I expect to be able to use it on a swim out or back (for example: shore diving in Curacao)

 

[walrus2]

In some of the places where I go beach diving, snorkels are required by law. And I have seen life guards had out tickets for no snorkel. So yeah, I wear a snorkel.

Beaches in SoCal? Where are snorkels required? I could find almost nothing in terms of scuba diving regulations in San Diego.