use a snorkel? and how to dump air

Now, OK, I only have 20 dives under me belt even though I am AOW, so forgive the "innocence", but a couple of questions if I may?

1) Since passing OW and now AOW, and been tought to use a snorkel as part of my equipment, I notice that a great deal of fellow divers in the Uk don't use them, or if they do they are strapped to their leg. What is the standard? To be honest, I find the snorkel is NEVER needed and gets in the way of the inflator. Again, maybe I am inexperienced (which, I am!) but i keep reaching for the snorkell instead of the inflator which is a pain!! Or will this stop after experience?

2) Regarding that inflator.... I notice when diving with experienced buddies and instructors, that they never use their inflators when dumping air, but either through divine influence or by using their dump cord thingymajigs. I understand that by using the inflator, water can enter the bladder whilst air exits or when the bladder is empty. I refer to "divine influence" because I notice that I never seem to catch them adding air when descending or dumping air when ascending. Now, I must admit that whilst I feel PADI training to be good for skills etc, it doesn't really cover actual diving and these points don't seem to be covered.

So, please, point me in the right direction, before I get set in my ways.

Steve

I never use a snorkel, they get in the way. I find most people I dive with in the northeast US do not use them. I keep one in my bag though in case a surface rescue is needed, I can quickly throw it on my mask and go.

Let me add to my last post...Most of my diving is done off boats, where a long surface swim is not necessary. If I did a lot of beach diving where I had to swim a long distance to get to a dive site, I may throw a snorkel on to make the swim easier and conserve the gas in my tank for the dive.

As far as dumping air from your BC, there is not divine intervention. You add air as you decend, and dump as you ascend. I'm sure your instructors/friends are doing it, you may just not notice. Otherwise they'd be plumiting to the bottom/or shooting to the surface...

Take the snorkel, attach a funnel to the top of it and take it to the bar. It will get used much more this way than in the water.

Now for dumping gas from your BC. I use my rear dump valve to dump gas. When horizontal, all I have to do is tilt head down and shift my butt up a little bit to make it the highest point in the water. Then dump through the valve and resume normal position in the water. It just takes a couple of times before you have it down to a science and do it without thinking about it. All of that assuming you have an accessable rear dump valve to use. I was trained through PADI and the standard, add gas slowly when needed on descent as well as at depth and dump gas on ascent were covered very well.

SteveHall once bubbled...
Now, OK, I only have 20 dives under me belt even though I am AOW, so forgive the "innocence", but a couple of questions if I may?

1) Since passing OW and now AOW, and been tought to use a snorkel as part of my equipment, I notice that a great deal of fellow divers in the Uk don't use them, or if they do they are strapped to their leg. What is the standard? To be honest, I find the snorkel is NEVER needed and gets in the way of the inflator. Again, maybe I am inexperienced (which, I am!) but i keep reaching for the snorkell instead of the inflator which is a pain!! Or will this stop after experience?

2) Regarding that inflator.... I notice when diving with experienced buddies and instructors, that they never use their inflators when dumping air, but either through divine influence or by using their dump cord thingymajigs. I understand that by using the inflator, water can enter the bladder whilst air exits or when the bladder is empty. I refer to "divine influence" because I notice that I never seem to catch them adding air when descending or dumping air when ascending. Now, I must admit that whilst I feel PADI training to be good for skills etc, it doesn't really cover actual diving and these points don't seem to be covered.

So, please, point me in the right direction, before I get set in my ways.

Steve

Click to expand...

1) There are standards for training. PADI, for example, requires you to have the snorkel attached to the mask during training. After training you can use common sense for whatever you're doing that day. There is no stigma attached to leaving the snorkel behind. (or for taking it, of course).

2) Water will get in the bladder no matter what you do. My thinking is if NO water gets in the bladder then you probably have too much weight. Just add more (fresh) water when you're cleaning your BCD to rinse it. Dump it by blowing up the BCD, holding it upside down and letting the water drain out the inflator.

R..

During beach diving I always use to use my snorkel to conserve air whilst reaching my dive location, but I have since learned that surface swimming is painfully slow, exhausting and wastes far too much energy when fully kitted up. Also the snorkel gets in your way so I now keep it in case of emergencies in my BCD pocket. During boat diving you may as well keep it on the boat.
Regarding the inflator; as you're from the UK the majority of your buddies will be using drysuits and in my experience they tend to use their drysuits for buoyancy rather than their BCD (opposite to folks over the pond), as most drysuits have auto dumps you will not notice them dumping air and the inflator's are usually located central chest so you will probably not notice them inflating air either !

Theres a lot of personal preference (and lot of bad tempered threads) about this but i'll wade in anyway.

I dive in the UK too if it matters

1) After the basic training with most organisations involving use of a snorkell (really only a confidence builder for the student) nobody really uses them. Ive never yet found a single dive where a snorkel could be described as even slightly useful and had a few where it would definately be a hinderance.

Typically here we dive in surface swells, low visibility and boat dives utilising DSMBs so a long surface swim is rarely if ever needed.

If you think you may need one, by all means take it. If you dont consider it needed (as most people i know and dive with dont) then leave it in the car or on the boat.
Mine used to live at home and only ever got used in the pool or abroad but after a dive trip where we snorkelled with seals during the surface interval (except i just swum with a mask as no tube!) i now take it on the boat. Its never been taken on a dive though and i cant envisage any scenario where im ever likely to take it.

2) The oral inflator was originally designed for just that, its just that its evolved over the years as a handy means to dump air. The argument goes that the inflator will let water in whereas the one way dump valves wont let water in. From my experience though, im always emptying my BC even though i use the dump valves only. Its not an issue - just remember to empty the jacket after diving or a days diving. In the UK of course i just use my suit for buoyancy so other than dumping all air at the start i dont touch my BC again until after the dive and i STILL get water in !

I have a snorkel in my dive bag in case I ever want to go snorkeling. But I don't ever go snorkeling 'cause it's too dangerous. I stick to scuba.
I am planning on buying one of those fold-up-able snorkels some day just in case I don't want to kick on my back or I want to watch someone diving under me or something. Those seem to be a wise compromise.

I have had one strapped to my mask since day one no matter where I dive.
I just recently acquired one of the roll up types that fits in the little clip that you can store in your BC pocket. I belive it is the best of both worlds. And it was cheap too!

There's a diver missing off of one of the dive boats in the keys for the last couple of days. The seas are up, if she's still alive I'll bet she has a snorkel.