snorkel, what’s it good for?

[farsidefan1]

Wow, I had no idea such strong negative responses would "surface" on this issue. I too have lost an expensive snorkel. Off a liveabourd which had a 10 foot stride. Bummer. I find the snorkel a pain to have it attached to my mask while scuba. It is kept now in my bc pocket till / if I need it. The foldable ones are very unintrusive. I find that if I am sitting on the surface for a long time waiting to be picked up I use the snorkel. That way I can still see stuff while I'm waiting. I find laying on the surface much more relaxing than staying upright and more interesting too. And as noted above, if you were ever in a situation where you needed to do a LONG surface swim you are much more efficient face down with the snorkel. For those reasons I still lug it in my pocket, next to the signal mirror, camera and flashlight (other pocket is taken up with machine gun, handgrenades and small inflatable raft).

 

[dmcutter]

On one dive earlier this month in Aruba I had to come up before the group because I was very low on air. I drifted quite a ways doing my safety stop and surfaced a long way from the boat-at least 100 yds, maybe farther. I swam it against the current on my back and sucked in a little chop doing it-that's the only time (other than snorkeling, of course) that I had wished I had my snorkel.

 

[Robert Gillcash]

I personally would rather use my compressed air / nitrox for actual diving and would much rather use free air while my head is above water.
I have a snorkel with me on every dive and use it on almost every dive.
That long surface swim that you are doing on your back looking at the sky? I am watching the jellyfish and sole and sea cucumbers and all the other life in the shallows.
I would rather have the small (and I do mean small) inconvenience of having a snorkel along for the ride (and after almost 20 years of diving I have never lost one!) and keep that extra air in my tank for the real emergency.....
Use a proper snorkel keeper and you'll never lose it.
Use your snorkel and after not very long you'll wonder why you ever dove without it!

 

[SoccerJeni]

I still use my snorkel but it gets on my last nerve. It always rips tons of my hair out when I'm not wearing a hood. I'm debating ditching it, or looking for one of those roll up snorkels I've heard about that you can stash in your BCD. (hopefully that's a real thing)

 

[Lee Taylor]

One of the boats I use requires you wear a snorkel. Keep it. You may need it one day to "play along"

 

[Paladin]

I have always had a snorkel on me (attached to my mask) while diving and I don't remember the last time I went in the water without it. I use it whenever I am on the surface or making water entries. In my school of thought and the type of diving I do, it is essential. I never thought of it as an issue or caused me a problem since I am used to it and use often.

I am a firm believer in having excellent skin diving skills before scuba skills. I also don't understand why I would waste the precious air from my tank when there is lots of free air on the surface.

Please note that there are opposing points of view in regards to this matter especially for folks who dive in Caves.

For once, my friend, we are in complete agreement!

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I always have one. it is usually rolled up in my pocket. Just got a new one from Edge/HOG through Dive Right In Scuba. Rolls up really small and unrolls easily. Best one I;ve seen so far. it replacing my oceanic folding one.

 

[KeithG]

So there seems to be a split here?
For wuss diving like I do you will never need a snorkel - so it has been left in my dive bag for the last 18 years.
But I believe there are some conditions that you may find your breathing stick will come in handy - think drift dives (do you have enough air in your tank to last until boat pickup?)

 

[TMHeimer]

The topic has been often debated. I like to swim on my back out from shore at times then descend. I find it easier to use the snorkel, especially in chop. The other alternative is just breathing without it--usually holding reg. second stage in my hand upwards in case of free flow (I dive cold water lots). I would never use the reg. to breathe on the surface unless it was at the end of a dive and I didn't care about wasting air. The snorkel never really bothered me to the point of frustration. For those it really bothers, there are those fold up ones to tuck away. Or just go without one-- there often are things we go without that may provide a little more safety (or redundancy, like a spare mask) because we figure it's not worth the inconvenience. these are the choices.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I use a snorkel for beach dives when I plan to do long surface swims. A snorkel is also a great tool in my area to do the kelp crawl. Kelp is grabbed and pushed underneath you and back wilst finning and crawling along on your belly. It is impossible to go through kelp on your back, the tank valve will get hung up in it. I don't like to use air in my tank for surface swimming, the air in my tank is for diving.
Boat diving I do not use a snorkel.