Tour operators start ban on full-face snorkel masks

[grantwiscour]

With all the deaths related to full-face snorkel masks some local companies are not allowing their use.

Tour operators start ban on full-face snorkel masks - West Hawaii Today

 

[Doc]

Wait until they discover SPLIT FINS (or Spare Air)!

BTW- Thomas Cook is good with FF masks.

 

[wnissen]

I'm not convinced the masks are the issue. More deaths, yes, but the number of visitors has also increased 47% since 2011. Snorkeling in Hawai'i is dangerous, period. You can go to a beach that is highly recommended for children on Tripadvisor and find that due to summer swells it's not even safe to go in the water. The "leeward" side still often has huge surge and if you don't carefully ask locals about conditions you can get yourself in trouble in a hurry.

Personally, we have someone in our family who has a very strong and fast-changing prescription. It is way easier and cheaper to rig a pair of glasses in a fog-free Tribord mask with Sugru putty than it is to get prescription lenses.

If I had to guess, any increase due to the masks is caused by their ease of use. People who would have noped out of a traditional mask decide they can get in the water with a full-face one.

 

[happy-diver]

With all the deaths related to full-face snorkel masks some local companies are not allowing their use.

Tour operators start ban on full-face snorkel masks - West Hawaii Today

I would suggest you read your link unless you are hoping to become a reporter for fake news

 

[grantwiscour]

I would suggest you read your link unless you are hoping to become a reporter for fake news

No fake news...with so many deaths here in Hawaii where deceased was wearing full-face snorkel mask it is an issue.

Thanks for your "suggestion" though. If it is so important to you...feel free to get some and use them.

 

[outofofficebrb]

I wonder if it's not so much the full face snorkel that is the problem but more so the health of people who tend to choose to snorkel with full face masks?

 

[chillyinCanada]

No fake news...with so many deaths here in Hawaii where deceased was wearing full-face snorkel mask it is an issue.

Thanks for your "suggestion" though. If it is so important to you...feel free to get some and use them.

I'm assuming that happy-diver is talking about the last paragraph:

"Health Department also said the belief that using a traditional mask and snorkel is safer than a full-face snorkel mask is a myth. Snorkeling-related drownings occurred before full-face masks became available, it said, and “there is currently no evidence proving that a specific type of snorkel equipment is dangerous.”"

 

[letterboy]

or perhaps it is the false sense of security some might get from a mask that covers the entire face as opposed to those other ones that only cover the eyes and nose and require a seperate tube to breath from.

ohh the horror.

personally, I could care less what they ban.

also, I bet it might be related to land lubbers buying one of these full face masks after being scared of the water their whole lives and being as in shape as a hippopotamus.

 

[grantwiscour]

I'm assuming that happy-diver is talking about the last paragraph:

"Health Department also said the belief that using a traditional mask and snorkel is safer than a full-face snorkel mask is a myth. Snorkeling-related drownings occurred before full-face masks became available, it said, and “there is currently no evidence proving that a specific type of snorkel equipment is dangerous.”"

Quoting the Hawaii Health Department is akin to quoting Dr. Suess.

Often discussed here in Hawaii is the vast amount of full-face snorkel masks...many produced as knock-offs, overseas.
Not enough, or any, study has been done to collect real data on the deaths. It is a shame but in a tourist economy, studies about how visitors die are not at the top of the funding tree.

 

[TMHeimer]

or perhaps it is the false sense of security some might get from a mask that covers the entire face as opposed to those other ones that only cover the eyes and nose and require a seperate tube to breath from.

ohh the horror.

personally, I could care less what they ban.

also, I bet it might be related to land lubbers buying one of these full face masks after being scared of the water their whole lives and being as in shape as a hippopotamus.

You took the exact words out of my mouth before I could type. I read the story and saw all the statistics and that they're trying to determine causes.
Before this thread I had never heard of a full face SNORKEL mask. I did decades of snorkelling the normal way prior to OW cert. Seems like a neat idea to also be able to breathe from your nose. The old "airway control" thing we discuss regarding those having problems with the OW course mask skills. Perhaps the land lubbers feel they can breathe at depth when they dive down, forgetting that it's a SNORKEL. But, it's another way to add another rule to our lives.