An argument for always having a snorkel

[String]

You probably didn't jump right into the highway when you start driving right? Maybe you started by learning the basics of parking, reversing, three-point turns, parallel parking, etc. This is the same for diving. Learn how to swim properly and comfortable on the surface and just below with the minimum equipment, then expand on that.

Freediving is not scuba diving. Its totally different and entirely unrelated.

How can you compare knitting and driving to freediving and scuba? Obviously knitting and driving are completely separate things but freediving and snorkeling skills do carry over to good scuba diving.

Clearing ears, and wearing a mask and fins. And thats it. Scuba has entirely different equipment, entirely different rules and entirely different methods. Why would you WANT to be teaching people to breath-hold prior to putting them on scuba?
Introduce freediving and a rapid finning/rising to the surface while holding breath then putting them on scuba. What a great idea!

Water comfort can be just as easily done with a mask on or even face down on the surface in scuba.

Snorkelling,Freediving and Scuba are different activities in the same way driving and knitting are.

 

[shoturtle]

Quite simply let people dive the way they want to dive until it gets dangerous then intervene. Totally misunderstanding the point of an air reserve and bringing something like a snorkel that is not only useless underwater can be dangerous crosses that line.

As for a surface swim, it may not last 28 mins but it'll get you 20 at least unless you have the SAC of a forest fire.

You seem to be telling people a little bit of plastic is not needed. It is a safety thing the some agency require for cert because they feel it is a safety equip. To me it seems like you are the one pushing people to dive without the gear they may need. And when they get into trouble it not me that push not have the gear they need. Get the facts straight please.

 

[Cerveza]

Im with string on this one, if your planning a dive and carrying a snorkel in the event that you may need to use it at the surface then your not planning air consumption right, SAC from a cylinder gives you plenty of time, providing you planned the dive well and stick to the plan (sometimes easier said than done)... Im at the surface very rarely with less than 40bar,( im like this for a reason,its insurance for me and maybe someone else who maybe in need) maybe its down to dive agencies to rethink their policies on what is deemed an adequate amount of spare air at the surface,as string says at the surface its spare,on the boat after a dive anything left over a few bar is wasted.....

 

[Aquatic Eagle]

Clearing ears, and wearing a mask and fins. And thats it. Scuba has entirely different equipment, entirely different rules and entirely different methods. Why would you WANT to be teaching people to breath-hold prior to putting them on scuba?
Introduce freediving and a rapid finning/rising to the surface while holding breath then putting them on scuba. What a great idea!

Water comfort can be just as easily done with a mask on or even face down on the surface in scuba.

Snorkelling,Freediving and Scuba are different activities in the same way driving and knitting are.

How about proper finning technique and, as I said before, surface resue skills? Also I think it is important to spend some significant time in the OW class learning about snorkeling before you get to scuba because usually the student is brand new to the sport. They are not familiar with the skills and equipment. Teaching them about snorkeling first lets them practice with and get used to using the basic equipment before they put on this heavy equipment with knobs and buttons everywhere. It's about exposing the student to the sport in steps and at different levels. If you had no exposure to college math, would you rather jump into a calculus class or would you rather start at the algebra level? I'd rather start with the basics so that the harder stuff won't be as challenging.

 

[SlowRain]

For whatever it is worth...I keep a snorkel in my bag....but almost never use the thing. I would use it if I was shore diving and having to surface swim a considerable distance to the point where I was going to drop down and there wasn't any reason to swim out submerged.

In the end...do what you want with it...if you want to wear one...wear one. If you detest them, then don't wear one. Personally the day I base whether or not I carry a snorkel on the viewpoints and feelings of others as a criteria is the day I give up this sport.

 

[bkotheimer]

This is almost as much fun as the split fin debates. I actually found this thread in a search I was doing, trying to determine if there are boats/shops/agencies out there requiring divers to have snorkels or if in general they are leaving certified divers alone to make their own decisions on that.

 

[letterboy]

I wanna see a tank explode . . . now that would be good fun . . .

 

[ekremer]

I carry a snorkel in my bag, they are useful for the rare long surface swim shore dive, or some surface snorkeling between dives.

there are two Prominent types of dives around here: drift, and wreck. Both of which do not really benifit from a snorkel. Your diving may and its up to you.

None of the boats I have been on yet have mentioned my lack of snorkel, I don't think they particularly care.

 

[scubadale]

I wanna see a tank explode . . . now that would be good fun . . .

You should start a thread about that.....nah probably wouldn't get any replies.

 

[nereas]

... in a search I was doing, trying to determine if there are boats/shops/agencies out there requiring divers to have snorkels or if in general they are leaving certified divers alone to make their own decisions on that.

I know of boat captains who "require" (1) audible alarm devices (dive-alert devices or whistles, although a whistle is quite lame and unlikely to be sufficient) and (2) surface markers.

In addition, they also often "recommend" (A) a dive computer and (B) nitrox.

Nothing more than this, in my own experience, is ever "required."

As to when a snorkel is appropriate, it is appropriate during initial certification.

It is also appropriate for long surface swims, or swimming through kelp or rocky shallow areas, or anytime you want to conserve your compressed air supply during a surface swim, and you cannot swim on your back (example: compass heading with a DPV on the surface). Yes, you could swim on your back at most other times, although at times this might be difficult through kelp or shallow rocks.

There are also times when snorkels are inappropriate, such as when cave diving or when penetrating a shipwreck.

A huge crowd of insecure modern divers thinks that by wearing a snorkel they look like a novice diver. This is actually a sign of a novice diver: someone who thinks they should not wear a snorkel because snorkels are not cool looking.