Do you carry a snorkel on every dive?

[Diver Tim]

I trained with a snorkel, and recognize the potential benefits of having one, but... I'm currently "between snorkels." See, I've got 10 open water dives and have lost THREE FREAKIN' SNORKELS. I didn't budget for that when I got involved in this sport...

I plan to dive with a snorkel again in the future, but it will probably be a roll-up stashed in my BC pocket.

 

[knotical]

How do you orient the thing to keep it from repeatedly entraining water?

Mounting it at a 45° angle works for me. If your head is vertical, the snorkel is 45° toward the rear. When your head/face is horizontal, the snorkel is 45° toward the front.

disconcerting to inhale from a snorkel and suddenly get water.

True, but with practice, such as snorkeling through heavy surf, it can become almost second nature to practice breath control. And some of the newer snorkels with deflectors at the top can actually help. Although I always hesitate before using new-fangled stuff, I eventually converted to an Impulse snorkel. < I'd hate to tell you how long and hard I fought before I gave up my J-valve and pull-rod. >

the increased dead space in a snorkel makes it easy to get CO2 buildup.

True, but again with practice it can become second nature to emphasize the exhalation.

I guess it often comes down to personal experience. Some of us grew up snorkeling and are at least as comfortable with snorkels as with regulators.

Like so many things, snorkels are just tools to be used or misused depending on circumstances.

There is no one answer.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I think it's a personal preference thing ... some people feel more comfortable having a snorkel along, some don't.

This topic comes up more often than BP/W vs split fins ... usually with the same responses from the same people.

I'd like to see a tank explode!

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I guess my experience has been that it's way more disconcerting to inhale from a snorkel and suddenly get water, than to have my head up where I can see the waves coming, and simply time my breathing so that I don't try to inhale when the chop is breaking over my head.

I am not trying to be difficult here -- honestly, I've had a lot more trouble breathing through a snorkel in choppy water, than resting upright and timing my breath. Plus, if you get the least bit anxious, the increased dead space in a snorkel makes it easy to get CO2 buildup.

If I were doing a relaxed surface swim somewhere where the water was clear and there was something to see, I could easily see doing it on my face with a snorkel. Unfortunately, those conditions simply don't pertain most of the places where I dive. But the argument that the snorkel is good for long waits in difficult surface conditions just doesn't jibe with my personal experience of snorkels.

There is just no comparison in level of effort of breathing. You just have to learn airway control. If yiu inhale slowly, when a wave breaks into the snorkel, then you stop the inhale and clear, even with only a partial breath and then try again. You inhale slowly, clear when you have to and exhale fast to give yourself time to inhale slowly again.

If you are in whitecap conditions, you will normally put your face down winmd, so you are not eating water. This means you can't see the waves that are coming. If you practice snorkeling for a few hundred hours in different conditions, it becomes second nature.

I am sometimes tempted to remove the reg and/or snorkel to talk while in the water. This is when I am most likley to inhale water. Especially when you are 2 feet from the boat and a wave bounces off the hull and pops up right into you face in an unexpected manner. Unless it is calm or you are swimming on your back, it is safer to have a reg or snorkel in your mouth.

 

[CamG]

Greetings fellow divers and I am comfortable with or with out a snorkel. I do love to snorkel and free dive. I am a novice free-diver at best but do love to do it!
On most of my latest training dives snorkels are more of a hazard than a help and not useful in anyway. Surface swims while diving recreationally using AL 80's I would use one all the time. When assisting training OW divers I do to as well. What ever the agency standard is I comply when doing OW training. After that it is good to expose AOW and other students to other configurations and diving methods. At this point depending on the instructors wishes I will or will not wear a snorkel depending on the dive. I personally believe in proper gas management so there is plenty of gas if need be, reg stays in no exceptions. If conditions require then regs stay in. But as I said it depends on the instructor when training but on my time it is my choice! That is what I think and like I said I love to snorkel just not always when I am diving!
CamG Keep diving....keep training....keep learning!

 

[TSandM]

Okay. I understand that you can cope with all the issues involved in using a snorkel, but I'm going to grumble off into the sunset unconvinced that it's any improvement over floating upright on the surface and watching the waves.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Okay. I understand that you can cope with all the issues involved in using a snorkel, but I'm going to grumble off into the sunset unconvinced that it's any improvement over floating upright on the surface and watching the waves.

I hope you don't have the opportunity to prove I am right.

 

[samuel150]

I have my snorkel attached to my mask. Used it when I was doing OW in August so im used to it being there. Helps with the surface swim to the back of the quarry.

When I was diving in Menorca, it was calm seas at the start of the dive. When we surfaced it was more choppy and we had to take off the BCD in the water to get it into the RIB. Waiting for other divers to get into the RIB it would of been nice to have a snorkel, rather than having water in my mouth.

 

[matt t.]

No snorkels. If you need something in your mouth on the surface because of waves or a long surface swim, use a reg!

 

[noreastDIVER84]

Okay. I understand that you can cope with all the issues involved in using a snorkel, but I'm going to grumble off into the sunset unconvinced that it's any improvement over floating upright on the surface and watching the waves.

I'm with you on that, I prefer to swim back in on my back and watch the waves. I also still have plenty of air left that if I need to keep the reg in I have the ability.