Do you dive with or without your snorkel attached and why?

[Hoosier]

In my case, I never used it once, specially in the local quarry dive where I used to dive.
There are no current, drift, and wave. It is just calm and silent.

 

[cowdog77]

....was very attached to my snorkel for over 40 ocean boat dives. I liked using it to surface swim to the down line and to hang out and relax at the end of the dive while waiting for others to board.

But, I had a pretty good surface swim due to current recently and about halfway thru realized it was a lot easier to breathe without the constriction of the snorkel. I had also had it pulled off, (taking my mask with it!) and decided that I'd rather be on my reg in rough water anyway than on my snorkel. So, I've switched to the folding type(for that dab or reassurance in case I get "left behind" some day I suppose!)

 

[Brandon]

See my profile pic take this summer. I faithfully, like a good OW student, used my snorkel on every dive, just like my instructor told me to. But after diving that day in Newport, I started thinking when the last time I used it was...

I realized that I've never used it while diving. Not here in Alaska, and not in Hawaii, or Oregon. Boat/Shore, hasn't mattered... I haven't seen a use for it.

Now.. while snorkeling, it's great. But 3/4 of the snorkels marketed towards divers are so big and clunky, that they're nothing but a pain in the bumbum underwater.

-B.

 

[ScubaFreak]

ScubaFreak, you don't know me, you have never seen me - diveing or otherwise. Shove your personal attacks where the sun don't shine.

Dear JimC,

Easy Tiger, if you read my post, i pointed out that everything was IMHO - In My Humble Opinion. It was not a personal attack. I don't attack anyone on this board, I will just disagree with them from time to time.
You point out that you put a reg in your mouth exiting to a boat. Great! But I cant. I dive off Inflatable ribs with no ladder. Standard exit technique allows me to hand up my gear to the boat and then climb in. Therefore, I wear a snorkel. Yeah i could get into the boat with my gear on but it aint an easy job.
PADI standards (blah blah) require me to teach using a full set of equipment- this includes snorkels. Therefore I do, and so do my students.
Where I dive, mostly we have pretty decent swells, and I'm glad of my snorkel, we dont tend to have flat calm water very often in the Irish sea

I guess I have no choice but to agree to disagree with the non-snorkel wearers as they obviously outweigh the snorkel wearers within this thread.
But I still stand by my belief in wearing snorkels.

SF

 

[Scott04]

Things I have seen or experinced when I used one:
- Grabing it instead of inflator
- Acidently breathing it at depth

Boy, that must of sucked!:11:

 

[Scott04]

With the long hose configuration, my main second stage is routed down my right side, under my canister light on my right hip, then up across my chest and over my left shoulder, around the back of my neck and to my mouth. My backup second stage is on a short hose and hanging below my chin on a bungee necklace. If I need to donate a regulator to an out of air diver he or she will get my primary (on the long hose) and I will switch to the neckalced short hose. In the process of donating the long hose regulator to this unfortunate diver I grab the hose just next to the second stage and take the regualtor out of my mouth and present the regulator to this diver. When I move the regulator toward the other diver I tilt my head forward slightly to allow the hose to come over the top of my head. If I were wearing a snorkel it could become entangled in the hose and possibly remove my mask. This would not be a disaster but it could serve to further complicate an already stressful situation. So, for me, no snorkel on my mask while under water.

The folding snorkel in my pocket is intended to be brought out only in situations where it would be of considerable value on the surface. I have been on dives in the ocean where the conditions on the surface were less than ideal and I was required by circumstance to wait for several minutes while the boat picked up other divers. If the surface is choppy and you are low on air in your tank, it can be really nice to have the option of breathing from a snorkel rather than consuming the air in your tank. The snorkel I have is small and the lower portion is scrunched into the upper portion like an acordion or a bendable straw. I pull on the mouth piece and the tube gets longer, I fold it into a "J" shape and put the mouthpiece in my mouth and I am good to go. The snorkel does not have any of the features intended to keep it "dry" so I do need to watch out for water in the tube, but I am willing to make this compromise. For me it is the best of both worlds. Although I did not get mine from Scubatoys, they do sell the type I use so follow the link and scroll down to the Avid Snorkel. There is actually a pretty good drawing of how it works on the right.

Mark Vlahos

Holy information Batman!
So, it was Professor Plum in the clubhouse.....

 

[pilot fish]

I and 4 other divers came up on the wrong line to the wrong boat on one dive on the USS Spiegel Grove. My boat was about 200 yards away. The sea had 3 to 5 ft chop. I put my snorkel in my mouth and started to swim to the correct boat. Within a minute I went no where and had a case of hypoxia against the current. I was very, very concerned and since the wrong boat was closer, and down current, I swam to it. Mercifully they allowed me onboard where I got my breath. My boat threw over a long tag line and I went back into the water and went on my reg, I had about 650 psi, for the swim back to my boat.

I realize my mistake: I should have rolled over on my back and used my reg.

 

[jbisjim]

Depending on if i have a long surface swim or not. Usually I prefer not. I had a bunch of shirts made up with this on it. Sdi did not require snorkels and now have put it back in the requirements.

 

[MSilvia]

My gas management is just fine, thanks for asking.

I can't say I agree about your gas management, but I wasn't asking about that... if anything I was asking about your experience with donating a long hose while wearing a snorkle, and how it is you avoid entanglements while doing so. As far as I can tell, everyone who mentioned snorkels as an entanglement hazard is either doing wreck penetration or diving a long hose, and you said that despite what we all think, it isn't so. I'm curious how you come to that conclusion.

We were shallow enough on that dive that 100 pounds was plenty of reserve.

Perhaps, so long as nothing goes wrong. That's maybe not such a good thing to count on though. Suppose you buddy had an equipment failure late in the dive and it was he who needed you to share air? Suppose after you surfaced, you lost a fin? Sure, everything worked out okay, but with 100psi 1/4 mile from the boat, you didn't leave much of a safety margin... even if it was shallow water. I'm glad to hear you don't make a habit of it!

 

[MSilvia]

I dive off Inflatable ribs with no ladder. Standard exit technique allows me to hand up my gear to the boat and then climb in. Therefore, I wear a snorkel.

That sounds like the best argument for wearing a snorkle on scuba I've ever heard.