Should I wear a snorkel or not

[L13]

There are times when diving that a snorkel makes things more pleasant, and I will even grant that in the ocean there may be times that it is necessary for survival. Which is why I have one in my pocket in open water.

But there are more scenarios where having it on your mask will cause safety problems than there are where it will save your life (but wouldn't if it was in your pocket). Especially if you are doing any kind of over the neck long hose setup.

And stories where 15 swells, survivable only with a snorkel, appear and disappear in a mater of an hour or two don't seem that likely.

 

[formernuke]

Which is why I have one in my pocket in open water.

Same here.

 

[60plus]

Yes, carry one but carry it somewhere near your waist. Not where it pulls on your mask or gets mixed with hoses or BCD vent / fill hose. I carry mine inside my T shirt or wetsuit (front zip) When in drysuit I hang it on a D ring on my BCD pocket. Mine is a Cressi and I leave the small clip on my mask strap.

 

[EFX]

Negative ghost rider. People barely feel a tsunami in the open ocean. It doesn't become a "wall" until it begins to lose depth in the shallows. It's often a surprise to boaters and divers when they return to shore after a tsunami, because they did not really feel it.

Sorry, I wasn't clear. The last few sentences of my post above refer to people at the shore diving under a breaking wave to escape it, NOT scuba divers out at sea.

 

[Celt]

was your boat tied off to buoy in 15ft swells?

Shot line and deco station.

 

[dmaziuk]

was your boat tied off to buoy in 15ft swells?

More importantly, did you wear a 15ft 1in snorkel in them 15ft swells?

 

[Celt]

More importantly, did you wear a 15ft 1in snorkel in them 15ft

Do you understand how an ocean swell works. You don’t stay in the trough when the crest rises. The wave form undulates very like giving a slack rope a shake. The rope doesn’t move. A wave form changes position but doesn’t move across the ocean surface. The water within a wave moves in one direction at the crest and in the opposite direction in the trough.

 

[dmaziuk]

Of course I stay in the trough when the crest rises: with 15ft swells, it's a whole next deco stop and a half and I can't go up that far until I cleared my current ceiling. D'oh.

 

[BlueTrin]

The snorkel thread is still going on two years later

 

[Celt]

Of course I stay in the trough when the crest rises: with 15ft swells, it's a whole next deco stop and a half and I can't go up that far until I cleared my current ceiling. D'oh.

Maybe I’m not explaining properly. Depth is measured from the surface. The station has to rise with the crest. A 15 foot swell height that’s not breaking is going to have 100 feet between the crests. You can’t stay in the trough, you’re on the station.
The depth over the divers doesn’t change.