snorkel, what’s it good for?

[DevonDiver]

For long surface swims, in rough conditions, only. A snorkel is a tool, that should be used based on a risk assessment for each dive.

I keep a snorkel bungeed to my backplate so that I meet instructor standards when teaching PADI courses. Otherwise, I very rarely carry one.

I have my regulator in my mouth for entry, because a snorkel won't help if I lost buoyancy when I hit the water. I have a regulator in my mouth when on the surface after the dive, because I have plenty of reserve air left. 50bar/500psi is plenty enough gas to get back to the boat or shore when breathed at 1atm.

Snorkels are far from optimum for wreck diving - where they pose an entanglement risk. I do a lot of wreck diving. Snorkels are also a P.I.T.A for photography. I do a lot of that too.

 

[scoobydrew]

Well I'll go against the grain here, I would never dive without a snorkel. I have done plenty of wrecks and although I can see the possibility of a snag hazard it has certainly never arisen on one of my dives.

The reason I keep it is for surface swims in high surge/current and in other times I just leave it there as it does not present any issue in my mind (although once I too descended while breathing from one and got a nasty shock about a foot under) I have seen people struggle against surface conditions without them.

The BSAC thing back home is to keep them attached to your ankle but I guess this again could be a snag hazzard, I would at least keep one in your BCD unless of course as you say you will never encounter waves

 

[BoltSnap]

I still use my snorkel but it gets on my last nerve. It always rips tons of my hair out when I'm not wearing a hood. I'm debating ditching it, or looking for one of those roll up snorkels I've heard about that you can stash in your BCD. (hopefully that's a real thing)

Hello Jeni,

I'd recommend to wear some sort of a hood always even a Polartec or Aeroskin types for comfort. I find it for me that the strap is uncomfortable (even slap strap) and annoying worn without a hood.

Hair is not an issue for me since mine is cut VERY short.

 

[BoltSnap]

For once, my friend, we are in complete agreement!

Scary.

I always like to keep my snorkels on me. I'd never want to lose them. I am glad to have them.

 

[TSandM]

You know, I think it depends a great deal on where you dive. If I were doing surface swims in Maui, a snorkel might be nice, because I'd do them face down and watch the reef. In Puget Sound, you can't see a darned thing once the water is more than about six feet deep, so swimming face down with a snorkel is a way to spend the whole swim seeing absolutely nothing. I'd rather swim on my back and chat with my buddies on the way.

I HAVE been caught on the surface in rough seas, and I have yet to be in conditions where I didn't vastly prefer a regulator to a snorkel -- or even just timing my breathing with the waves. Using a snorkel simply has meant that I got a mouthful of water when I wasn't expecting it, instead of when I was. They simply don't give one enough additional height to make any difference.

I have found the disadvantages of a snorkel to outweigh the advantages to the point where I do not carry one at all, ever, except when DMing, and then it's a roll-up, zippered into a pouch which is in my thigh pocket. I have never felt any desire to deploy it.

 

[vladimir]

I have told this story so many times I'll just cut-and-paste it:

I have never needed my snorkel on a dive, but I have never missed an article of gear as much as I missed that snorkel in Cocos. We cut a dive short to go to a massive baitball teeming with predators and prey--hundreds of sharks of different species, yellowfin tuna, dolphins, diving birds, etc. Truly amazing. The divemaster had us slide into the water on the fringe of this mayhem with no tanks-just masks and snorkels. I, of course, had a collapsible snorkel...somewhere. I usually clip it to my bc--nope. Under my seat on the panga? No. Pocket? No. Wherever it was supposed to be, it wasn't. So I spent the next half-hour surrounded by silky sharks eying me as if I were dessert and having to surface every minute or so to breathe. It was the best half-hour I have ever spent in the water. The only thing that could have improved it was a snorkel. So, whether you wear it or not, be sure to bring one.

 

[fnfalman]

Pretty hard to do underwater fencing without a snorkel.

 

[Davemohio]

I dislike the snorkel as well. I find it gets in the way.

I will use it only on ocean dives and have rarely needed it.

On some recent specialty courses my Instructors have "strongly" recommended I wear it. So I comply during the class.

I am looking at the foldable snorkel as an alternative.

 

[Evie G]

How best to bring my snorkle w/ me w/o having it on my mask?
I use backplate. No pockets. Have my SMB bungeed on one side of my backplate.

 

[marinediva]

Snorkels are good for drinking games in thailand, or anywhere for that matter.
Very helpful for snorkeling as well. Not recommended at the same time.