to snorkel or not to snorkel

[Dive-aholic]

I am a long time user of back inflation BC units, it is much easier and much faster for me to swim on my back and have done so from and to shore many times.

I only use a snorkel when forced to by the snorkel police and then I always tend to loose it somehow--darn--wear did that darn thing get off to? I see no purpose in a snorkel, I eaither stay on the regulator or I partially inflate my wing, roll on to my back and in that position I am like a motorboat, much faster, more comfortable, easier to take directional bearings and no air restriction breathing through some silly tube, no funky "nucleor cooling tower" dragging along in the water. I have made numerosu surface swims to and from dive sites as much as a mile in legth that way and never regretted having no stupid snorkel.
Snorkel with scuba?--no thanks--sometimes not even when free diving either. N

A back inflate does make a snorkel unnecessary. Even when I'm forced to wear a snorkel, I don't use it. I swim on my back. It is faster. I'll have to remember to "lose" my snorkel. Do you lose it before or after you get in the water?

 

[Nemrod]

"A back inflate does make a snorkel unnecessary. Even when I'm forced to wear a snorkel, I don't use it. I swim on my back. It is faster. I'll have to remember to "lose" my snorkel. Do you lose it before or after you get in the water?"

I don't have any particular order, just seems I never get back with the thing. Darn, however, I am beginning to run low on antique snorkels. Began making them out of garden hose with an old mouth piece from a dive reg. Use some urethane glue or 3M adhesive and a tie wrap to secure the old mouth piece to the garden hose. I prefer an obnoxious grass green color to irritate know- it- alls and Snorkel Natzis.
Here is a good one, take your mask off when you surface and clip it off on your rig and swim back to the boat on your back with no mask visible and no snorkel, that gets them going!!!! N

 

[lamont]

long hose.

the snorkel police are idiots.

 

[miketsp]

Yes, always use one. I do a lot of diving in very choppy seas and it's not always safe to try to get up the ladder wearing gear so after taking off the BC and positioning it for someone to grab you no longer have the option of breathing through the reg. Then again the dive boats I normally use have hot exhaust spray coming out near the ladder when the stern lifts out of the water and without the snorkel it gets really uncomfortable when you grab the ladder and are waiting for the right moment to start the ascent.

 

[Web Monkey]

Who wears it and who doesn't and why?

It's a pain in the butt, but I always wear one (it's even a "dry" snorkle that everybody seems to rag on).

I was left in the water off Florida for an an hour or so once, and with the waves slopping over my head, was very happy to have it.

Terry

 

[SeanQ]

Here is a good one, take your mask off when you surface and clip it off on your rig and swim back to the boat on your back with no mask visible and no snorkel, that gets them going!!!! N

You should be really careful when swimming like that. You might get knocked out by all the liferings that are being thrown at you by 'helpful' people who think you're panicing. I've had people asking me if I was alright when I was exiting from a shore dive, in ankle deep water, with the mask on my forehead.

 

[caymaniac]

It's a pain in the butt, but I always wear one (it's even a "dry" snorkle that everybody seems to rag on).

I was left in the water off Florida for an an hour or so once, and with the waves slopping over my head, was very happy to have it.

Terry

I love those nudibrachs in your avatar, they look delicious!

:dazzler1:

 

[Nemrod]

"You should be really careful when swimming like that. You might get knocked out by all the liferings that are being thrown at you by 'helpful' people who think you're panicing. I've had people asking me if I was alright when I was exiting from a shore dive, in ankle deep water, with the mask on my forehead."

LOL--that is funny. I always pop my mask back on my head like that! I have lost masks but never from doing that. In fact, I have several masks that go back 30 years and I still have not lost them. Granted, when I am using a fav mask, I clip it to my rig after removing it on the surface or I pull it down below my chin for a short swim.
Unlike the idiot in the movie BlueWater, when I go diving, espcially if it took money, time, effort and expense to get there, I ALWAYS have back up gear, masks, fins, reg, spare parts etc. Be Prepared. If I loose a mask, I got another.
As to snorkels and swimming in rough water, if that works that is great, I would much prefer to be on my back, that way I can see the water coming!! Waves break over snorkels too. We can actually close out mouths and not breath as a wave washes over. This has not actually been a problem in several long, arduous and diffucult surface swims in some dang rough water.
My favorite snorkel, I have two, one black neoprene and the other clear silicone, ScubaPro Jet Snorkel. Big diameter, no cooling tower or valves, low profile, short length, I only use them free diving, the snorkels 20ish and 15ish years old each.

Lol, my wife, she wears a jacket type BC, she does swim face down and she does use a snorkel, she does her thing just fine, she just follows in my wake as I knock the waves down for her--lol. She only dives the "nice" dives any ways. She got certified just a little while back so she is just a beginner, summer 1980, lol. I am certain that when she gets a bit more experience she will drop that snorkel silliness. N

 

[flobaby]

No snorkel here. Who needs the added drag?

 

[Humuhumunukunukuapua'a]

I wear one. I like it for surface swims, though I switch to my back sometimes too. Other times it's fun to look around on the surface swim.

It's never really bothered me the way it seems to bother many folks here. If it did, I'd probably still carry a folding snorkel.