Who Wears A Snorkel When Diving ?

[Scuba446]

Hi,
I have heard some pro DIR friends swear that many mask leaks are caused by drag that snorkels cause...I guess I have been pretty mucky with that, myself, in that I haven't noticed that..but I HAVE grabbed it by accident several times while trying to grab my inflator mech on my BC.

I guess in all honesty, that they COULD be useful for conserving air while just swimming the surface and looking down to see whats below, or, if you have a traditional BC jacket instead of wings where you can't just lay on your back and swim.

I use wings, so most times I am on my back when I swim back to the boat, etc. I don't really swim with my face down in the water, since its too hard to keep the boat in visual sight while swimming, w/o having to keep poking my head out of the water to see where I am going. Guess I could use my compass and shoot a bearing and snorkel that way - but I usually just flip on my back and swim that way.

I guess opinions are like anuses, everbody has one!

 

[landlocked]

It stayed in the bag on my last OW Cert dive (the instructor didn't notice and pretended to be angry when I mentioned it some months later) and it hasn't been out since. Dang nice snorkel too. I notice she only wears hers when she is teaching. I keep it around in case I want to snorkel some day. You never know, it could happen. Maybe some neoprene and a snorkel on a nice long, lazy float down the Henry's fork of the Snake River. Sounds better to me than an inner tube. I have to find some way to justify buying the thing!

 

[SPEEDSTER]

otherwise it's in my gear bag ALL THE TIME. If you have never done a dive without it, try it. It feels so much better not having it there-more freedom of movement.

 

[scubby]

Even though I have only been certified recently, I plan to keep my snorkel with me at all times.

Redundancy equals a safer dive in my book.

 

[Uncle Pug]

Originally posted by scubby
Redundancy equals a safer dive in my book.

Never can have enough of that good stuff!
Just be sure not to switch to the redundant mouth piece of your snorkel while underwater when your second stage fails and you are slightly narced.



(btw... don't worry about your second stage failing... it will fail in freeflow mode if it ever does.... just abort the dive and do a safe ascent.)

 

[builderbloke]

in the uk we get lots of ice and a snorkel can come in handy in an ooa situation by smashing through the ice with your knife poping your snorkel through and breathing

as for it getting in your way ive allways dived with 1 the old J style type which i stick down my leg held in place by my knife strap
and has never given me any probs
also the wheather tends to change pretty fast my last dive on sunday i got into a force 2 and came out in a force 5 and spent 30 min waiting the hard boat to come get me i drank my can down to 20 bar then went on to my snorkel glad i had it with me

 

[Marlinspike]

I have been a freediver for a very long time and take my snorkel with me on some dives but less and less as my diving has progressed. I have not had it with me on a dive in over 2 months and don't miss it at all. DIR reasons for not having it on while scubadiving make sense to me, and despite having been underwater for years with one attached to my mask before taking up scuba I do not miss it at all.

Marlinspike

 

[MerKiwi]

I think it's a comfort to have a snorkel on hand but it's definitely a nuisance unless I'm diving from shore. Depends on the vis. and the size of my tank. After a session with a big steelie all I wanna do is get back onto the boat and into some dry clothes before my bits fall off.

 

[Guam_Diver]

I've always worn one up until my last 2 dives...... Now I just strap it down to my BC strap, so I'll have it if I need it!

Cheers!

 

[Ron Brandt]

Only when I teach

Ron