Should I wear a snorkel or not

[Waterwulf]

I wonder if that is where the requirement to carry one came from and once modern BCD's came out instead if changing it the agencies just added a skill.

In the old old days, pre mid about 1070's, there was no such thing as BC's or BCD's. I think they started gaining popularity when people saw the ones that were stolen from the military and modified. In the early days, they were all Horse Collar Buoyancy Compensators. Most of them had a tendency to float a diver face up if you relaxed on the surface. That's why they were recognized as "Life Saving devices". We all had and used our snorkels for surface swims. Most of the new modern BCD's tend to float the diver face down if they relax on the surface. I would think snorkels would be even more needed but I don't use a modern BCD so i really don't know.

 

[The Chairman]

I wonder if that is where the requirement to carry one came from and once modern BCD's came out instead if changing it the agencies just added a skill.

Once something is labeled as being all-important, it's quite hard to walk that back. Quite often the origins are forgotten. We had steel 72s, no spg, no depth gauge, no wetsuit, and no BC when I first learned. I was always a bit negative and the first sign you were low on gas was the butt pucker you got when you couldn't get air out of your reg. Oh yeah, no octos either. So you reached down and pulled the rod connected to your j-valve, so you could ascend. Every now and then, it was already in the open position, so you had to swim like hell to the surface. Yeah, our buddies were mostly SOBs (Same Ocean Buddies). You can't imagine how tiring it is to do an ascent like that, and once you get to the surface you have to keep swimming or you'll sink. Snorkels really helped. They're mostly in the way now.

 

[lexvil]

You should wear a snorkel all of the time…





except when diving

 

[EFX]

A 3 ft breaking on the beach can easily knock a full grown man over.

One more piece of information on waves I found fascinating. There are generally two types of waves: wind-driven and tsunamis. As indicated by the description wind-driven waves build up by the wind. You can always dive under these waves to calmer water below although for very large waves you may have to go deep. Not so for Tsunami waves. Tsunami's are not caused by wind action but by earthquakes or by ocean floor displacements. As a result, the entire water column is moving and the sheer mass of that water contains far more energy than surface waves. This is why Tsunami's don't stop at the shore but sometimes are driven far inland, sometimes for miles depending on the flatness of the terrain. To escape a large wind-driven wave from breaking on top of you, you can dive into the wave to get underneath it. Not so with a Tsunami. Since it's a wall of water coming at you, there is no diving underneath it to escape its fury.

 

[berndo]

Honestly, fifteen foot swells are no big deal. It's just a thirty foot ride up and down like a roller coaster.

Where was this? 15 feet at a dive site? How can you even dive in these conditions. Usually people check the forecast and don't go out when a major storm is rolling in.

 

[The Chairman]

Since it's a wall of water coming at you,

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.

 

[formernuke]

I heard about one a long time ago that was felt in OW, when it hit shore it made the one that hit Japan recently look like a calm day on the beach.

 

[chillyinCanada]

A friend of mine was diving on a liveaboard out of Phuket when the tsunami hit there. They felt nothing during the dive.

 

[Waterwulf]

Where was this? 15 feet at a dive site? How can you even dive in these conditions. Usually people check the forecast and don't go out when a major storm is rolling in.

I thought I was pretty clear. Oh well. It was 1975 and the weather people were barely able to predict the sunrise, much less a summer storm aka Squall. Those conditions were not there when we arrived at the dive site. We surfaced in them. It was not a major storm. It was a Squall. The seas had calmed quite a bit when they came back for us and the rest of the day was nice. Other people even dove some more but my girlfriend and I were done for the day. The Dive Master and Boat Captain asked us many times if we were ok or needed meds or anything but we were fine. It really was no big deal....afterwards. We were cold and thirsty and otherwise fine.

 

[formernuke]

I thought I was pretty clear. Oh well. It was 1975 and the weather people were barely able to predict the sunrise, much less a summer storm aka Squall. Those conditions were not there when we arrived at the dive site. We surfaced in them. It was not a major storm. It was a Squall. The seas had calmed quite a bit when they came back for us and the rest of the day was nice. Other people even dove some more but my girlfriend and I were done for the day. The Dive Master and Boat Captain asked us many times if we were ok or needed meds or anything but we were fine. It really was no big deal....afterwards. We were cold and thirsty and otherwise fine.

Again BS. The amount of energy it takes to create those kind of waves in the open ocean with any kind of depth at all is enormous.

Shallow is different, why do you think those surfing waves look like nothing till they reach shallow water. No way you would have survived 15 foot with white caps.

As for your sailors have done it provide one example of that.