Do you Need a Snorkel

[Splitlip]

My $0.02.

First the argument about having one in rough seas is silly. I promise you, rough seas are not conducive to snorkeling. (gag, cough, spit, snort)

Long boat swim. We do so more effectively on our backs.

Watching for sharks. Never mind. Not even gonna go there.

Adrift. Better to be heads up scanning 360.

Down sides to a snorkel on the mask during the dive:
Overheads...forget about them.
I have seen divers confuse the snorkel mouthpiece with the mouthpiece of their second stage.
I personally grabbed my hanging snorkel instead of the BC inflater when I threw on a BC/tank in the water while snorkeling in the keys.
Diving in substantial current, the snorkel attached the mask can break the mask seal.
At the surface, while trying to manage a granny line or a tag line, you'll wish the snorkel was not there.

 

[natew]

No you won't. Just weight yourself correctly.

I don't know, I find it rather hard to swim very fast or for any long distance on the surface when you have the bouyancy of a basketball.

You can also swim much faster and easier face down doing a standard arm over arm stroke than any other position and with all that gear following a standard left right rotation for side breathing between strokes is rather difficult, which means a snorkel is an amazing thing.

So yeah, if you find yourself a good distance away from the boat than you anticipated I know I would be glad to have a snorkel. I'll be back on the boat in two minutes while someone without one would probably drift about for thirty minutes trying to overcome the bouyancy and drag of their nearly fully inflated BC to try to keep their head out of water.

 

[Thalassamania]

My $0.02.

First the argument about having one in rough seas is silly. I promise you, rough seas are not conducive to snorkeling. (gag, cough, spit, snort)

Sounds like a lack of familiarity with breathing through a snorkel.

Long boat swim. We do so more effectively on our backs.

Sounds like a lack of familiarity with breathing through a snorkel.

Watching for sharks. Never mind. Not even gonna go there.

Sharks are your friends, and some say your ancestors.

Adrift. Better to be heads up scanning 360.

A snorkel doesn't prevent heads up scanning 360, it just provides other options.

Down sides to a snorkel on the mask during the dive:
Overheads...forget about them.

I agree that they are not needed here.

I have seen divers confuse the snorkel mouthpiece with the mouthpiece of their second stage.

Sounds rather poor training combined with a lack of experience.

I personally grabbed my hanging snorkel instead of the BC inflater when I threw on a BC/tank in the water while snorkeling in the keys.

Sounds rather poor training combined with a lack of experience.

Diving in substantial current, the snorkel attached the mask can break the mask seal.

Sounds like someone doesn't know how to wear a snorkel.

At the surface, while trying to manage a granny line or a tag line, you'll wish the snorkel was not there.

Sounds like a lack of familiarity with breathing through a snorkel.

 

[Scott L]

Thal, I am in full agreement with Splitlip's thoughts but I am of an open mind to the practical uses of a snorkel for non beach originated dives if you care to detail.

 

[Scott L]

I don't know, I find it rather hard to swim very fast or for any long distance on the surface when you have the bouyancy of a basketball.

You can also swim much faster and easier face down doing a standard arm over arm stroke than any other position and with all that gear following a standard left right rotation for side breathing between strokes is rather difficult, which means a snorkel is an amazing thing.

So yeah, if you find yourself a good distance away from the boat than you anticipated I know I would be glad to have a snorkel. I'll be back on the boat in two minutes while someone without one would probably drift about for thirty minutes trying to overcome the bouyancy and drag of their nearly fully inflated BC to try to keep their head out of water.

Sounds like you dive with a jacket BCD which would be problematic covering much ground on the surface or UW for that matter....

 

[Splitlip]

Sounds like a lack of familiarity with breathing through a snorkel.
Sounds like a lack of familiarity with breathing through a snorkel.
Sharks are your friends, and some say your ancestors.
A snorkel doesn't prevent heads up scanning 360, it just provides other options.
I agree that they are not needed here.
Sounds rather poor training combined with a lack of experience.
Sounds rather poor training combined with a lack of experience.
Sounds like someone doesn't know how to wear a snorkel.
Sounds like a lack of familiarity with breathing through a snorkel.

"Sounds like someone doesn't know how to wear a snorkel."
You worked pretty hard to make your post and point.
You could have said it once.

Now I have explained why I think snorkels are not the best choice for open water diving (shore swimming aside which I can give you).
I have challenged the pro snorkel comments I've read before.

Can you add something new?

 

[Thalassamania]

It's pretty simple. It's naught but a cost/benefit analysis. If one is comfortable using a snorkel and knows how to properly mount it the "cost" of using one drops to near zero. When the cost is near zero it takes very little possible benefit to tip the balance. Without getting into detail let me say that have been in situations were having a snorkel made the dive easier, where having a snorkel made the dive more fun (e.g., longer), and even where having a snorkel played a role in performing a rescue of another diver as well as a role in what you might call self rescue. If you weigh all that against the nanogram of inconvenience that a snorkel rarely causes ... the intelligent conclusion is rather obvious.

When I have had the opportunity to dive with people whom I have heard claim that they do not like snorkels I have sometimes been able to chide them into using one, "just for this dive." I have, in these cases, observed several things. The first and most glaring is that they never know how to mount it, invariably they put it on their mask strap so that with their face in the water the snorkel is pointing almost straight forward, so of course it works poorly. Secondly, when they have a snorkel, it is always some bizarre "Dry Snorkel" abomination that, of course, creates a great deal of drag and fouls on everything and anything. If folks would just be a good J-style freediving snorkel and mount it so that the opening is near the back of the head (like a whale's blowhole, remember at the surface when you are swimming you are always horizontal) most of the problems will disappear.

Here's what the mount should look like:

 

[Splitlip]

Thal:
Looks like my big barrel, I still preferred to carry my other tube behind a knife strap.

We are in agreement that the big gaudy dry snorkels are a greater invitation to trouble.

 

[Scott L]

Thal, nice post. Thanks!

 

[Thalassamania]

Thal:
Looks like my big barrel, I still preferred to carry my other tube behind a knife strap.

We are in agreement that the big gaudy dry snorkels are a greater invitation to trouble.

That's a 40 year old Farallon Snorkel, the one with the bite tabs that mold to your teeth.

Behind the knife strap was fine, back when we had knives the size of leg splits, my knife choices have changed since then.