Snorkeling advice from the net!

[dcvf2]

Hi
Snorkeling… don’t believe all you can read or see on the net

These are not the bad examples that are missing.

For this video => =>
« Spit in your mask » ….the way he’s doing is wrong, see the result in his mask at 5:47 …there is fog .

It is necessary to spread the saliva everywhere (on the dry glass of the mask , that's good).
Without rubbing unnecessarily. Rinse without touching.

At 6:04 the way he’s using the flippers is not ideal.
Fins must stay in the water, to fin without splashing and doing noise

At 6:32 it’s very good no snorkel in his mouth


How to fin correctly
=>
But at 0:30 it’s not much better….and he holds the snorkel in mouth under the water

See # 7 => 3 year old snorkeling


Fortunately there are very good examples
See the excellent advices given by a « big free diver »
=>

 

[AfterDark]

Snorkeling and free diving aren't really the same thing but there are similarities.

A big difference is free diving doesn't require a snorkel, snorkeling does.

 

[dcvf2]

Snorkeling and free diving aren't really the same thing but there are similarities.

Yes of course and for the similarities the safety rules are the same

A big difference is free diving doesn't require a snorkel, snorkeling does.

I pure free diving we ventilate with the snorkel and before the descent we give it at the buddy.
Some free divers are lying on their backs so the face is totally free. When they are ready, they turn to go down.
I did that too ... No problem if the water is calm!

And when a snorkeler dives he must spit the snorkel...as I do (...during the Holiday to film the fauna ...but no snorkel in pure apnea or free diving)

 

[AfterDark]

Yes of course and for the similarities the safety rules are the same


I pure free diving we ventilate with the snorkel and before the descent we give it at the buddy.
Some free divers are lying on their backs so the face is totally free. When they are ready, they turn to go down.
I did that too ... No problem if the water is calm!

And when a snorkeler dives he must spit the snorkel...as I do (...during the Holiday to film the fauna ...but no snorkel in pure apnea or free diving)

I don't know about that, I'm 65 been snorkeling since I was 10 I've never spit a snorkel out of my mouth except to put a regulator in it. I've managed to survive, I'm willing to live dangerously. Besides having the snorkel in my mouth makes it easier to clear when I reach the surface. By blowing into the snorkel just before I surface and keeping my head back the snorkel clears itself.

 

[Esprise Me]

Agreed with AfterDark. I'm familiar with the reasons freedivers spit out or completely forgo the snorkel, and they don't seem to apply to snorkeling as I know it, which is padding around on a shallow reef and periodically diving a few feet down for a few seconds to get a closer look or a picture, before returning to the surface to resume paddling around. As a kid, I learned to exhale on the ascent in a way that allowed me to go straight from holding my breath underwater to breathing facedown on the surface again without having to lift my whole head out of the water, take the snorkel out of my mouth, or spray water everywhere; the mini dives were a seamless part of the whole experience.

 

[engblom]

I also agree with AfterDark and Esprise Me. I always keep the snorkel in my mouth too.

 

[dcvf2]

Hi everybody

It’s not because you agree with x, w or z that it’s wright…

I have written several times a detail of my experience, perhaps already on this forum, but I think it is very important to repeat it.

I think it's the duty of an responsible apneist to transmit the wright comportments concerning the security under the water...to people who have never followed a real apnea course given by instructors apneists.

I began in snorkeling in 1965, but before, I red a good book…to know…
I’ve got 1* in scuba diving in November 1979. With the Belgian league Lifras
I’ve got my first * in free diving May 2003. With the Belgian league Lifras apnea commission

At the Lifras league, this time, the recommendation « TO SNORKEL IN MOUTH UNDER THE WATER » wasn't known …the rectification came later.

In July 2004, while preparing my apnea 3 * ... with my snorkel in the mouth, between 20 ... 24 m ( 65...78 feet), I had a strange reaction in the throat ... like to swallow ... but fortunately I managed the situation .. at this depth!

And I decided by myself (*) « Never again my SNORKEL IN MOUTH UNDER THE WATER » (*) confirmed later in the others formations I followed by :
- Apnea Academy ( the school of the Italian champion) ( 1*)
- SSI Freediving (2*)
- AIDA (3*)

The snorkelers that dive below (33 feet) inspired by the scuba diver don’t know… cannot know the safety rules of apnea as long as they haven'n followed areal free diving coarse …and they repeat … »I always hold the snorkel in mouth under the water… », until they will have an accident.

The snorkelers who dive below (10m …33 feet) inspired by the scubadiver do not know ... can not know the safety rules of the apnea until they have followed a real course of apnea ... and they repeat ... " I always hold the snorkel in mouth under the water »…until they will have an accident.

I can guarantee, if I had swallowed water when I feel a strange reaction in my throat at that depth, I was drowned.

An the explanation is : « When we hold something between our teeth a swallowing reflex ca be produced… »

So when I read … « snorkel in mouth…I agree with with x,w or z » I say in myself : "It exists more bad examples, than good one".


Why don't you learn the right way to "snorkel" under the water?

@ « Esprise Me »

You wrote
« As a kid, I learned to exhale on the ascent… »

One more time, It’s something against the safety rule in freediving.
It’s not because you've learned that …"as a kid", that it is right

If you’ve done a long apnea you PP02 is low and if you exhale under the water …several feet under the surface you decrease dangerously the PPO2 with huge risk of BO ( black out).

It’s a principle in free diving, WE KEEP ALL OUR AIR UNTIL THE SURFACE AND THERE WE EXPIRE PASSIVELY (WITHOUT FORCE) AND WE INSPIRE DEEPLY…followed by deep out and in ventilation 3 or 4 time.

 

[AfterDark]

Thanks for the advice @dcvf2, I'd bet my next retirement check you are correct. However that is all preventable in an average snorkeler. Myself I dive maybe 5' - 10' to get a picture. Sixty feet is way beyond my abilities. I might make it half that depth but it would be a 10 second BT then back up.

The point I'm trying to make and I think others are also is that we've been doing it "wrong" for so long without negative effects we all feel very confident and safe continuing to do it "wrong". You keep doing what's best for you.

 

[Esprise Me]

@dcvf2, I don't know if there's a language barrier, but what several of us are saying is that snorkeling and freediving are two different things, and different rules apply. Shallow water blackout due to low PP02 just isn't something a snorkeler, as opposed to a freediver, has to worry about. Your advice is akin to telling a pedestrian he needs to wear a helmet because it's what cyclists do. Show me some evidence to the contrary and I'll listen, but you're basically here telling us we're wrong and can't rely on what we were taught, and instead we should listen to you because...reasons?

 

[Kharon]

@dcvf2 you stated your points. Maybe now give it a rest. Dive/snorkel/freedive and let dive/snorkel/freedive. You ain't going to convert anybody. Particularly someone with a ton more experience than you - 0-25 dives, so probably not a huge amount of snorkeling experience either.

I've been snorkeling (not freediving) since I was 7. That's 64½ years. Way longer than I have been diving - and I've got a solo diver card and just past 300 dives - 183 solo. Not a lot but I've snorkeled a whole lot more. Pretty sure what I'm doing is safe. More chance of me breathing air at the surface without a snorkel in my mouth than with it in. Please do what you want, have at it. But arguing unendingly about this is just annoying.