Are you wearing snorkel while SCUBA diving?

[Splitlip]

I use a snorkel when ocean diving in current where there might be rough seas and I could get separated from the boat.

If I get separated from the boat, the snorkel allows me to keep my face in the water in order to watch for sharks should my back gas be low. I am better off watching for sharks than scanning the horizon in order to say, signal for help. Besides, the rescue crews will likely spot the snorkel as well as they would a signal mirror, arm, fin, light or SMB waved at them.

In rough seas, in the odd chance that my entire body is not picked up on the crest of a wave, the 2 inches of snorkel sticking above my head won't get inundated with the deluge.

In a current.. I guess I could use the snorkel as a paddle or boat motor .

Definitely worth the hassle of it breaking the mask seal, getting snagged on lines, interference with donation to an OOG diver and crossing it with the BC inflator hose.

 

[redddog]

I dive with a lot of seasoned divers and no one wears theres. I'm fairly new and look to them or should i say watch them and they rarely do a buddy check.

 

[Rhone Man]

Never wear one. I figure if I am stupid enough to lose the line, I deserve a tough surface swim.

Managed to highly irritate my son's instructor by responding to his rebuke of my son for not having a snorkel with: "Why? We both know he is going to stop wearing it the minute you certify him anyhow."

 

[Splitlip]

I dive with a lot of seasoned divers and no one wears theres. I'm fairly new and look to them or should i say watch them and they rarely do a buddy check.

I'm guessing this is a tongue in cheek remark. My buddy and I have hundreds of dives together over the past 6 years. It may not look like we are doing (PADI pictures/video) buddy checks, but we are. On the boat and in the water.

 

[RTee]

Not anymore...in fact more time and place related. Normally in calm conditions, I do not carry it as my preference is to swim on my back when I am on the surface...see and be seen. I also do not carry it when dealing with ascend/mooring line. In fact, I am just trying to remember when is the last time I carried it let alone use it. However, it is always there in my kit and boat bag just in case I judge that it might be useful.

 

[orca70]

Nah, it get's in the way. I do go snorkeling however.

 

[Splitlip]

Not anymore...in fact more time and place related. Normally in calm conditions, I do not carry it as my preference is to swim on my back when I am on the surface...see and be seen. I also do not carry it when dealing with ascend/mooring line. In fact, I am just trying to remember when is the last time I carried it let alone use it. However, it is always there in my kit and boat bag just in case I judge that it might be useful.

But if you're swimming on your back, how do you watch out for sharks..and giant squid? :shocked2:

 

[Pullmyfinger]

I've never worn one outside of a PADI class.

I'll stay outside of PADI classes.

Just kidding.

 

[Spatial Agent]

I usually take it with me in my gear bag, but normally don't dive with it. Sometimes it is good to have if I want to snorkel during a surface interval. So far none of the boats I have dived from have required one.

 

[TSandM]

I'm fairly new and look to them or should i say watch them and they rarely do a buddy check.

Honestly, I don't think this is tongue in cheek. I've seen this on boats all over the world. In fact, when we dove in the South Pacific, we actually had some other folks on the boat come to us and say, "You know, we've been watching you, and realizing this is probably a good idea. Can we join you in your checks?" We also had an instructor on a dive op give us a whole ration about doing checks ("It's going to be a night dive at this rate") although there was no urgency at all to get in the water.

reddog, don't follow bad examples. Discarding the snorkel, and discarding buddy checks are two extremely different things.