Dry snorkels the best?

[Walter]

people talk of snorkels creating drag when scuba diving... so what? I thought most people took there time when scuba diving? Drag isn't really an issue...

Have you considered current? Have you considered ease of diving? Have you considered air consumption? Drag is very much as issue while diving even when divers are taking their time.

 

[FishOutUvH2O]

I think dry snorkels work just fine. I didn't buy my snorkel for the dry feature, I bought it based on how comfortable it was to have in my mouth for an hour. Since the only good use I've found for a snorkel so far is for snorkeling. The dry feature just happened to be on the the most comfortable snorkel. Since having it, I think the dry part works just fine when an unexpected boat wake hits, or I have to swim through the surf line to the reef. I still tend to blow it out anyway when I surface after diving down, just as I would a "J" snorkel.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Nope. You don't get it.

You've really learned to appreciate the higher tech dry snorkels not because you do a lot of snorkeling surface swimming, but because you've yet to develop your snorkeling skills.

Gee, thanks for pointing out my ignorance in such a nice way. Instead of teaching me what I should be doing, as another poster did, you decided it'd be fine to just say the equivalent of "you have no idea and you're wrong."

 

[Walter]

Instead of teaching me what I should be doing

I'll be happy to teach you, but it will require water work. Reading can prepare you, but to actually teach, we'll have to get into the water together. All anyone can do online is give you a few pointers and suggest you actually go get the training you need. I did that yesterday and reenforced it today.

 

[Paladin]

I think I might have found a thread that can help me with a little problem I'm having. I began snorkeling way back in the early '60s with a simple Voit snorkeling set with a standard, old-fashioned J type snorkel. When I started SCUBA diving a couple years later, I was given a US Divers J snorkel that I still have and use to this very day. I have never had any trouble clearing it either with the displacement method or the old "whale spout" method. One blow and the snorkel is completely clear and ready to breathe. My problem comes from trying to use a new snorkel I bought recently that is supposed to be dry (it isn't) and has a purge valve. When I come up from a (snorkel) dive and try to blow it clear, there is still water left in the mouthpiece. I have to take a very slow breath at first, then blow again to get the last of the water out. I bought it primarily because of the flexible "accordion" tube at the mouthpiece. The stiff J of my old snorkel can be a nuisance during SCUBA and I thought the flexible one might be a bit more convenient. For awhile, years ago, I used the old one without a keeper and kept it tucked into my weight belt and stuck it under me mask strap when I wanted to use it. I almost lost it during a dive once, so stopped the practice. That old snorkel has a lot of sentimental value to me and I don't want to lose it.

So my question is, what am I doing wrong with this new-fangled contraption? Is there a special technique to clearing a snorkel with a purge valve?

 

[Walter]

So my question is, what am I doing wrong with this new-fangled contraption?

You're using it.

Is there a special technique to clearing a snorkel with a purge valve?

No. They just don't work as well.

 

[snowflake4727]

"The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain" Montgomery Scott.

 

[snowflake4727]

I prefer a J-tube. I just wish I could find a flexible one.

 

[FishOutUvH2O]

So my question is, what am I doing wrong with this new-fangled contraption? Is there a special technique to clearing a snorkel with a purge valve?

I don't know which dry snorkel you're using, but I use the Scubapro Phoenix and found that the only way I can clear it completely is to reach up and use my thumb to push the valve flap closed and then I just blow everything out of the purge valve. Once I started doing it that way I've had no problems clearing the snorkel completely. I really didn't like hearing a gurgling sound every time I inhaled.

 

[Da5Id]

I have a Aeris Cuda dry snorkel with a purge valve that I recently used in Hawaii. No problems at all with the snorkel either keeping water out or clearing it. Great mouthpiece too (at least for me). Works as advertised very nicely.