Dry snorkels the best?

[Thalassamania]

Personally, I don't know a single diver who has progressed past 30 or so dives and still uses a snorkel. If you must have one, get the cheapest one you can find. Contrary to what the industry is trying to tell you in a desperate and pathetic attempt to elevate a piece of plastic tubing to some sort of stylish life-support equipment that can make or break the safety and fun you experience while diving, a snorkel is just that, a piece of plastic tubing.

I have a few more than 30 dives, in point of fact to have 30 dives I'd have to go back to age six or seven and except when under the Arctic ice, or living in an underwater habitat, I've never made a dive without a snorkel.

I hope not to offend you, but it sounds like you need more time with a snorkel in your mouth. what you are describing is fairly common for people that are new to snorkels. With practice you will have the snorkel clear before you even break the surface. I greatly appreciate my J-snorkels and clearing them is very easy, just takes some practice. With practice a basic snorkel, waves are not an issue. Take a look at the snorkels that the bigger freedive companies are making these days. Omer for example has a really nice one, flexible, but not too flexible, great bite piece, good diameter and depth below your mouth to make breathing with a little water in it very easy.

He's got it right.

 

[300bar]

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.

That one is the same as the Oceanic.They should work alike.
Op just has a faulty one.

 

[Paladin]

I have been involved with SCUBA since I was eleven (1965) and we used a snorkel back then for surface swimming. With no BC to rely on, being able to submerge most of your body and breathe through a snorkel relieved some of the work of swimming on the surface. Also, in case of an emergency, we could dump our tanks and weight belts and switch to the snorkel on the surface. I still have, and use, the US Divers snorkel I carried 44 years ago. I would feel naked if I dived without it. Besides, I still do a considerable amount of snorkeling and that old J tube is always right there. I only tried one of the new snorkels because the J tube is stiff and the mouthpiece can get in the way of a regulator. But considering the poor performance (IMO) of the new snorkels, I'll just put up with the slight inconvenience of the J tube and stick with something that works flawlessly 100% of the time.

 

[dleiss]

I have been using the Ocean Master dry snorkel for over 10 years. It uses a cork to block water from entering the tube and is dry. I own the flex model and, like many of the posters here, don't usually wear it diving unless the water is rough and there are a bunch of newbees on the boat. That way I don't use up 10 minutes of air on the surface.

 

[docmartin]

i find dry snorkels to be great when introducing kids to snorkeling. when i got our 3 year old started he took to it right away. swallowing a bunch of water is pretty scary to a little kid. for diving i do not carry a snorkel and find that the dry snorkels that do work are the worst kind. they do not fill completely with water and, therefore, are buoyant. as a consequence, they tend to pull on your mask strap which can be quite annoying.