Giving up the snorkle

[Farty]

foldable XS Scuba Snorkel fits in my pocket, didn't pull it once

XS Scuba Cargo Stowable Snorkel SN650BS with reviews at scuba.com

 

[Peter_C]

Congrats on passing rescue. :cool2: The snorkel if required can be easily stowed like a backup light, attached to the plate, or even attached to the cam bands.

If we did not have our snorkels we would not have made it back on our own power and I did not see any real promise of a rescue out there.

Did the thought of ditching your weights cross your mind? If not it should have. That would have allowed you to float much higher in the water.

Also were you carrying a SMB? Everyone who dives around here should carry one, and a whistle. I also carry a signal mirror, and a Dive-Alert in my pocket. (Dive-Alert doesn't work if there is no air in the tank so a regular whistle is carried, and the regular whistle isn't even close to a quarter as loud.) Lights are a given and I carry two at all times.

 

[pacificgal]

I should have stowed the snorkle. That was the only time in class I thought I was in real trouble, I approached my instructor, he signaled he was out of air and I went to grab my primary to hand to him, it got stuck on my snorkle, pulled my mask so it flooded, tried a couple times to get my backup in my mouth and found the snorkle twice, instead of the backup. Thought I may drown. If I didn't have that snorkle, donating would have been smooth and I would have immediately found my backup.
Thanks for the congrats, Peter, it's been something I've wanted to do for a long time and I feel I got a lot out of the class.

 

[FishDiver]

I took Rescue over the summer sans my HOG gear. The instructor insisted that it was a RECREATIONAL Rescue class. I ended up doing the class in my tropical wetsuit, regs, and BCD. Not a reasonable scenario for California diving, but I passed the class and learned the basics.

 

[pacificgal]

My instructor asked if I was going to use a BCD for the class, I considered it, but decided against it because it's not the diving I'm doing now. I wanted to be as prepared for an emergency as I could, and was lucky to have my teammate Matt taking rescue with me. Actually, 3 of the 5students were in bp/w, yes, it's a PITA to remove in an emergency, but that wouldn't dissuade me from using it.

 

[mikemill]

In an emergency you don't remove the bp/w, you cut it off

I can't remember who it was but there is a SB poster who answered the question of "when do I know to cut it?" with "Start cutting, if I stop you then it isn't an emergency" or something like that.

 

[vladimir]

I have never needed my snorkel on a dive, but I have never missed an article of gear as much as I missed that snorkel in Cocos. We cut a dive short to go to a massive baitball teeming with predators and prey--hundreds of sharks of different species, yellowfin tuna, dolphins, diving birds, etc. Truly amazing. The divemaster had us slide into the water on the fringe of this mayhem with no tanks-just masks and snorkels. I, of course, had a collapsible snorkel...somewhere. I usually clip it to my bc--nope. Under my seat on the panga? No. Pocket? No. Wherever it was supposed to be, it wasn't. So I spent the next half-hour surrounded by silky sharks eying me as if I were dessert and having to surface every minute or so to breathe. It was the best half-hour I have ever spent in the water. The only thing that could have improved it was a snorkel. So, whether you wear or not, be sure to bring it.

 

[aquaregia]

The only part of ditching my BP/W I ever had trouble with was getting the buckle through the crotch strap. My crotch loops are, for whatever reason, much smaller than those my friends have. None of my RQ buddies have had any trouble getting my rig off. Watch me discover in Fundies that it was easy because I had it adjusted all wrong

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I don't see what the big deal is about snorkels. You'd think by reading some posts that snorkels are the anti christ or something.
I use a straight very simple J snorkel. I find it a very valuable piece of equipment for surface swimming face down over kelp beds keeping my tank valve from getting caught up in kelp.
I suppose if you use a long hose and have a five or seven footer wrapped around your neck that could create problems with deployment, but I use a regular octo length hose under my arm so there isn't anything around my neck. I haven't had to share air going single file out of a cave or a wreck around here in years so I figure a slightly shorter length hose will work just fine.

 

[House Gecko]

I want to congratulate Pacificgal and the others who completed their Rescue Diver class last week. I am certain you learned things that will benefit you for the rest of you life in and out of the water.

I personally got so much value out of my class. I recommend it for all divers. Most of my buddys have taken the class and I dive with them happily knowing that they share an elevated level of situational perception. I recently dove with a buddy who had less scuba education and found my self constantly aware of small safety oversites on their part. I guess I corrected and shared to much knowledge because I was told by my buddy "Don't worry about my diving, I can take care of myself." To which I thought "But can you take care of me if I need help." To their benefit a few days later the told me they were saving money to take the Rescue Class.

Did the thought of ditching your weights cross your mind? If not it should have. That would have allowed you to float much higher in the water.

Also were you carrying a SMB? Everyone who dives around here should carry one, and a whistle. I also carry a signal mirror, and a Dive-Alert in my pocket. (Dive-Alert doesn't work if there is no air in the tank so a regular whistle is carried, and the regular whistle isn't even close to a quarter as loud.) Lights are a given and I carry two at all times.

Peter we found a buoy shortly after surfacing and used it to determine the direction of the current. Once we knew the current was headed back towards the beach our anxiety subsided. From that point on it was just a long slow steady swim with a few rest stops. Never felt the need to drop the weights in our situation but had we truly been stuck out there it would have been a very good idea.

At the time I did not own a SMB but I do carry one now. I always have a back up flashlight, and I am going to look into getting a signal mirror. It was very lonely out there, I did not get the sense anyone was around to see a SMB.

On our drive home we spent the time analyzing the incident. We determined it was due to both of us being new to compus navigation. We both doubted our own correct readings and when we got turned around we blindly followed the other thinking that the other knew better. We traveled 180 degrees off course as a result. A lesson learned the hard way.