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The thing that struck me was the issue with the hose potentially getting tangled in the snorkel. My SO and I always wear our snorkels on our masks. It wouldn't be a big deal for me to get one that stores in a pocket because I always surface with plenty of air, but my SO/dive buddy goes through his air a LOT more quickly than me, so he will generally use his snorkel on the surface predive while we are waiting for other divers and the DM to get into the water and set to descend if we are in a group on a led dive. Thoughts on how big of a problem this might be?
P-cod
Fair question. When I started out, I would be very proactive about switching to my snorkel whenever on the surface, to conserve every last psi. When I went long hose I got a pocket snorkel, but I regard it as safety equipment, like my signal sausage. I have never actually deployed it other than as a test/drill.
Part of the adaption is that I'm not quite the air hog I was initially. That seems to be a common experience, that SAC rate goes down with - well, experience. But let's accept that your buddy will always be behind you sac-rate-wise, and therefore will continue to want to stop breathing his reg on the surface, both pre- and post-dive.
What I've found is that I have gotten comfortable breathing at the surface without a snorkel, as long as my BC is inflated and the seas are calm. Just takes a little getting used to having your face washed over with salt water between breaths, but it's not hard. just another thing about diving that takes some getting used to.
For rougher seas or protracted unplanned wet surface intervals, that's why I still carry a pocket snorkel. My hope is I'll never actually need it. Here on SB there have been raging debates about whether even a pocket snorkel makes sense - why would you ever need it? I feel more comfortable knowing it's there.
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