Safety sausage as a snorkle vest?

[Gary D.]

Sure, why not. We use the landing gear on a plane to get lift to get rid of the wing weight. JUST KIDDING..

Get a vest and wear it under your clothing if weight and volume are that tight. Use the sausage to impress the ladies and the vest to help save your bacon.

Gary D.

 

[boulderjohn]

BTW- This is really a moot point... I mean has anyone actually ever seen a lifeguard on a Caribbean beach?

Sadly so.

I am the only diver in my family, and when we go on vacations, I have to divide my time between diving and other activities. In doing so, I have run into several snorkel-vest-required situations.

A number of years ago we went on an ATV tour of the northeast (otherwise inaccessible) shore of Cozumel. It was a pretty lame trip that included snorkeling on a decent site, with snorkel vests required. My family and I really ticked off the guides by leaving ours deflated so that we could skin dive to the bottom and actually see something. Of course, we started a trend with everyone else on the trip doing the same thing and fully enraging the guides. "Hey! No having fun on this trip!" they fairly screamed.

My wife and I also once stayed at a resort not far from Puerto Aventuras, on the Yucatan. It had an open cenote on the grounds that provided interesting snorkeling. Once again, vests were required. Once again, we swam with them deflated so we could dive. This time, the officials pretended they did not see us so that we could enjoy ourselves undisturbed without givng them a heart attack.

In each case when I have seen this, the vests were provided free of charge, so there was no need to bring one with you when you traveled.

 

[JMcD]

Well, if you are taking diving gear with you anway... if you don't use a BP/W, but use a standard jacket style BC, you can take off clips, weight pouches, tank strap if removeable, items out of pockets, etc and use it as a snorkeling vest.

While perhaps not quite a good as a snorkelling vest, it is much better than a number of other alternatives:
It is designed (in part) to do what you are asking it to do - hold you safely in the water and float you when necessary,
deflated you can dive down with it easily, unlike a noodle
you wear it, so it isn't goin go slip away from you and have you chasing it
I don't see that it would distract a lifeguard (should one exist)

my $0.02