Should I wear a snorkel or not

[BoltSnap]

I guess we should all just come to you for proper training and our Snorkel Diver card and all will be right with the world.

Sure, you will also learn other skills and gain more knowledge in addition to snorkeling skills. It will be worth your time and money (I am very expensive fyi).

Obviously none of the other TENS OF THOUSANDS of scuba instructors are teaching us properly.

The ones that run two or three day courses with only few hours in the pool are for sure and there are thousands and thousands of them. If you took a course with these folks, you should run and not walk to take a remedial course with somebody who will teach you proper skin diving skills in addition to scuba diving skills. There are thousands of us who strive to do a a better job in teaching diving and exceeding their respective agency's standards, I do and I got commendations from my agency.

Is it really that hard to grasp that MANY of us have chosen to ditch a piece of nonessential equipment vs. "practicing" and "learning" how to "properly" work around said nonessential equipment?

For MANY of us that have experience and were taught how to dive and used equipment properly and have spent a lot of time practicing and perfecting their own skills and their students' skills, it does matter and it is an essential equipment. If you, or anyone else, that chooses to be lazy and blame the equipment for their lack of proper and adequate training and skill level, then that is your choice just don't blame the equipment and preach erroneous information for the impressionable and uninitiated new divers in this "New Divers and Those Considering Diving" forum.

I couldn't care less if you want to dive with a snorkel. Dive with two for redundancy even. Good for you. I have no issues with that nor will I judge you for it. But to argue that most of us who ditched our snorkels did so because we never "learned" how to properly use one or we just haven't "practiced" long enough is just silly.

It is obvious that you don't care because you don't know what you don't know. You aren't an instructor, I am and it is my obligation to point out bad advice based on incorrect information and lack of knowledge. It is an advice and it is for free, take or leave yourself but my concern is the new divers in this forum who don't know any better.

 

[BoltSnap]

I never said I had problems with it. I have issues with it. Specifically, the increased risk of snagging my hose on it when I'm deploying my reg to an OOG buddy. In a situation like that, I prefer to minimize the risk of any screw-up as much as practically possible.

I see the great value in having a snorkel on when I am doing recreational diving and I practice deploying my SS on the longer hose with snorkel on the mask in addition to other skills to keep my skill level up and ready for emergencies or trouble. If you choose not to do it or can't or don't know how, that is your choice. I even teach clearing the mask without using hands and other skills that most instructor don't teach in recreational diving but I do teach it and I make sure that my students know how to avoid issues and ready to deal with issues without them getting excited or turning issues into problems.

 

[Storker]

I see the great value in having a snorkel on when I am doing recreational diving and I practice deploying my SS on the longer hose with snorkel on the mask in addition to other skills to keep my skill level up and ready for emergencies or trouble. If you choose not to do it or can't or don't know how, that is your choice. I even teach clearing the mask without using hands and other skills that most instructor don't teach in recreational diving but I do teach it and I make sure that my students know how to avoid issues and ready to deal with issues without them getting excited or turning issues into problems.

Thank you for - again - not answering my direct question to you.

 

[BoltSnap]

Thank you for - again - not answering my direct question to you.

I am doing my best and to the best of my knowledge while avoiding judgemental answers and feeding the troll questions.

 

[BoltSnap]

I walked through the door about an hour ago back from a great afternoon dive. I did the long hose OOA SS deployment with snorkel on my mask strap few times thinking of you all. It feels great to have a high skill level that comes with practice and perfecting the technique. You guys should try it every now and then. We had almost mirror like sea with surface air temperature that almost hit 30C, very unseasonable weather this weekend here.

I got to go and eat and then unload the equipment from the truck (the worse part about diving, unloading and taking care of the equipment at the end of the dive day).

Love, hugs and kisses to you all wishing you a happy and safe weekend with great diving!!

 

[NorCalDM]

We are still on this pissing contest over a snorkel it's a personal choice wear one or not. I'm sure the OP has long since checked out.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

For MANY of us that have experience and were taught how to dive and used equipment properly and have spent a lot of time practicing and perfecting their own skills and their students' skills, it does matter and it is an essential equipment. If you, or anyone else, that chooses to be lazy and blame the equipment for their lack of proper and adequate training and skill level, then that is your choice just don't blame the equipment and preach erroneous information for the impressionable and uninitiated new divers in this "New Divers and Those Considering Diving" forum.

It is obvious that you don't care because you don't know what you don't know. You aren't an instructor, I am and it is my obligation to point out bad advice based on incorrect information and lack of knowledge. It is an advice and it is for free, take or leave yourself but my concern is the new divers in this forum who don't know any better.

"I'm an instructor, you aren't". That's awesome. I've always loved that argument. It really bolsters your case.

A snorkel ... essential equipment ... for scuba diving??? Really??? But you're the "expert" so it must be so.

 

[TMHeimer]

We are still on this pissing contest over a snorkel it's a personal choice wear one or not. I'm sure the OP has long since checked out.

Yeah I know. But that's Scubaboard and we're all in a pandemic too.
Don't know where this fits in, but I've thought that knowing how to snorkel properly (blast-clearing, diving down & back up, etc.) should almost be a pre-requisite for taking OW course. Simply because it addresses airway issues. At the very least it should be taught in the OW course at the beginning of the course. I have described my reasons for rarely even carrying my foldable snorkel due to the type of diving I do (as have others). Instruction for using it properly while snorkeling AND on scuba is IMO, important. Then you decide if wearing/having one with you is right for you.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

We are still on this pissing contest over a snorkel it's a personal choice wear one or not. I'm sure the OP has long since checked out.

This is one of my favorite topics! Watching these "instructors" argue that snorkels are essential for scuba and that the rest of us just never had instructors as capable as they are to teach us how to manage said snorkel. It's always worth a laugh.

I 100% agree with you @NorCalDM. Wear one or not. I don't care. But to claim they're essential and that our training is somehow inferior because we never learned to manage one correctly? That one never ceases to amaze me.

 

[Dody]

Quick aside to answer your question: I currently have my recreational single reg set configured for left side octo and is recommended that way by some shops. It's more common to have both regs off the same (right) side.

If you think about where the hoses would go during an actual donation situation, the left side routing is better for donating because it:
- encourages right-side-up position of the regulator, so could be helpful if panicked diver grabs the octo and puts it in their mouth without thinking and gets a bunch of water
- allows a direct path to the octo when facing the OOG diver compared to the right side where the hose comes in between the two divers and turns 180 degrees into the octo, and can put sideways pressure on it
- allows the maximum length of the hose to be used if the OOG diver is swimming on the left

Now the downside - if the left side octo is good for donating it's not as nice if you're the one having to use it. If the OOG diver grabs your primary or you choose to donate it, then you have to use the octo and the hose routing won't be as comfortable as the right side octo.

But if you're a primary donate sort of person, maybe you should really be thinking long hose anyway for the additional benefits and you can participate in a different debate.

SSI advises to donate the main reg rather than the octo to the buddy. Don’t exactly remember why but it made sense when it was explained to me.
Anyway, I would say that when you have specialists having different opinions that all have pros and cons, just choose the one you are more comfortable with and trained to. That’s why I have my reg and octo on the right side, that I purchased the same BCD, wetsuit, boots, reg, octo that I used during training (the instructor did not influence me apart from the Aqualung brand. I made my own research). When I am more experienced, I will have all the time to change equipment and setup.