Should I wear a snorkel or not

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This is an argument in favour of primary donate. If the "crazed" OOG diver is going to grab a second stage, odds are it will be the one in your mouth.
Then hopefully we can avoid that by having a conversation ahead of time as suggested above. Luckily, I’m quite new and it’s been programmed in my head to go for the octo so God willing I won’t be “crazed” and after their reg. Good to know though and I’ll be ready in case I’m on the receiving end of a diver desperate for air.

That brings me to another point touched on in another thread I also started. Prior to my first certified dive, I was dealing with the instructor who pushed in and set up my gear much to my chagrin. As I tested the octo, he commented, “Well that’s for your buddy. That’s your buddy’s problem” to imply it wasn’t necessary to test it. I disagreed then and I disagree now even more so. We have just covered another reason why it may be needed for ourselves.
 
Then hopefully we can avoid that by having a conversation ahead of time as suggested above. Luckily, I’m quite new and it’s been programmed in my head to go for the octo so God willing I won’t be “crazed” and after their reg. Good to know though and I’ll be ready in case I’m on the receiving end of a diver desperate for air.

Here's the thing: you can discuss whatever you want before the dive, but if your buddy is out of gas - there are some chances that she is close to panic, or already panicked. When in this condition, she is not going to follow any discussion that you previously did, and she is going to grab the first regulator she will see - in her mind, it's a matter of survival. If she sees your secondary octopus, she will take it, otherwise she will take the regulator you are breathing. With a long hose, this problem does not exist; long hose donation has also other advantages (which I consider to be more important), but we would go OT.

Now, how many chances are there that an out of air panicked diver will take your regulator from your mouth? I have no clue.

That brings me to another point touched on in another thread I also started. Prior to my first certified dive, I was dealing with the instructor who pushed in and set up my gear much to my chagrin. As I tested the octo, he commented, “Well that’s for your buddy. That’s your buddy’s problem” to imply it wasn’t necessary to test it. I disagreed then and I disagree now even more so. We have just covered another reason why it may be needed for ourselves.

I agree with you; always test the equipment before entering the water, it doesn't take much time, it can potentially save a life.
 
Here's the thing: you can discuss whatever you want before the dive, but if your buddy is out of gas - there are some chances that she is close to panic, or already panicked. When in this condition, she is not going to follow any discussion that you previously did, and she is going to grab the first regulator she will see - in her mind, it's a matter of survival.


Agree with that. Despite the "correct" procedure, if I'm OOA - tried taking a breath and nothing happened - there are two different responses I've thought about for myself: 1) If I have enough air in my lungs to get to my buddy or another diver nearby, and I'm calm, I'll give a signal and wait to receive whatever is offered. 2) If I don't have air in my lungs, I believe I would go into some type of survival mode - right after the immediate panic attack - and go for whatever I could grab. It it winds up being someones octo, great - if it winds up being their primary, I hope they remember buddy breathing, if that is still a thing. What I actually do is going to be dependent on how much air I have from that last breath and if I can keep my wits about me. One can say what they think they will do, but when reality sets in, it's a different story.

The only thing I really ever tell an insta-buddy before we go down is that if they are OOA, I will give them my primary, as my setup (travel BC) doesn't use a traditional octo, but rather a very short hose, opposite side of primary, that puts the alternate secondary where no one would notice it. My regular dive buddy has the same type of set up although his is not a travel BC, so we know that about each other. Although, they do happen, and there is a lot to be said about it, OOA is not a common occurrence (according to what I get from DAN reports) that causes death in scuba - maybe just fear thinking about it. That doesn't mean one shouldn't expect the unexpected and prepare as best as possible, such as checking gear and thinking about the what if situations, for a safe dive experience.

Realistically, for my type of diving (boat with DM leading dive), although I have a buddy, we don't generally go down together, stay together, and more times than not (lately), come up together - the opposite of the ideal buddy system. We generally stay within sight of and check on each other. My observation is this is true for many divers. With 5 of the last 7 ops we dove with, we ended up under the boat at the end of dives and could stay down as long as we had air. One of us will generally come up before the other in those cases (tired, cold, bored, low on air, hungry and snacks are onboard.) I'm more concerned about my computer beeping than I am of being OOA.
 
This is an argument in favour of primary donate. If the "crazed" OOG diver is going to grab a second stage, odds are it will be the one in your mouth.
I've been through the 2018 and 2019 BSAC Incident Reports. Out of the 596 reported incidents 11 reported an out-of-gas/air situation; none reported a primary take.
 
I've been through the 2018 and 2019 BSAC Incident Reports. Out of the 596 reported incidents 11 reported an out-of-gas/air situation; none reported a primary take.

11 is too low to make sense from a statistical perspective. But I agree in part with you, I am not sure of how likely is that an out of air buddy will grab the regulator I am breathing from... I dive the long hose for several other reasons (and just to avoid other flames, it's my choice, I do not judge people who dive standard octo, which is a fine choice as well).
 
11 is too low to make sense from a statistical perspective. But I agree in part with you, I am not sure of how likely is that an out of air buddy will grab the regulator I am breathing from... I dive the long hose for several other reasons (and just to avoid other flames, it's my choice, I do not judge people who dive standard octo, which is a fine choice as well).

I fully agree with you.

My point was not that anyone should dive a long hose to counter the possibility that a OOG diver will snatch your primary second stage (there are more valid reasons).

@Happyladydiver mentioned that she has a self-service approach because she expects an OOG diver to be stressed enough to just grab it and not wait for his/her buddy to donate.

As such, if you believe this is the case, better to plan for the possibility of this out-of-control and gas diver to grab your primary.
 
There are so many baked in positions on this forum, it's almost impossible to figure out what it best. I think part of the problem is that Vague questions in a hobby that has so many different specialties is not productive.

Just my 2 cents:

Should I wear a snorkel? : Yes if your snorkeling :D
Should I wear a snorkel if I am cave diving: NO
Should I wear a snorkel if I am wreck diving: Maybe but most times NO
Should I wear a Snorkel on a shallow reef dive: YES
Should I wear a Snorkel on a deep reef dive: Probably YES unless its a tour dive.

Most of my early diving days involved spearfishing and later in life it was just exploring the reefs. I would typically be trying to extend how much time I could explore the reef by heading along the reef as far as possible before turning around. Wave and current conditions were a big factor on when to turn around, but on a calm day It was very common for me to have to make a 1/2 - 1mile swim back to the boat on the surface.
A snorkel was not optional on trips like that.
 
I can only go with my experience.

As a baby OW diver & during training, snorkel was expected to be worn at all times and that is in line with "good practise".

We mostly dive here as independent pairs of divers with no DM or instructors about so our pairs tend to be self sufficient and fairly experienced (the expectation of tuition here is you WILL be autonomous divers and therefore should be able to operate as such straight out of OW). Once you gain a bit more experience, you can make decisions on your own. One of mine was that having a snorkel in place all the time is a nuisance but that having one on my person is still useful. We make a lot of dives here from shore with a decent surface swim so why not have something that allows me to see underwater on the way out and back if I want to? No point breathing down my back gas if there is a plentiful source available.

On that basis, I now have a foldable snorkel either in a pocket (if wearing a drysuit) or clipped to my BP&W with a wetsuit. It takes up almost zero space/ weight but allows me the option to switch if I want it. I can deploy it in a few seconds and stow it when I am finished using it in a few seconds.
 
Then hopefully we can avoid that by having a conversation ahead of time as suggested above. Luckily, I’m quite new and it’s been programmed in my head to go for the octo so God willing I won’t be “crazed” and after their reg. Good to know though and I’ll be ready in case I’m on the receiving end of a diver desperate for air.

That brings me to another point touched on in another thread I also started. Prior to my first certified dive, I was dealing with the instructor who pushed in and set up my gear much to my chagrin. As I tested the octo, he commented, “Well that’s for your buddy. That’s your buddy’s problem” to imply it wasn’t necessary to test it. I disagreed then and I disagree now even more so. We have just covered another reason why it may be needed for ourselves.

I was taught you test both seconds. You then test both your buddies seconds and he or she test both your seconds as part of buddy checks.

This has changed with covid, I test both seconds and verbally check that buddy has checked both theirs.
 
I never wear the snorkel in my doubles (long hose), but when diving singles, the snorkel is always in the bag, just in case I have a need for it.
Probably the best / most succinct advice possible!
 
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