I find this incredibly hard to believe. Not saying you are wrong. You were there and we weren't. But I can't begin to imagine a scuba diving scenario where not having a snorkel would result in a fatality. I too would love to hear more.
Why would you find it incredibly hard to believe? My girlfriend and I surfaced from a dive in the Gulf off of Destin, Florida in about 1975. A major squall had moved in and the boat was nowhere to be found. Swells were probably around fifteen feet or so, maybe more, The rain was coming down sideways and the lightning was continuous. It wasn't really a big deal as far as storms go and would blow over soon. Then the boat would come for us. We weren't to worried. It's Florida. Storms happen. A Squall would blow itself out pretty quick.
First, we just floated on our backs and watched the light show. lightning takes on a whole new perspective from that position. We were still on canned air so it was no big deal. We ran out after a while and had to resort to our snorkels. We were using Horse Collar BC's so we were floating easy and comfortably on our backs but that didn't work with snorkels. The wave tops were blowing off and we were getting more water than air. We ended up partially deflating our BC's and hovering upright right at the surface so the tops of our heads and snorkels stuck up out of the water. We just held hands and didn't tie off because the water wasn't that turbulent.
After an hour or so, the Squall was softening and we heard the boat horn so I popped a finger flare and we got aboard the boat. We were wet, out of air and tired but otherwise fine. The dive club was run by military guys out of the Hurlburt SpecfOps Base and they insisted we do a debrief on the way back to shore. (Just to see what we did right and wrong and how we can do better)
The boat Captain admitted that he should have sounded the emergency alarm and called us back up to the boat before the Squall got so bad but it was a "sneaker". We all discussed some type of signalling devices besides the flares we stole from the Air Force Weenies. Maybe some kind of flag on a pole that we could wave around? (Did we invent the Signal Sausage???) Everybody agreed, my girlfriend and I the most, that our snorkels had made the difference between a disaster and good adventure. (After the fact!)
If you're asking me if we would have drowned without our snorkels, then I'll ask you if you didn't have a flat tire because you had your spare tire. I really don't know! However, between the constant wind, the broken topped and large swells and the heavy rain, I think there's a good chance that one or both of us would not have made it. In that type of situation, a little bit of water and you might start coughing and then you start flailing and then you drown.
If you don't want to bother with a snorkel, that's fine. I really don't care. I'm not trying to convince you to carry one. What I don't understand, is why others try to convince people to NOT carry one! I can certainly understand there are times when you don't want it flopping around but why dog on others because they want to carry one? It's like a spare tire or a first aid kit or a reserve parachute. Maybe it's bothersome, in the way or uncomfortable. Personally, I feel more at ease knowing my spare tire is pumped up, my reserve chute is on my belly where it belongs and my snorkel is either on my head or in my knife straps where it belongs.
