Should I wear a snorkel or not

[The Chairman]

Since it's a wall of water coming at you,

Negative ghost rider. People barely feel a tsunami in the open ocean. It doesn't become a "wall" until it begins to lose depth in the shallows. It's often a surprise to boaters and divers when they return to shore after a tsunami, because they did not really feel it.

 

[formernuke]

I heard about one a long time ago that was felt in OW, when it hit shore it made the one that hit Japan recently look like a calm day on the beach.

 

[chillyinCanada]

A friend of mine was diving on a liveaboard out of Phuket when the tsunami hit there. They felt nothing during the dive.

 

[Waterwulf]

Where was this? 15 feet at a dive site? How can you even dive in these conditions. Usually people check the forecast and don't go out when a major storm is rolling in.

I thought I was pretty clear. Oh well. It was 1975 and the weather people were barely able to predict the sunrise, much less a summer storm aka Squall. Those conditions were not there when we arrived at the dive site. We surfaced in them. It was not a major storm. It was a Squall. The seas had calmed quite a bit when they came back for us and the rest of the day was nice. Other people even dove some more but my girlfriend and I were done for the day. The Dive Master and Boat Captain asked us many times if we were ok or needed meds or anything but we were fine. It really was no big deal....afterwards. We were cold and thirsty and otherwise fine.

 

[formernuke]

I thought I was pretty clear. Oh well. It was 1975 and the weather people were barely able to predict the sunrise, much less a summer storm aka Squall. Those conditions were not there when we arrived at the dive site. We surfaced in them. It was not a major storm. It was a Squall. The seas had calmed quite a bit when they came back for us and the rest of the day was nice. Other people even dove some more but my girlfriend and I were done for the day. The Dive Master and Boat Captain asked us many times if we were ok or needed meds or anything but we were fine. It really was no big deal....afterwards. We were cold and thirsty and otherwise fine.

Again BS. The amount of energy it takes to create those kind of waves in the open ocean with any kind of depth at all is enormous.

Shallow is different, why do you think those surfing waves look like nothing till they reach shallow water. No way you would have survived 15 foot with white caps.

As for your sailors have done it provide one example of that.

 

[L13]

I thought I was pretty clear. Oh well. It was 1975 and the weather people were barely able to predict the sunrise, much less a summer storm aka Squall. Those conditions were not there when we arrived at the dive site. We surfaced in them. It was not a major storm. It was a Squall. The seas had calmed quite a bit when they came back for us and the rest of the day was nice. Other people even dove some more but my girlfriend and I were done for the day. The Dive Master and Boat Captain asked us many times if we were ok or needed meds or anything but we were fine. It really was no big deal....afterwards. We were cold and thirsty and otherwise fine.

So, waves are well understood these days, and we can find calculators to determine the likely hood of this story. Since there was no sign of the storm when they started the dive and was at full force when they surfaced lets assume the wind was acting for 1 hour. Lets assume a 135 km/hr wind speed (about 72 knots, a localized category 1 hurricane speed). And ...

• height of waves is 1.7 meters, or about 5.5 feet, hmmm...
• no where near 15ft...

Lets assume they did a 3 hour dive, and the storm started the instant they submerged and continued for an hour after they surface. 4 hours total...

• Now we have 4.8 meter, 15.5ft waves...
• But he claims that it was calm and people were diving later that day? After 4 hours of category 1 winds? He said "it was not a major storm."

It just doesn't add up.

​

 

[berndo]

I thought I was pretty clear. Oh well. It was 1975 and the weather people were barely able to predict the sunrise, much less a summer storm aka Squall.

I think the waves might have been smaller than in your memory. It's been a while. 15 feet is crazy high, it's really hard to believe, especially when you diving conditions were fine within hours before and after.
People tend to overestimated sizes of scary stuff like sharks and waves a lot in my experience. Even 5 feet waves can feel really big when you're floating in the water and you're not used to it.
I'm not saying you're lying, the story just doesn't sound very believable.

 

[Joneill]

I thought I was pretty clear. Oh well. It was 1975 and the weather people were barely able to predict the sunrise, much less a summer storm aka Squall. Those conditions were not there when we arrived at the dive site. We surfaced in them. It was not a major storm. It was a Squall. The seas had calmed quite a bit when they came back for us and the rest of the day was nice. Other people even dove some more but my girlfriend and I were done for the day. The Dive Master and Boat Captain asked us many times if we were ok or needed meds or anything but we were fine. It really was no big deal....afterwards. We were cold and thirsty and otherwise fine.

Sorry, but a pop up squall like this will absolutey NOT generate 15 foot, long period swells as you described - so your story comes across as a bit “embellished”.

But for the OP: wear a snorkel if it makes you feel more comfortable. I don’t wear one as I find them quite annoying underwater and they can cause mask leaks - especially in strong currents.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

I jumped into the water at the Spiegel Grove one day with a medium current. One of my fins came off and while trying to retrieve it I got separated from the granny line and was unable to swim back to it even after recovering my fin.

The captain and mate saw this happen and watched me drift away. There were probably 15 divers already in the water so they had to wait to come get me. I drifted 1 mile down current. I put up my safety sausage and stuck my snorkel in my mouth and continued to drift until they recovered all their divers. Then they came and picked me up.

I was happy that I had the snorkel because I did not have to keep popping my head up and down out of the water to breathe while waiting on the boat to rescue my dumba$$.

My advice is "Take Your Snorkel" it makes life easier when drifting on the surface in current.

 

[formernuke]

I jumped into the water at the Spiegel Grove one day with a medium current. One of my fins came off and while trying to retrieve it I got separated from the granny line and was unable to swim back to it even after recovering my fin.

The captain and mate saw this happen and watched me drift away. There were probably 15 divers already in the water so they had to wait to come get me. I drifted 1 mile down current. I put up my safety sausage and stuck my snorkel in my mouth and continued to drift until they recovered all their divers. Then they came and picked me up.

I was happy that I had the snorkel because I did not have to keep popping my head up and down out of the water to breathe while waiting on the boat to rescue my dumba$$.

My advice is "Take Your Snorkel" it makes life easier when drifting on the surface in current.

Same happened to me except it was after the dive. It was a training dive so I did have a snorkel on my mask. I didn't even think about it. Just laid back and help my smb up.