Should I wear a snorkel or not

[Cthippo]

I use my snorkel nearly every dive.

I pretty much exclusively beach dive and there is almost always a significant surface swim before I am where I want to submerge. Since my daily diver is a steel 72 that gives me maybe 35 minutes of air, I don't want to burn that during the relatively strenuous surface swim because I would rather have it for use under the water. That said, on the swim back I will often breathe on my reg because the work of breathing is less and hey, less air is less weight to carry back to the car.

I've seen divers who can swim on their back in a BPW, but I have never figured that skill out.

 

[N2877]

I plan on keeping my snorkel on my mask for now like I did 20 ish years ago. But I’m looking ain’t I getting a folding one as well incase I get into tech diving where it would be in my way

 

[Waterwulf]

I like to snorkel too so when I do, I use the little keeper to keep it on my mask but when I dive, I take it off and stick it thru my knife straps. Then when I surface, I get it out and stick it up thru my mask strap if I need it.

 

[Celt]

No, the boat wasn't tied off to a buoy. It was anchored. The buoy was attached to the anchor line when it became clear that they were going to have to dump it. They dumped it so they could find the exact spot again. It was 1975. No GPS and radar bearings on condos on shore were iffy.

Our "dive club" boat was a converted trawler, wide and low draft and it did not like large swells. The Captain made the decision to leave the area for the safety of the passengers and boat. Per him: He notified Coast Guard Station Destin that he was doing and that he expected to retrieve us within a couple of hours but it was only about an hour. I heard him make the follow up call that he had retrieved us both and all was well.

The main dissent with my account seems to be the size of the swells. Well, I was there and you weren't. No, I didn't have a tape measure to measure them with but they were about three times my girlfriends height and she was five foot tall. I could see that when we slid up one side and down the other side. Could my perspective have been off? Sure! They could have been only twelve feet tall but they could have been taller too.

The people on the dive boat told us that the waves were approaching the height of the deck house when they decided to leave. That would have been ten feet. They waited for us as long as they could but we never heard the recall signal. (A hammer on an iron pipe dangling in the water)

As far as depth was concerned: It was about a hundred and ten feet. That's shallow enough to push any big rollers coming in up into swells on the surface. They may have been coming in from far away to arrive on the coast with the daily Squalls. The Squalls were a daily thing and normally didn't interfere with our dives but this one did.

Some people here have claimed that we would never have survived what I described. That's just stupid. People survive worse. The swells themselves are not destructive if you move with them. The waves are destructive to people but people surf bigger waves than fifteen foot for crying out loud!! My girlfriend and I had NAUI certifications but my training was taught by much more enthusiastic Instructors.

We were fine. We held hands but facing in opposite directions. We were wearing nice Horse Collar BC's so were able float without having to fight it. We were both scared but not panicked. We both had a lot of dive experience, had paid attention in training and that training was first rate. Just as important, we had confidence in the pople on the dive boat and their training. We knew what they had done as soon as we surfaced and we knew they would come back for us because we trained for it.

I stated that the swells were fifteen feet tall. Yes, they could have been only twelve feet tall but they could have been sixteen feet tall too. I could only measure them by eye. However, the people on the boat backed that up so I'm sticking with fifteen feet.

I have to admit that I get a kick out of the attempts to discredit my account of the events. "Fifteen foot swells would destroy all boats and human life". Sheesh! You need to get out more! "Yes, I know all about squalls because I live in Florida. I surface in them all of the time". Say what? Why would you willingly dive in Squalls in this day and age of weather forecasting? "A squall can absolutely not generate fifteen foot swells". Maybe not but I stated that it was summer. You know...storm season in Florida? I've been on the beach and seen monstrous breakers blasting in and not a cloud in the sky. Maybe from a storm down around Cuba someplace?

The bottom line is that i was there and you were not. I don't care if you doubt the account as I've stated it. I am very sure that our snorkels and Horse Collar BC's saved our lives but absolutely positive? How can I be? Did you NOT get a flat because your spare is in good shape? How can you know? But I'm sure enough that I will contiune to use my Horse Collar BC and snorkel. Hmmm! Maybe that's why some people doubt my account of the events? Because they doubt that they could survive with no snorkel and a BCD that actively tries to drown you?

I think people find it hard to understand what the sea can do given the right conditions and geography. I worked on an ocean going tug and we had to tow a factory ship, that had caught fire on Irelands west coast, down to Spain. We met bad weather in the Bay of Biscay and the seas were over 20 feet which blew off all her navigation lights and we thought we lost her, but no we still had her, but couldn’t haul her in til the weather settled.
Edit: sea was approximately 20 feet with large odd waves much bigger.

 

[L13]

I think people find it hard to understand what the sea can do given the right conditions and geography. I worked on an ocean going tug and we had to tow a factory ship, that had caught fire on Irelands west coast, down to Spain. We met bad weather in the Bay of Biscay and the seas were over 20 feet which blew off all her navigation lights and we thought we lost her, but no we still had her, but couldn’t haul her in til the weather settled.
Edit: sea was approximately 20 feet with large odd waves much bigger.

Were people diving an hour before, and later that day?

 

[Celt]

Were people diving an hour before, and later that day?

No but 15 foot seas are not extraordinary and no problem to a well found vessel. And absolutely survivable.

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

I've seen divers who can swim on their back in a BPW, but I have never figured that skill out.

I have Zeagle Ranger for drysuit diving and a Stiletto for tropics, Both back inflate. Both with rear trim pockets. Both with dual tank straps. The dual tank straps let me mount the tanks really low and that along with the trim weights makes it super easy to swim on my back. On Bonaire for the far south sites where the swim out can be a couple hundred yards I even remove my mask and wear cheap sunglasses till I get out to the drop-off.

On the subject of snorkels I don't use one......but in 2019 on Little Cayman I did see a woman almost drown because of her snorkel. Easy conditions, no surface waves......after splashing into perfect conditions with no current the group all signaled to descend so we all dumped our BC's followed by a full exhale to get started down while equalizing. The woman had inadvertently had her snorkel in rather than her primary 2nd. When she got to 5 or 6 ft whe went to take her first inhale and the rest was just full blown instant panic to get her back to the surface. Turned out OK but she was really shook-up and definitely took in some water and bagged the dive. The two things I noticed when talking to her later on the boat was........1) She had her snorkel rigged on the right side so much easier to confuse with her primary. 2) Her snorkel had the exact same Comfobite mouthpiece as her primary to add to the confusion.

Anyway...no snorkel for me but I do have friends that won't dive without one. To each his or her own.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I use my snorkel nearly every dive.

I pretty much exclusively beach dive and there is almost always a significant surface swim before I am where I want to submerge. Since my daily diver is a steel 72 that gives me maybe 35 minutes of air, I don't want to burn that during the relatively strenuous surface swim because I would rather have it for use under the water. That said, on the swim back I will often breathe on my reg because the work of breathing is less and hey, less air is less weight to carry back to the car.

I've seen divers who can swim on their back in a BPW, but I have never figured that skill out.

You’re probably having trouble floating and finning on your back because you might not be putting enough air into the wing? IDK?
They do it because it’s like a big raft. I don’t hang out on the surface that way because I don’t like a lot of air in my wing, it gets awkward. I dive in a lot of neoprene so I don’t really need any air in my wing at the surface even before the dive.
It doesn’t really matter if you can do that or not because snorkelling face down on the surface to your drop point is way more efficient anyway. You’re not dragging a tank and reg/hoses through the water and your frontside is “clean” especially with a BP/W.
While snorkeling you can see down and forward to check things out plus navigate through weeds or kelp. If you run into a patch you can push it aside or crawl over it. When finning on your back you can’t do that, but you CAN get all those weeds hopelessly wrapped up on your first stage and tank valve! Cool!!
Who’s laughing at who now?
On your belly, If you don’t want to pop your head up to see where you are going which is super easy, you can keep your face down and look at your compass comfortably.
I don’t wrap a hose around my neck either so the snorkel Is never in the way. I leave it on my mask so it’s always there and ready to use before and after the dive. I’ve gotten used to it and I don’t even notice it.
Long surface swims, or even shorter surface swims, save your air and use a snorkel. A divers best friend!

 

[MB NZ]

Having had a "lost at sea" experience, I wished I had a snorkel with me. A roll up snorkel in a pocket would is a good compromise. Snorkel flopping around on a mask during a dive? No.

 

[shoredivr]

I use my snorkel nearly every dive.

I pretty much exclusively beach dive and there is almost always a significant surface swim before I am where I want to submerge. Since my daily diver is a steel 72 that gives me maybe 35 minutes of air, I don't want to burn that during the relatively strenuous surface swim because I would rather have it for use under the water. That said, on the swim back I will often breathe on my reg because the work of breathing is less and hey, less air is less weight to carry back to the car.

I've seen divers who can swim on their back in a BPW, but I have never figured that skill out.

Swimming on your back in a BPW isn’t difficult.