Snorkel in mouth on surface??

[AaronR103]

On a recent dive trip to the Keys we hired a guide to show us the dive sites and take care of navigation as we were all fairly new divers.

I was usually the first one ready and would enter the water right after the guide. For the first few dives she had me stay on the surface and wait for everyone else to enter.

So while I waited I figured I would conserve air and switch to my snorkel. The guide insisted I put the regulator in my mouth.

Whats up with that? I guess I should have asked her but.....

The seas were very calm so I was confused.

Thanks for any insight

I've run into this problem in florida too when I've been with students. I asked a boat captain about it, and he said the sometimes DMs will try to insist on the reg in the mouth over the snorkle so that divers (particularly new divers) will breathe their air at the surface and thus have a shorter dive making for a shorter day for the DMs. It's your air, you can breathe the snorkle if you like, perfectly within most agency standards. Only time you might not want to is if the seas are rough. Or you can do what most of us do and just leave it in your dive bag.

A

 

[DennisW]

As was stated in the first post, the seas were calm. A snorkel was approriate to use while waiting on the surface. Otherwise, I would have said, OK, I'll meet you on the bottom.

Other than that, I would have said what Catherine said, no thank you. I hardly ever use a snorkle any more, but once in a while it is appropriate and a nice piece of equipment to have and to use.

 

[RICHinNC]

You can always put your reg in your mouth and breath out the side of your mouth.....that is if you want to keep everyone happy.

 

[Guba]

This could be the start of a brand new thread and poll. "How many of us actually use a snorkel?"
Personally, I do. Some of my dives require a little longer surface swim. I prefer to swim face down because I believe it maintains better trim and, less drag and, therefore, less effort and air. I would much rather use the air at depth than on the surface any day. I know many find snorkels to be pesky, but I've never found mine to be that much trouble. To each his own...make up your own mind.
By the way, I personally believe the DM in question should have allowed his certified client to do exactly that...make his OWN decision. If it were a student, that's another matter.

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

This could be the start of a brand new thread and poll. "How many of us actually use a snorkel?"

Oh man... Not this again! LOL!

the DM in question should have allowed his certified client to do exactly that...make his OWN decision. If it were a student, that's another matter.

Agreed.

 

[landlocked]

I hardly ever use a snorkle any more......

I use my snorkel all the time... when I go snorkeling. Not part of my dive gear though.

 

[H2Andy]

i must revive this old post:

A reading from the Book of Scuba Gear, Chapter 4, Verses 16 to 21:


Then did he raise on high the Sacred Snorkel of Doom, saying, "Bless this, O Lord,
that with it thou mayst slay those who dare use it, in thy mercy."

And the people did rejoice and did feast upon the lambs and toads and tree-sloths and fruit-bats and orangutans and breakfast cereals.

Now did the Lord say, "First thou affixeth the snorkel-keeper to the mask. The snorkel-keeper shall have two openings at either end. Two shall be the number of the openings and the number of the openings shall be two.

Three openings are an abomination. Neither shalt one opening suffice, excepting
that thou then proceedeth to make a second opening by hand. Five openings is right
out.

Once the snorkel has been placed through the two openings, two being the
number of the openings, then hand the mask with the Sacred Snorkel of Doom affixed thereunto to thine foe, who, being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it.

So sayeth the Lord.

(plagiarized)

 

[Scuba_Steve]

Won't touch the snorkel thing, but the reasons why the DM did what he did seems pretty straight forward to me.

It's all about accident prevention. I think some of you guys should put yourself in his shoes for a moment.

He probably sees some seriously F'd up divers on a daily basis. When you first hit his boat, to him, you're just that, until you do a few dives with the guy. If he's paying attention at all, which he probably is, he'll sort out who's who in his group of divers.

Meaning, who's the divers most apt to continue to attempt suicide every dive, and who are those that can actually dive without being lead around by the yoke-screw all dive.

To those that have proven themselves worthy, I'd bet after a couple days they wouldn't bother you at all.

That's been our experience anyway.

Regards

 

[Cacia]

I don't carry a snorkel, but I have had some very experienced divers tell me it is your most important peice of safety gear. I still hear their words echoing in my ears. They don't wear BC's or wetsuits, so I think they view it as survival gear. I think if you are doing a shore dive, you need one.
Divemasters are looking out for the group as a whole, you are looking out for you, and sometimes these priorites are the same and sometimes they are different. New divers can suck too much air waiting around in the water and getting down the line and maybe the poster rightfully realized that running low was a realistic concern for himself and was developing prudent and rudimentary gas management skills!

 

[bisonduquebec]

Breathing from a snorkel before diving is not a good practice. The reason is simple, if you are not breathing correctly (long deep breath), and do short breathing, you end up breathing some prct of the same air again and again, lowering your oxygen level. When snorkeling, there is usually no issues but when you go under, you could black-out. Very rare but the potential of a problem still exists.

Also, and this is the more frequent problem, beginers tends to forget that they are using a snorkel and start diving with the snorkel in the mouth instead of the regulator (of course, this never happens to more experience divers - hum!).

Sea water is not much fun to get in your lungs I guess the DM didn't want to take any chances.