Snorkel in mouth on surface??

[Cacia]

yes, that must be it. These old timers know what they are doing and since they dive almost everyday after work, and have been doing this since they grew up here, I have to think they are correct. Also, when we dive on their boat, there is no one on board and this makes me a bit nervous since I am used to the captains babysitting me, following the bubbles, the marker etc. I always know that they will know which way I went due to the current, conditions, etc. It is a whole different feeling with no one on the boat....I may actually start carrying a snorkel. I remember Lynne said she has hers on the webbing with intertube rubber.
I am a weight belt fan but my BF likes integrated. I think people with no hips have an issue---there is no place for the belt to rest really. I don't like integrated because the weight is able to shift and I just don't like that lack of precision in my trim when trying to take a picture.

 

[DandyDon]

Dive boat left you at sea. You can see shore but it is several miles away. Would you 1-Wait to be missed and hope for rescue, 2- swim for shore dragging all the scuba gear, 3- ditch the scuba and swim having to keep your face above water to breathe or 4 ditch the gear and swim with a snorkel. I'll pick 4 everytime. A lot of divers don't see the value of a snorkel but get in the situation where you have to rescue yourself with a long swim and I'll bet you will wish you have one.

Good post. And I can think of other possibilities.

I carry a fold-up in my BC pocket, and Oceanic makes a great velcro gadget for popping it on without removing my mask: Here

 

[spectrum]

I think people with no hips have an issue---there is no place for the belt to rest really. I don't like integrated because the weight is able to shift and I just don't like that lack of precision in my trim when trying to take a picture.

Those whose hips won't safely engage a belt can always use a weight harness.

The diver using soley or largely integrated weight had better be on top of their game if they ever need to get out of their rig at depth.



Pete

 

[Courtneyf82]

Well Im going to be a target and say I like my snorkel because I can surface swim face down looking at all the stuff and not use ANY of the air I use underwater. My buddy is a little guy so I try to conserve the gas as much as possible because he always uses much less. Luck o' the little people I guess

 

[H2Andy]

Well Im going to be a target and say I like my snorkel because I can surface swim face down looking at all the stuff and not use ANY of the air I use underwater.

that's a very viable option if the dive site lends itself to it.

unfortunatley, most places i dive there ain't much to see until you get down
at least 40 to 50 feet.

 

[xfive4x]

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 would be confused as well. I always go to the snorkel when at the surface. I could see if it were real rough, but with calm seas I have no idea what that was all about.

 

[xfive4x]

If more dive classes took the slin-diving phase seriously new divers would appreciate the snorkel as a valuable tool. In my bizarre opinion divers should make a solid open water 1 hour or more skin dive before getting into a BC.

I agree that it is inapropriate for some dives.

Pete

It sure helped me. I have freedived and snorkled since I was a little kid and have just now gotten into SCUBA diving. It has made me much more comfortable in the water and with my snorkel.

 

[jpcpat]

The DM probably should have suggested rather than ordered. You won't use any air to speak of. Best of all would be to explain what he wanted and why before you got in the water, and yes you could have asked why. Dive how you feel comfortable.

I keep a folding snorkle in my BC pocket. I can get it if I need it, and in the meantime it's not flopping around pulling my mask off and pretending to be my BC inflator

 

[Xman]

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)

You just can't beat Monty Python (or close approximations thereof)

 

[Xman]

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.

If the diver can't use a snorkel properly they have no business diving. If I realistically thought that was a problem as a DM I would not be taking the diver down until we had gone over a few things in a confined water type environment.
Really, give people a bit more credit...blackout issues happen when surfacing after breath hold dives, not switching to a regulator and starting a dive.