Snorkel Use

[g1138]

Search up Cressi-sub and Riffe. Both make standard j-type no purge no clip snorkels. Some are soft enough to the point where you can tuck it under your mask without getting a pressure point. Really good if you're freediving.
I can personally recommend Cressi Corsica (easily foldable) and Riffe Standard J-Snorkel (traditional style). Love both of them to death, and they come in DIR colors for those color coordinated folks
At $25 they're as cheap as they come too. At least from what I've seen.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Here's a good one.
This is what I use.
Cressi Free Diving Snorkel California, All Black

 

[Nikki McAllen]

I NEVER wear a snorkel. It pulls out my hair and ruins the style. Not kidding ....

I think PADI requires this purely for liability reasons. IMO it's ridiculous to have a snorkel flapping around at all times, especially in a current. It's distracting for new divers especially. Since distraction is a major danger (just like texting while driving) it should be avoided whenever possible.

It also makes it harder to replace a mask underwater, a near-panicked diver with a snorkel tangled in the strap could go over the edge. And they look totally goofy in underwater portraits.

For scuba divers a snorkel is a piece of safety equipment, therefore it should be carried. I've got a fold-up snork for my bcd pocket along with a whistle and marker tube. Wouldn't dive anywhere without all of them.

If a person is so untrained as to not be able to retrieve a snorkel from a pocket when they need it, they shouldn't be diving.

 

[TMHeimer]

If a person is so untrained as to not be able to retrieve a snorkel from a pocket when they need it, they shouldn't be diving.

May not be a matter of being untrained. Maybe one has a 10 pound weight behind each BC pocket, restricting what can fit in there. Or, someone uses the snorkel a lot on long surface swims and just doesn't want to bother taking it on and off. Then there are those like me who WISH they had a problem with it getting in their hair...Again, just personal preference.

 

[EastEndDiver]

It's distracting for new divers especially. Since distraction is a major danger (just like texting while driving) it should be avoided whenever possible.

It also makes it harder to replace a mask underwater, a near-panicked diver with a snorkel tangled in the strap could go over the edge. And they look totally goofy in underwater portraits.


.

If they are that untrained maybe they shouldn't be diving.

Just my opinion.

 

[g1138]

I NEVER wear a snorkel. It pulls out my hair and ruins the style. Not kidding ....

I think PADI requires this purely for liability reasons. IMO it's ridiculous to have a snorkel flapping around at all times, especially in a current. It's distracting for new divers especially. Since distraction is a major danger (just like texting while driving) it should be avoided whenever possible.

It also makes it harder to replace a mask underwater, a near-panicked diver with a snorkel tangled in the strap could go over the edge. And they look totally goofy in underwater portraits.

For scuba divers a snorkel is a piece of safety equipment, therefore it should be carried. I've got a fold-up snork for my bcd pocket along with a whistle and marker tube. Wouldn't dive anywhere without all of them.

If a person is so untrained as to not be able to retrieve a snorkel from a pocket when they need it, they shouldn't be diving.

Stop using that stupid plastic clip then.
Take your foldable snorkel and slip it under your mask with a hair tie as a snorkel keeper.
Alternatively you could use a silicone snorkel keeper on your snorkel and mask and a hair tie on your hair.
Also if you slide your snorkel back further on the mask strap it'll help to keep your ends from snagging.

It all comes down to training. I've never had a problem putting a mask back on with a snorkel attached. And I'm usually doing it eyes closed or squinting one eye due to contacts.

 

[Dack]

Case for carrying a foldable snorkel and pulling it out when needed: calm seas and I ran low on air before the rest of the group. So I surfaced and I'm sitting there on the surface thinking: wish I had a snorkel so I could poke my head underwater and look at the fishes without holding my breath...

Makes the airless swim back to shore more pleasant too.

- Dack

 

[Nikki McAllen]

If they are that untrained maybe they shouldn't be diving.

Just my opinion.

Well good that I'm nowhere near a new diver, like the ones I was referring to. Snorkels wrap in mask bands, that's a fact. What other gear do people keep on active-status used solely on the surface ? Can't think of one. Like swimming with your marker buoy trailing ready when you need it. (smile)

Another poster mentioned 'full pockets' or some such. How do we manage marker buoy or the things that are supposed to go into pockets ? Better pockets, in better places. I solo-dive lots for photography with a pony bottle, required adjustment. And it's gotta be ready to deploy. That often requires making our equipment work smoothly.

Anything made of silicone rubs hair off like a chicken plucker where it contacts. Long ago went neoprene mask bands with velcro. I've tried every iteration when I was on instructor-track with PADI, the only real solution was wearing a hood. No teaching means I don't have to wear one anymore. I can also move my alternate air rig under my left arm again, finally.

 

[TMHeimer]

Some stuff CAN fit in the pockets--signal mirror, small backup light, goody bag. Other stuff can be clipped--standard whistle for one. Dive Alert is on reg. No room for snorkel in pockets and not buying a new BC.

 

[Jaydubya]

What is this thing called a surface swim?

Snorkel or no snorkel depends on the dive and I currently don't make any dives where a surface swim is expected so I don't wear one but I usually have one in my kit.

When wreck diving I never wait for my buddy at the surface and I always surface on the boat ladder. The only use for a snorkel for these dives is when forced to make a free ascent off the wreck. There are down sides to wearing one - including the possibility of losing the snorkel (I find lots of them on the bottom) thus a snorkel if carried might work best in the oh **** pocket with other lost at sea gear. Such is the nature of NC wreck diving.

There are no surface swims in the North Florida caves and I don't do surface swims in the local quarry either.