Take a snorkel for the ride?

[MikeFerrara]

ElectricZombie once bubbled...
I agree with Cyklon - Snorkel for Snorkeling...Not Diving.

Some try to argue that a snorkel is a piece of safety equiptment in case you run out of air on the surface. My solution is just to not run out of air in the first place.

Plus, the snorkel is an entalglement hazard and creates a lot of drag. When I see people try to take their BC off underwater, the snorkel usually gets caught on something. I have also seen divers who use an AirII grab the snorkel instead...not good.

If the snorkel and the air2 interfere the correct action is to get rid of the air2.

 

[aquababe]

Totally agree with Cyklon. It's ok to have one in my dive bag, but I use it only for snorkeling.

 

[Big-t-2538]

A snorkel is for snorkeling, and I take one when we go on trips somewhere's that I might want to be snorkeling. Other than that it stays with the rest of the extraneous gear in my dive trunk at home.

 

[pescador775]

I don't like most snorkels. The type that I use is the 70's era DACOR hard rubber tube with corrugated flexible 'J'. Straight tube, no gadgets. This snorkel, mounted on the left side can be used with double hose and single hose regulators. The snorkel provides a great advantage when swimming back to the boat or when treading water, waiting for one's partner to enter. However, the choice of wearing one attached to the mask or otherwise, depends on the type of dive. I've noticed that there are more 'up and down' divers who follow strings wherever they go. Also, there are a lot of back swimmers. In fact, the evolution of the BC and this swimming style has made snorkels seemingly redundant. What I don't understand is this; if divers don't trust their BC's on the bottom, and thereby by some extension of logic, consistently opine that negative buoyancy tanks are somehow dangerous, how can they trust these same BC's on the surface? It looks like these people would be the first to advocate the snorkel for safety, redundancy reasons. Not having a snorkel should make these people a little nervous, if only subconsciously.

The only time in my life that I've ever entangled a snorkel was freediving in the Med, retrieving a Spanish fisherman's gill net. Briefly, the snorkel caught a piece of the net. No big deal if you make the right moves after. Rarely have I found the flexible tube snorkel to be a problem although slightly distracting sometimes. If you want to look like Mike Nelson sans snorkel, find one of the old J types completely made from hard rubber. Make a bungee loop on your belt and wear the snorkel on your belt like a knife. Oh, I forgot, you don't like knives either.