Why breathe from a long hose?

[pacificgal]

Yes, I found it makes for a more enjoyable dive.
Bummed I just spent $63 on a mask that only worked great the first weekend I used it. Oh...I coud sell that, huh?
Maybe it will fit again some other time...Jeez, that's what I have been saying about those acid washed jeans from 1980....

 

[Gombessa]

Bummed I just spent $63 on a mask that only worked great the first weekend I used it.

A mask is one of those things that you simply need to have work. I've got a hard-to-fit face, and in the short period of time I've been diving, I've already gone through 4 masks, of which the first three I believed fit well at the shop, only to find they leaked a bit when I was in full gear at depth. Sigh. I just take it as 1) a learning experience and 2) one of those hidden costs of diving

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

Snorkels are not necessarily necessary. I haven't dived with one in years, but I have a boat,
and rarely do long surface swims (I do the Barge and the Met Fields from the beach, each once
a year. I swim on my back to facilitate navigation.) I haven't missed the snorkel a bit. I do
keep one on the boat, just in case I get a chance to jump in with some interesting critter.

Don't get me wrong, if you want to dive with a snorkel, your choice.

 

[ae3753]

Yes, I found it makes for a more enjoyable dive.
Bummed I just spent $63 on a mask that only worked great the first weekend I used it. Oh...I coud sell that, huh?

You might want to try your new mask without the snorkel.

If it worked great one weekend, it could just be positioning or snorkel interference that made it leak on subsequent dives.

 

[Hinalo]

Could it be that your mask skirt overlapped your hood a bit somewhere? This sometimes is the culprit when a mask suddenly starts leaking for no good reason.

 

[pacificgal]

I'll try the no snorkle thing with the mask, I'm pretty sure it wasn't stuck in the hood as I darn near removed my hood while diving to try to ensure nothing was trapping it. Snorkle I usually just use to get around kelp and to see how bad my mask is going to leak this time, lol.
I guess you get everything dialed in the more you dive, and the more time I'm not spending trying to clear my mask the more time I can spend working on other techniques and skills.
The salt water makes my eyes all red, too, want to try to avoid any more of that.
This is a good thread, hate to hijack it with my mask/snorkle issue

 

[Brewski]

This is a good thread, hate to hijack it with my mask/snorkle issue

We needed a change of pace, the original topic was being beat to death anyway.

 

[pacificgal]

Happy belated birthday, Brewski! If I meet you I'll buy you a beer.

 

[Brewski]

Thanks Gal.
your still on time not midnight yet.

 

[pacificgal]

Nice. Hasn't your birthday thread been going on a couple days?