Why dont many SCUBA divers use a snorkel?

[Mopar]

I keep my snorkel in the bottom of my closet were it belongs.

 

[Guy Alcala]

I virtually never use a snorkel while scubadiving. There are a couple of occasions when they're useful, and you've mentioned them: wanting to swim on your face or in big waves. Personally, I often have long surface swims weaving through thick kelp, and a snorkel is just one more thing to get tangled. I'm either on my back, or face down and raising my head/rolling to the side to breathe when I need to. It uses a bit more energy but it's not a big deal, at least not at the start of a dive. As for staying on course while swimming on your back, that's what your compass and/or line-ups are for. If the boat bears 060, then you keep 240 as your back course.

As others have mentioned, if you're using a long hose a snorkel makes it difficult to donate. In addition, the drag of the snorkel can cause your mask to leak, especially if you're fighting current/surge, a frequent occurrence for me. And it may also provide just enough extra leverage in breaking surf to rip your mask and snorkel off your face, leaving you with nothing but the snorkel mouthpiece gripped firmly between your teeth (BTDT).

The two times I really felt like I could have used a snorkel were in biggish swells with blowing spume; I did swallow a bit of water on those occasions, when I took a breath at the wrong moment. I wouldn't mind carrying a folding snorkel in a pocket, if I ever find one that is as good at being a snorkel as it is at folding, and that can be quickly attached/detached while wearing thick gloves. The ones I've tried have been good at folding/rolling and useless at being a snorkel, but I have hopes that the Oceanic may actually be worth carrying along. I need to try one someday, or find some reviews. Until I a find a useful one, I'll continue to leave the snorkel for freediving.

Guy

 

[Sas]

Well it is personal preference. I just don't like snorkels so I don't wear one. In response to some of the reasons why you have yours, I've listed why I don't have mine

It allows me to much easier swim face down in the water, it allows the natural bouyancy of the water to support my head in the water instead of my trying to hold my head out of the water to breath.

I keep my reg in my mouth if I want to swim face down in the water. I just never am the one to end a dive due to air, so I have plenty to spare in situations like this.

It allows me to conserve air while swimming off a beach dive site to an offshore decent point. I can swim a bit of the traverse on the surface, get to deeper water then decend instead of decending immediately near the shore.

I swim on my back (which I prefer) or if needed, face down with my reg or face down turning to the side to breath now and then if for some strange reason I want to conserve air (I might do it when solo diving, that's about it, but otherwise I always have plenty of air left over when buddy diving, well other than with one buddy but we only really dive caves together and definitely don't need a snorkel then...)

I use it when waiting for my buddy(s) after jumping in from a dive boat... I simply put the snorkel in the mouth.. and patiently wait.

I generally do not have anything in my mouth in such situations, even in rough seas.

For those rare times when diving from dive boats and at the end of the dive while waiting to get picked up by a "live boat"... when the seas are choppy..

Nearly all my diving is done off a live boat. I think the longest I have waited for pick up is thirty minutes (that's rare though usually it is 1-10mins). It was rough and I either had my reg in (35bar/500psi lasts an awful long time on the surface) or timed my breathing with the waves (easy). It gets kind of boring so I'd want to speak to my buddy now and then.

Do they even teach snorkel use and skills any more in basic scuba courses?

Not in my course.

Anyway, I'm not trying to be a smarty pants either, just give my reasons why I don't like one

 

[jim2386]

I dive a 7' long hose always whether single tank or doubles, reef dive or cavern...snorkels make deploying a long hose in an OOA emergency more difficult. To each their own though

-Jim

 

[DennisS]

I enjoy the comments from the ones who say something like, I haven't worn it since the day I finished my open water class.

 

[TMHeimer]

I agree with the OP, with the exceptions mentioned-kelp, cave, etc. You should never wind up OOA, but if it did happen, surface swimming in chop with a snorkel would be much easier.

 

[seaducer]

I used to wear one all the time, probably because I was told I was supposed to in class. Sometimes I used it, many times I didn't. I started doing a particular shore dive with a sometimes rough surf entry, and found the snorkel would pull on my mask strap in the surge so much that it was threatening to remove my mask, so I started removing it for those dives.

I found I didn't miss it at all. In fact, in some cases it may even be better to not have it. In rough conditions I find it better to have a regulator in as opposed to a snorkel, if a wave washes over me the regulator works all the way down, not just a few inches.

I still have my snorkel, and I still use it, just not for diving. But if you like to bring yours, thats ok too.

 

[vjanelle]

I've worn a snorkel once, and that was to do my 800m swim for the DM tests.

 

[aquaregia]

I wear my snorkel because I'm still a new enough diver that I think I might come across a situation in which I might need it. However, I can't remember the last time I used it.

The snorkel gets tangled in kelp pretty much all the time, and I hate the way it jerks my head around (away from my reg hose). I prefer to swim on my back or sides because I'm kind of a chatty guy. When I have to roll onto my front it's because I'm either ducking under or crawling over kelp, neither of which are really snorkel situations. Additionally, the visibility here makes swimming on my face fairly boring.

 

[japan-diver]

As an instructor I still teach snorkel skills as knowing how to use one and when is important. In my own diving I rarely use or need one. I swim long distances on my back its easier and I can chat with my buddy on the way. While waiting even in rough water I find it easier to breath without a snorkel than with one. In high current they tend to be a nuisance as they bounce around on the side of your face.

Although one came in handy between dives yesterday when the mantas where circling the boat on the surface interval.