[FishFood]

Originally Posted by Firefyter

No it's not. It's a convenience item. Pure and simple. I don't care whether you wear one or not, but don't act like it's life and death.

Odd coming from someone who has devoted their life to public safety. Come back after you find yourself in trouble on the surface and can barley keep your head above the water. Come back then and tell me "it's not a safety item". No one ever wants to deal with the small inconvenience of a snorkel untill they find out first hand WHY they need one.

Here are some examples:

I was on a boat dive in the gulf. Seas where border line "Small Craft Advisory". My dive buddy had become extreme sea sick after getting in the water. I jumped in to help him get to the guide line. He was very disoriented and we did a bit of struggling in the rough seas. We were both breahting heavily. He was sucking down his air, but I was using my snorkel.

Sure, you can say "You could have used your air". Yes, however what if this had happened on the way back to the boat? My dive buddy is struggling and I run out of air because I didnt plan on getting into trouble ON THE SURFACE.


Here's another example, my dive buddy does a crappy job watching his air and we end up buddy breathing back to the surface. We are both out of air by the time we get to the boat. Seas are 5 feet and we are trying to get on the ladder. The snorkel not only made is much easier to get back on the boat, but made it much easier to keep calm on the surface.

I could go on and on.

Sure, if sea are flat, leave it on the boat. But if they're no, it's needed.

Personally, I dont care wether you where one or not either, as you have a good amount of diving experience and you can make your own choices. However, for the large quantity of new divers on this board reading all these snorkel bashing posts, their needs to be anothter side to the story. A new diver is more likely panic in rough conditions on the surface. A snorkel will help, period.