Bronze Turkey Award Number
Four: Snorkels Just Don’t Get It

Friends know I’m a big believer in dry suits. If the average water temperature I’m likely to encounter is less than 75 degrees (and especially if the air temperature is equally as cold), odds are I’m going to be in a dry suit. Given the role being cold plays in diving accidents, decompression sickness and just plain not having fun, I think we’d all be better off if more divers owned and used dry suits.

That having been said, I have never taken a dry suit to the Caribbean or Hawai’i. Why? Because doing so would be just plain silly.

Come to think of it, I have never taken a camera on a dive where I did not intend to take pictures, nor (as much as I like diving doubles) have I taken anything other than a lightweight aluminum single on a shallow reef dive. This reflects a basic principle common to all diving:

If there is no possibility you are going to need a piece of equipment on a dive, don’t take it.*

Not only does unnecessary equipment fail to solve nonexistent emergencies, its presence often causes problems that would not otherwise occur. Unnecessary equipment can increase weight, drag and the risk of entanglement. Its presence can interfere with the operation of other equipment or simply distract divers to the point where their attention is not focused where it should be.

Perhaps no piece of equipment better illustrates this principle than the lowly snorkel.

So what’s wrong with snorkels? »

* Okay, so there are exceptions to everything. I’ve seen a number of local tech divers take their doubles on shallow dives in the local lake — not because they feel they might need them, but because they want to be totally comfortable with their gear before using it on wreck or cave dives. That, I have to admit, makes sense.

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