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> Ok, guys thanks for all the input. I agree with most of you - the > snorkel has no place in SERIOUS diving. I guess it depends on how you define "serious". I never carry a snorkel if there is surface support, and I seldom make what I would consider a "serious" dive without surface support. However, on the few occassions when nobody is in the boat, I generally carry a snorkel in the event the boat breaks loose. On such occassions (very rare), I have usually ditched my gear and gone for the boat. I can make the best progress chasing down the boat if I can swim face down without having to periodically rotate my head up for a breath, so a snorkel is worth bringing along. There are also occassions (also rare) when I'll do a "serious" dive from shore. In those cases, I always have a snorkel because it makes it easier to get through large surf (both coming and going), and to find the spot that I want to drop down on. > getting comfortable in any position. Also, I've actually gotten out > of the harness and laid right on top of the wings/tanks. This > position is similiar to using a seat cusion type life preserver. > This sets me high up out of the water and I feel I can move faster this way if > I need to do any surface swims. At some places, like Christmas Island and Rarotonga, we routinely make deep decompression dives from shore, and these often involve long (1/4 mile) surface swims to get to the edge of the drop. Most of the time, we navigate on the surface by following the reef. In those cases, I usually inflate my wings and put my rig on backwards (on my chest - very quick & easy to do with a Hawaiian Backpack) and swim out face down like that. It is BY FAR the more energy-efficient way to cover long distances on the surface. This, of course, makes a snorkel very worth-while. Sometimes, we navigate by watching line-ups on shore, in which case we swim backward on our backs. We still carry a snorkel, however, because it's useful to go through the surf that way. > have dove with him. Strangely enough, in true STROKE fashion, he > actually believes that surviving a situation like that makes him a > better diver - personally, a BETTER diver wouldn't have gotten in > that position considering the facts of the situation. But if he wasn't a "better" diver before the incident anyway (because the incident is what made him the "better" diver), then it makes sense that he got into the situation. Presumably, he is now a "better" diver and won't let it happen again. By the way, I'm talking out of the wrong end of my digestive tract here, because I missed what the situation was all about anyway. Aloha, Rich
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