How to Select a Snorkel
The Snorkel you got at the resort
On the surface choosing a snorkel can seem easy. You buy a tube and put one end in your mouth. Snorkels have been around for centuries but it recently in the late twentieth century as snorkeling and SCUBA diving because accessible to more people that they evolved into what they are today. Originally the snorkel was simply a 'J' shaped tube with a mouth piece on the short end and a simple device for securing to a mask strap.
The traditional snorkel that is used by new snorkelers is an ill fitting "J" shaped stiff tube bent at an angle meant that is uncomfortable for most people. The use of this device often turns the new participant away form the sport because it is uncomfortable and easily slips below the water surface and floods leading to an unpleasant experience.
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Snorkel Basics
Today's SCUBA snorkel – which is also appropriate for those who do not dive – is much more advanced. A good snorkel will be a curved tube that curves around the divers head so it fits closer and causes less drag. A Snorkel should also have a one way valve called a purge valve on the bottom that lets water out but not in so the snorkel it is easier to clear the water out by blowing sharply into the mouthpiece.
The mouth piece should be at a slight angle so that barrel of the snorkel can point toward the rear of the divers head and up out of the water not back and closer to the water line as it does with the rigid tube where it easy to flood. The mouth piece should be connected to the barrel with a flexible tube. The flexible section reduces mouth fatigue because it allows a better fit and it allows the mouthpiece to fall out of the way of the regulator when the snorkel is not in use.
There are three different kinds of snorkel the standard, the semi-dry and the dry snorkel. The difference is the regular is a simple tube with the purge, mouthpiece and flexible section. The semi-dry will have a device on the top to deflect water so that if you are swimming back to the boat and a wave hits you less water will go into the barrel. The dry snorkel will have a device on the top so when you do a surface dive, as long as you keep your mouth on the mouth piece it will stay substantially dry. You can select the model that suits your comfort in the water and you pocketbook. The dry snorkel will cost on average about nine dollars more than the regular model.
The barrels of some snorkels are also oval shaped instead of round and the tube is manufactured so the narrow end faces forward and produces less drag. As you see the question of how to buy a snorkel is not a simple as it might first have appeared.
