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Old 02-04-2019, 19:11   #1
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Full Face Snorkel

Hi All, I am planning on returning to the Bahamas this fall. I am in the market for a full face snorkel to do some snorkeling and maybe a little lobster tickling. My questions is has anyone used one of these to do any lobster hunting? In the literature all seems good with snorkeling but they all seem a little vague on diving down to check things out or to do some tickling. Thanks for your input in advance.


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Old 02-04-2019, 19:55   #2
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Re: Full Face Snorkel

The full face snorkels have three problems

1. There's no way to plug your nose to clear your ears when you're free diving

2. Even if you could clear your ears, when you get down 4-5' the pressure from the mask on your face is fairly unbearable

3. The lifeguards on Oahu started keeping track of the gear the people they were rescuing were using and began flagging people with full face snorkels. Turns out that the full face snorkels don't have too large of a chamber to clear with a single breath and tend to build up CO2. The harder someone swims/breathes, the more CO2 builds up. This was causing a lot of real fit people to black out and drown/almost drown.

I ran snorkel sails off Waikiki for 3 years and would always tell my guests to be careful and remove their full face masks immediately if they were feeling light headed. The only really good use for these setups is for people who are claustrophobic or can't breath out their mouth.
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Old 02-04-2019, 22:42   #3
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Re: Full Face Snorkel

Quote:
Originally Posted by JasonBRose View Post
The full face snorkels have three problems

1. There's no way to plug your nose to clear your ears when you're free diving

2. Even if you could clear your ears, when you get down 4-5' the pressure from the mask on your face is fairly unbearable

3. The lifeguards on Oahu started keeping track of the gear the people they were rescuing were using and began flagging people with full face snorkels. Turns out that the full face snorkels don't have too large of a chamber to clear with a single breath and tend to build up CO2. The harder someone swims/breathes, the more CO2 builds up. This was causing a lot of real fit people to black out and drown/almost drown.

I ran snorkel sails off Waikiki for 3 years and would always tell my guests to be careful and remove their full face masks immediately if they were feeling light headed. The only really good use for these setups is for people who are claustrophobic or can't breath out their mouth.
I have one and don’t like it nearly as much as I thought i would, and have gone back to a traditional set. I had the same issue with feeling breathless when swimming from the boat to the snorkel area, and having trouble clearing my ears when diving down.

It’s nice for just drifting along as the field of view is so wide.

Also with kids it’s a pain to keep taking off the whole mask when they have a question.
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Old 03-04-2019, 00:36   #4
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Re: Full Face Snorkel

Couldn't get mine to stop fogging up.
Not enough spit in my body for that vast expanse of craptastic plastic screen.
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Old 03-04-2019, 00:47   #5
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Re: Full Face Snorkel

Tried it before. It is only good for surface or near-surface snorkeling.
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Old 03-04-2019, 02:03   #6
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Re: Full Face Snorkel

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Jason.
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Old 03-04-2019, 04:47   #7
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Re: Full Face Snorkel

All down side, no advantage.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hawaii-...elated-deaths/


I've used full-face respirators in SCBA applications for years. That by itself should not be a problem. But they are stupid bulky and I would bin one that was given to me. Tried one once. Ick.
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