Buying a SNORKEL is easy!

It could be very confusing for somebody who is starting in the scuba world the simple task of buying a snorkel. There are all sorts of brands and models, so what I am putting here are the main types that you will find in any store:

• Regular snorkels: These are the ones that allow the tube (also known as barrel) to be filled with water when you dive. Therefore, you will need to clear (purge) the water from the snorkel when you return to the surface. And, as you may be aware, there is no rocket science in the design of these models :-)
• Semi-Dry: These come with a protective mechanism that prevents the water to enter the tube; usually it is referred as deflector. My recommendation will be, if you are going to spend some money in a snorkel buy a dry, not a semi-dry.
• Dry snorkels: You are right! As you can imagine, dry means no water in the tube. These models come with a ‘device’ in the tip of the tube to prevent the water to fill it when you are diving, I don’t like to drink sea water!

I am not affiliated with any brand, but the Oceanic Ultra Dry Snorkel in my opinion is the best since it really performs as advertised. Not a single drop of water in the tube. You can see the technology behind this snorkel valve design here: http://www.oceanicworldwide.com/img/p_snorkels_ultradry_dwg.jpg

Some of the things you should do when buying a snorkel are:

• Test the flexibility of the silicone part in lower section of the tube; you don’t want it to be too rigid or too soft.
• Buy a snorkel with a soft and flexible silicone mouthpiece, this will help you to stay more time in the water when you are snorkeling, a more comfortable mouthpiece will prevent jaw and face muscles fatigue. Try to keep your mouth open for ten or fifteen minutes holding a rigid object to get an idea of what I am referring to jaw fatigue. The mouthpiece is very important, so be sure that is smooth and replaceable.
• Measure the length of the snorkel in relationship with your head’s size. Some novice divers realize (too late, when they are in the water) that the tube is too short or long.

Some of the brands you can search on the Internet are: Aeris, Apollo, Cressi-Sub, Genesis, H2O, Mares, Oceanic, Omersub, Seavision, Sherwood, Sporasub, TUSA, U.S. Divers, and XS Scuba.