what is difference between swimming goggles and a snorkel mask?

[lustyd]

Only dive with goggles if you want to risk serious damage to your eyes. The deeper you go the less volume of air there will be in the goggles. You eyes will attempt to fill that gap.
(At 10 metres depth the volume will be reduced by 50%) I used to dive regularly with people who had prescription lenses fitted in to their masks, not cheap but they used to swear by them.

Most normal folk won't be down around 10m so this is less of a problem snorkelling than it is diving. That said, a large part of the change is in the first few metres so for comfort I would go down the mask route. Before investing in prescription mask, speak to someone who knows about such things (as opposed to someone trying to sell you stuff) because some prescriptions can actually be worse on a mask than none at all due to the nature of being in the water. I forget the details but things appear larger underwater and this allows a surprising number of the optically challenged to use a standard mask. If the trip is not for some time you may be able to try a dive with a local club to see.

 

[bbg]

10m! how deep do snorkellers go?!

If you haven't done much snorkelling before you will probably bob around on the surface most of the time, occasionally going down to a couple of meters. I do a lot of snorkelling when I get the chance, and that is pretty much what I do.

Serious breath-hold divers will stay down for a while. I am not a serious snorkeller, and I think I managed to get down to about 12 meters once. It was so much fun I never want to do it again.

All this talk of pressurising the mask is pretty much irrelevant for you. The key point is that the mask covers the nose and keeps water out.

FWIW I also scuba dive and before I got laser surgery (now THAT is an investment worth making!) I used contacts rather than a prescription mask.

 

[agurney]

Most normal folk won't be down around 10m so this is less of a problem snorkelling than it is diving. That said, a large part of the change is in the first few metres so for comfort I would go down the mask route. Before investing in prescription mask, speak to someone who knows about such things (as opposed to someone trying to sell you stuff) because some prescriptions can actually be worse on a mask than none at all due to the nature of being in the water. I forget the details but things appear larger underwater and this allows a surprising number of the optically challenged to use a standard mask. If the trip is not for some time you may be able to try a dive with a local club to see.

It's worth asking the professionals - when I asked my local optician about this last time I had an eye test, he took out a calculator and applied some sort of non-trivial calculation to my current prescription.

 

[agurney]

10m! how deep do snorkellers go?!

5m frequently, 10m often.

Depth/pressure only becomes a problem if you have 'sticky' ears or blocked sinuses, or you are using goggles rather than a mask;

I was in Sharm-el-Sheik in December and picked up a cold on the flight across; I've put a few seconds of a video that I took while snorkelling: http://agurney.com/squeak.avi (38MB)

- The bottom was around 8m
- The gurgles were the air bubbles leaving my snorkel
- The squeak/groan was the air being forced into my bunged-up eustachion tubes to balance the external pressure; the ascent was similar. Not good practice!

 

[Keen_Ed]

Sailed once with a guy who was into spearfishing. He used to sit on the bottom for a couple of minutes in a camouflage wetsuit - no tanks (it's considered unsporting, and the noise drives the fish away, AIUI). He said that in the Med, you have to be prepared to get pretty deep.

 

[windlipper]

10m! how deep do snorkellers go?!

Think the record's about 120 metres!

 

[prv]

Nonsense. One of the standard exercises when learning to dive is to be able to swim at depth without a mask. You get used to breathing with your mouth and not your nose.

Yes, it can be done, but it's much easier not to have to.

Personally I found it easier with a regulator than with a snorkel, as the air came through very very slightly above ambient pressure so wanted to rush into my mouth, whereas with a snorkel it is very very slightly below ambient and you're pulling it down.

It cost me two rounds, one for each miss named item at my BSAC club.

I'd had the "Flipper was a dolphin!" bit years before, but on my Sport Diver course the rule was that cylinders left unattended standing up magically turned into pint glasses for the instructor

10m! how deep do snorkellers go?!

I've been down to 12m to retrieve someone's watch for them, on a Greek charter holiday. This was measured by the boat's depth-sounder - come to think of it, Sunsail probably set them to underestimate the depth to save their keels, so it may have been deeper.

That was when I was 17; I very much doubt I could do it now.

Pete

 

[FistralG]

Waterproof camera

If you haven't done much snorkelling before you will probably bob around on the surface most of the time, occasionally going down to a couple of meters. I do a lot of snorkelling when I get the chance, and that is pretty much what I do.

Serious breath-hold divers will stay down for a while. I am not a serious snorkeller, and I think I managed to get down to about 12 meters once. It was so much fun I never want to do it again.

All this talk of pressurising the mask is pretty much irrelevant for you. The key point is that the mask covers the nose and keeps water out.

FWIW I also scuba dive and before I got laser surgery (now THAT is an investment worth making!) I used contacts rather than a prescription mask.

If you haven't got one invest in a cheap waterproof camera i bought my g/f a Sony cybershot DSC-TX20 (waterproof to 5m, solid metal case and shockproof) just before we went to the BVI's last November.

I took this (amongst others)...

 

[duncan99210]

Nice Sargeant Major fish!

SWMBO has required glasses for reading for some time now - to the extent that she could no longer read her dive computer or gauges. She consulted her optician who recomended she try contacts rather than fitting lenses to her mask. Revalation! Much easier all round, as she now wears them full time as well as for diving.

 

[LadyInBed]

Kit yourself out properly with Mask snorkel and Fins..

. . . and learn how to do a 'Duck Dive'
This video will give you a starter for snorkelling.

 

[photodog]

Try the mask without the prescription first...

I have quite a strong prescription for near sighted ness.... But see perfectly underwater with either goggles or a mask.

Weird or what???.

It must be something to do with the water and glass thing...

 

[ChattingLil]

. . . and learn how to do a 'Duck Dive'
This video will give you a starter for snorkelling.

LOL!

thanks anyway - I appreciate the sentiment!

 

[BurnitBlue]

Any mask tips for the bearded ones? Or even the fashionable designer stubble chinned.

 

[alan_d]

Any mask tips for the bearded ones? Or even the fashionable designer stubble chinned.

A smear of Vaseline on the upper lip.

 

[agurney]

Any mask tips for the bearded ones? Or even the fashionable designer stubble chinned.

I've been diving and snorkelling for more than 30 years with a beard; no need for anything, especially not vaseline as that will rot rubber masks.