Snorkel in or out of your mouth on free dives?

I've always kept my snorkel in my mouth when making dives so that I can continue looking down into the water when I surface. Just recently though I got a new snorkel with a little float on top that seals the opening when you tip it too deep. For shallow dives it's not a problem but on deeper dives the shrinking air sealed in the snorkel wants to suck my tongue out of my head. I'm used to breathing out my nose a little to equalize mask pressure to prevent the squeeze on my face and I had some sucess exhaling through my mouth to equalize snorkel pressure but then when I got home and thought about it I remembered diving with Brandi one time and she came up with her snorkel out of her mouth.

What is your prefered method?

I keep my snorkel in my mouth when I dive. My snorkel has a clearing valve in the bottom that helps with draining the water out when I surface and allows water to enter the snorkel when I'm down. I have a hard time just diving with a mask and no snorkel for some reason.

CHEERS!

Spit.

Lower dead air volume.
Easier for rescuers to deal with in the horrible event of a blackout.
Less likely for bubbles to leak out at inopportune moments.


But I'm a cold water freediving newbie, so listen to the old hands.


Scott

Out of your mouth. Diving here around north coast doesn't matter that much, rockfish doesn't care if trapped air escapes at a bad time. But if you hunt for WSB down south, you must have it out of your mouth or they will just disappear.
There is another old saying of the snorkel acts as a straw during a blackout. I think that probably won't apply to a totally dry snorkel. Most free divers don't use totally dry snorkels though, in that case, you will want to spit it for that safety reason.

This one's been gone over ad nauseum and I should probably stay out it but this is only opinions here

I come from the never-never-spit school of freedivers My partner and the guy who taught me blacked out on occasion, I remember hearing the choking/wretching noises coming from his snorkel when it happened

There was definitely some inhaling of h20 going on there, but it's a finite amount of h2o involved and the body's natural reaction to that was enough to clear the snorkel

If he'd spit and floated up face-down I probably wouldn'tve heard anything and wouldve been hunting around for his carcass instead

It doesnt mean anything really but he was on a spearfishing team that was 2nd place in the world at the time These guys did long bottom times and didnt seem to mind all the near drowning experiences, which they did survive

Later on when I was working as a diver I was in some dicey situations     I mostly used a very reliable hookah rig but my favorite snorkel was always there and close to the face for those times when something went wrong

Maybe a good test is to drop your belt and go limp, see how you come to the surface - face up or face down Then imagine what would happen if you were unconscious under those circumstances

i dive with the snorkel out of my mouth because i hate getting it snagged between my mouth and kelp or rocks.

i use a flexible sporasub snorkel which is more cozy when gliding up kelp stalks and its like me, cheap!

: )

I'm not gonna go through this again.  As blue said, it's been discussed before:
http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/bb/index.php?topic=2846.0


My 2cents - spit.  It's been well documented through freediving and spearfishing that you have a better chance of surviving with the snorkel out.

In other words ArcataAnglerHSU you need to figure out for yourself what you want to do  Odds are you won't ever be in a situation where it'll mean live or die but if you are take my word it's good to know what you're about

I have relatives up there connected with HSU music department

You shouldn't be freediving with a top-valve 'dry' snorkel.  That's for snorkeling, not diving.  When you dive very deep at all with one you pretty much have to spit it out or your tounge will be sucked out, in which case it floods and defeats the purpose of having the dry snorkel valve in the first place. 

Freedivers tend to use simple snorkels, mine has a slot at the top which prevents wholesale water intrusion from splashes, but fills up once in the water.  Usually I leave it in, but I have noticed that my bottom time goes up a bit if I spit it out.  If I were hunting spookier fish I'd definitely spit it out since that slot arrangement causes it to bubble for about 10s on the way down.