Have you ever wondered just how deep down under the water you can still breathe using a tube? The answer is a lot less far than you may think. In fact, the average runs roughly from 1.5 to 2 feet. And this is the absolute most that most snorkeling experts recommend for a tube-free dive of any type.
The reason for this very severe limitation is a simple one. Unlike whales, dolphins, and other aquatic mammals, the lungs of a human are not very efficient at taking in air to breathe. This is all the more true when it comes to us trying to breath under the surface of the water, particularly deep ocean water.
The further the distance air has to travel down through a tube, the more difficult it will be for our lungs to safely inhale it. And when our lungs naturally move to exhale air, much of the inevitable byproduct, carbon dioxide, will remain behind in the tube. It will very likely get re-inhaled, causing asphyxiation if you don’t surface in time.
Does The Diameter Of The Tube Matter?
The answer is yes. A snorkel tube with a larger diameter will allow for a larger and much more efficient flow of air as you are breathing under the surface of the water. The more air that you can easily receive, the better and more consistent the flow of oxygen to your lungs will be.
It’s definitely a good idea to look for a snorkel tube that has as large a diameter as possible. This will not only be because of the reasons listed above. It’s also crucial because you want your dive under the water to be as comfortable and last as long as possible. A tube with a larger diameter is more likely to afford you this pleasure.
It should also be pointed out that a snorkel tube with a bigger total diameter is also likely to be attached to a much more comfortable mouthpiece. This is because the mouthpiece in question will be larger and thus more able to fit snugly. With a larger diameter tube, you will be able to navigate and breathe in a comfortable fashion.
What’s The Deepest Tube Breathing Someone Has Done Underwater Without Compressed Air?
The deepest free dive anyone has ever done without scuba or other deep water breathing equipment was achieved by Herbert Nitsch in 2012. Nitsch set a deep free diving record of 214 meters or 702 feet. To do this, he had to hold his breath for a far longer period of time than the average human could hope to duplicate.
In general, snorkeling or other forms of diving with a tube are not recommended as depth exercises. This is because the pressure of the water has an adverse effect on the amount of oxygen that you can safely inhale through a tube. You don’t want to end up inhaling too much carbon dioxide at too deep of a distance under the water.
The fact of the matter is that our human lungs are simply not evolved for the purpose of breathing in large amounts of water. This may have something to do with the fact that we are really supposed to be going that deep down in the water in the first place. But for the purpose of diving, many methods have been invented to defy nature.
Such methods of deep water diving, such as scuba, snuba, mini scuba, and snorkeling have enabled people to circumvent the limitations of our native breathing system. As a result, divers like Nitsch have managed to set records for breathing underwater that seem to test the outermost limits of human diving capacity.
As time goes on, even the records set by Nitsch are bound to be broken. But if you are simply interested in exploring your own limits via snorkeling, you are definitely best off sticking to common safety regulations. A dive of a few feet ought to be sufficient.
How To Build A Deep Snorkel Kit
Finding reliable info on how to actually build a deep snorkel diving kit from scratch seems to be next to impossible. The writer of this article spend nearly an hour on the web searching for written out instructions and finally gave up. However, this does not mean that info concerning this exercise can’t be found.
In fact, there are a handful of video tutorials that go a long way toward laying out the precise steps of the “do it yourself snorkel kit” making process. We recommend that you refer to this video in order to get valuable aid and counsel on this activity.
Deep Tube Snorkeling Vs Snuba And Compressed Air Mini Scuba
At the end of the day, you’ve got to choose the method of diving that you are most comfortable with. This will also naturally tend to be the one that is safest for you to employ. Deep tube snorkeling is an activity that is definitely best left to the pros. You need to have a long history of diving before you can hope to pull it off.
Snuba and compressed air mini scuba are two forms of diving gear that are relatively new to the market. Snuba is a sort of combo of a snorkeling tube with a scuba tank. A mini scuba is pretty much what its name implies. It’s simply a smaller and more compact version of a fully sized scuba diving set up, complete with a smaller tank.
If you are new to the sport of diving, you will definitely be better off with a mini scuba or snuba set up if you want to go deep. But if you are more experienced and more adept at holding your breath in a safe manner, you may wish to try your luck at deep tube snorkeling. Your natural ability as well as your experience matter most here.
