Heads up or in?

When I go shallow water hunting and the water has good visibility, I always prefer to use a mask and snorkel in the water.

Every year I recover plenty of cool stuff from the bottom of the ocean that I saw before I detected.

From sunglasses to gold chains and paper money, it can be a real opener what you walk over inside the water. 

Yesterday I was wearing a mask and saw a water logged iPhone and a glint of gold that turned out to be a nice chunky 14 K gold bracelet.

I cannot remember a recent year I have not spotted at least one piece of gold jewelry in the water, rocky areas are always good for eyeballing jewelry underwater.  

That is why I always wear a mask and snorkel in the water if I can see the bottom. 

I am a slow methodical water hunter and I find wearing a mask and snorkel makes me detect even slower. 

When the water has zero visibility and I do not bother wearing a mask, I notice I cover an area of water faster, even though retrieving targets involves a few more scooping attempts. 

I know veteran water hunters who never wear a snorkel and mask, I know other water hunters who only bob and fan to recover targets.

My preference is to use a mask and a long handled scoop, it really comes down to whatever floats your boat. 

The more targets you successfully recover in your allotted water hunting time, the more chance you have of recovering something good.

Wearing a mask and snorkel in clear water hunting situations adds an extra detecting edge to your game.

Especially if you have good site observation skills, mud larking bottle and clay pipe diggers will know what I mean.

Another handy thing about wearing a mask and snorkel water hunting, is people are less likely to ask you what you are doing if you have your head in the water at tourist type beaches. 

It also works on other beach and shallow water hunters too lol!