Mask off, do I really have to keep my Eyes open?

[boulderjohn]

When I did my pool training, we were told to remove our masks and swim the length of the pool along the bottom. All three of us wore contacts, so they said to close our eyes and feel our way along the tile stripes. I thought it was rather silly since I always opened my eyes in a pool and even in the ocean (but not with my contacts in). I did the drill and it did something wonderful for me. I had been greatly bothered by the bubbles coming out of my regulator in front of my face, but once I couldn't see them, it stopped bothering me and never did again. One of the other students said the same thing happened for him.

I wonder if there isn't a related explanation.

Back when I used to teach scuba schools the way it is usually done, with the students kneeling on the bottom of the pool, the mask removal for one minute really bothered some of the students because of the bubbles going past their faces and over their noses while they waited for the time to be up. Most of them had their eyes closed, so seeing or not seeing the bubbles did not make a difference. When I switched to teaching skills to students in a horizontal, buoyant attitude, that problem vanished. It had nothing to do with not being able to see the bubbles; it had everything to do with the act that when you are in a normal swimming position, the bubbles don't go past your face and eyes and nose any more--they go past your cheeks and ears. When you were picking your way across the bottom of the pool, you had no choice but to be in a proper swimming position, so you did not have bubbles in front of your face--whether your eyes were open or closed.

 

[TSandM]

I have a friend who has told me that her technical instructors (same agency as mine, but mine didn't do this) insisted she keep her eyes CLOSED with her mask off, because they wanted her to focus on the kinesthetic cues for buoyancy and trim.

I open my eyes in OW, with a mask off, because it significantly helps my orientation. In the pool, I try not to, because it HURTS. If I'm in a situation where I think mask loss is a significant possibility (eg. surf entries, high current) I carry a spare. I wouldn't try to find a lost mask myself - I'd just deploy the spare.

 

[Gudu]

Thank you all for your replies, every bit was helpfull.
For now I will stand my ground and wont open my Eyes when the mask is off no matter in the pool or in the Ocean. Once I gain more confidence I will work on having the Eyes open with the Mask off.

I just spend 10 days 2 hours each by myself in the Pool,learning clearing the Mask, learning relaxed Breating while Snorkeling, blowing bubbles and clearing the Snorkel. Happy to report I can do this now with ease and finally have some Fun and look forward to my next session with the Instructor.


Thanks again-------------Gudu

 

[Laurie S.]

I wonder if there isn't a related explanation.

Back when I used to teach scuba schools the way it is usually done, with the students kneeling on the bottom of the pool, the mask removal for one minute really bothered some of the students because of the bubbles going past their faces and over their noses while they waited for the time to be up. Most of them had their eyes closed, so seeing or not seeing the bubbles did not make a difference. When I switched to teaching skills to students in a horizontal, buoyant attitude, that problem vanished. It had nothing to do with not being able to see the bubbles; it had everything to do with the act that when you are in a normal swimming position, the bubbles don't go past your face and eyes and nose any more--they go past your cheeks and ears. When you were picking your way across the bottom of the pool, you had no choice but to be in a proper swimming position, so you did not have bubbles in front of your face--whether your eyes were open or closed.

You may be right about that. For most of time prior to that drill I was more vertical. My bc had a leak because the shop hadn't attached the Air2 correctly and I had even worse buoyancy control than what is normal for a newbie. Between being unable to do the pivot drills and having the bubbles in my face, I was close to panic a couple times. Then I got my head straight since I've always been a fish in the water and got over it. It did take the mask-off swim to cinch it, however.

I keep waiting for my boyfriend/instructor to yank my mask off in my DM training, but I've practiced yanking the mask off myself in the ocean. I'm ready for him.

 

[freewillie]

I'm surprised how many contact lens wearers don't know this but it's practically impossible to lose a modern soft contact lens under water. The only real danger is when you break the surface, the splash in the eyes MAY dislodge a lens but even then you're unlikely to lose it completely.
I've been swimming with contacts on for years and swim under water with my eyes open whenever I'm in the pool or ocean, I have never had one come off my eye.

One of the mantras here on SB is dive your training. If you lose a contact while diving in the ocean without a prescription mask you may have significant vision problems seeing clearly.

When I did my PADI OW training I kept my eyes closed during the mask removal portion both in the pool and in the ocean. And during one dive I was having such a problem with my mask leaking I had to take it off, replace it underwater, and clear it. Not a big problem, and getting used to diving with your eyes closed is sure sign your diving skills are becoming ingrained.

That being said, if I was at depth and somehow lost a mask then I would open my eyes and complete the dive with eye open and potentially risk losing a contact. Once back on the boat I can always pop in the spare I keep in my save a dive kit!

 

[yarik83]

I was not required to open my eyes when I was getting certified and I would NEVER recommend anyone consciously opening their eyes under was UNLESS it was an emergency. I was on a dive boat where a lady decided to go ahead and clear her mask. She had to be rescued because all kinds of gunk got into her eyes and she spent next 2 days of our vacation blindfolded and pumping water through her shut eyelids.

Almost every dive site I ever dove (even on 10/10 dives) always had stuff floating about.

Now do not get me wrong... If my life depended on it... I would open my eyes and suffer through it.

I think its a good practice to do it once so you know how miserable it is to not have a mask but I do not think it should be a requirement to always keep your eyes open when flushing out the mask.

 

[TMHeimer]

We're getting far afield, but I would think this was an extremely rare instance--someone having to be blindfolded, pumping in water, etc. Maybe an eye condition to begin with, Red Tide, bad pollution or something else. I've been in the salt water and fresh (sub arctic to tropical) probably thousands of times since childhood (50+ years), always opened my eyes on purpose with never a problem.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I was not required to open my eyes when I was getting certified and I would NEVER recommend anyone consciously opening their eyes under was UNLESS it was an emergency. I was on a dive boat where a lady decided to go ahead and clear her mask. She had to be rescued because all kinds of gunk got into her eyes and she spent next 2 days of our vacation blindfolded and pumping water through her shut eyelids.

Almost every dive site I ever dove (even on 10/10 dives) always had stuff floating about.

Now do not get me wrong... If my life depended on it... I would open my eyes and suffer through it.

I think its a good practice to do it once so you know how miserable it is to not have a mask but I do not think it should be a requirement to always keep your eyes open when flushing out the mask.

Where were you diving ... the Passaic River?

We've got lots of stuff floating around in the local waters I dive in ... and you don't even wanna hear what gets flushed into the sound when it rains (which is often) ... and I've never experienced anything like that. Opening your eyes without a mask isn't "miserable" under most circumstances. Salt water doesn't even sting until after you've put the mask back on and cleared it, exposing your eyes to the air again ... and even then it's just a mild irritation that goes away after a few seconds. There must've been something like jellyfish in the water in your friend's case ... and even then it's highly unusual for something like that to affect your eyes in the manner you described.

But exposing your eyes to marine life wasn't the OP's question ... his question was whether it was something that was required in OW training. The answer is "not by the agency" ... some instructors require it, for reasons that have been discussed. But let's please not give people the impression it's something to be feared ... it's not. It's just not ... in the opinion of many of us instructors ... something that's necessarily productive at the OW training level, because chlorine in most pools is an irritant, and people tend to focus better on what you're trying to teach them when their eyes are not irritated ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Max Speed]

Isn't retrieving pennies from the bottom of the pool without a mask a skill that's taught at camp when you're about 6?

Catching crabs, shells, seahorses and other cool stuff underwater without any gear or a mask should be a no-brainer for a kid too.

If that stuff isn't fun I'd try SKYdiving instead...

Sent from my SPH-P100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[TMHeimer]

Where were you diving ... the Passaic River?

Oooh...one fine cesspool. Where'd that come from?--nowhere near Pugetropolis...