Wearing mask on the back of your head

[Diving Dubai]

As I said, bad habits are picked up quickly.
More experienced divers often forget, their behaviour is copied by new divers. That includes the bad habits, unfortunately, its that bad habits that seem to get picked up the fastest - and retained.

Experienced divers also get complacent.

Only the other day, I was on the boat, with my wing on - leant out to wash my mask, overbalanced and went over the side. No reg in, no mask on and my fins on the boat. Not a huge drama apart from a bit of current meant someone held onto my rig whilst I put my fins on in the water listening to the (deserved) laughter on the boat.

Someone less confident might have been more flustered. However I should have, and do know better. Complacency!

 

[Storker]

Someone less confident might have been more flustered.

That's the great thing about becoming more experienced. I've been in situations where my recently-OW-certified self might well have become both flustered and afraid. These days it's cool, it's just a puzzle to solve. And we all know that panic and irrational reactions increases the risk immensely.

As long as I have gas, I know can take my time to find out how I can get out of the situation. Which works wonders on my BP and anxiety level.

 

[Mark IV]

Years ago, back before the hurricane wrecked the little Pro-dive pier, there was one of the usual afternoon log-jams of boats coming and going, fighting for pier space.
An old buddy/work-mate I used to work with at Aqua-world in Cancun had moved down to Cozumel for a while, and was standing at the bow of a panga full of divers, wearing his mask on the back of his head. Another friend of mine, a guy I later worked for for a few years, hollers out within earshot of a good 50 people, "Hey Buckwheat.....the mask goes on the front !!"
Everybody busted out laughing, and that got to be a inside joke/ catch-phrase that sporadically surfaced for years afterwards.

 

[Gareth J]

Experienced divers also get complacent.

Only the other day, I was on the boat, with my wing on - leant out to wash my mask, overbalanced and went over the side. No reg in, no mask on and my fins on the boat. Not a huge drama apart from a bit of current meant someone held onto my rig whilst I put my fins on in the water listening to the (deserved) laughter on the boat.

Someone less confident might have been more flustered. However I should have, and do know better. Complacency!

Yes, I'm as guilty of that as anyone else, for getting a bit complacent and not doing things according to the rule book on occasion.

One advantage of doing a lot of my diving with a club, is that I spend a reasonable amount of time teaching, or diving with inexperienced divers. So I do try to be aware that my actions on occasion are copied by those with less knowledge.
The other issue I am very aware of, is that when you have very little knowledge the rules are very black and white. With knowledge, you start to understand the grey areas, or where the original 'rules' where to keep things simple.

As an example. If the rules say you can't dive deeper than 20m (66ft), then anyone can breath Nitrox 36. As a novice you are restricted to 20m, and can use Nitrox 36. but you have no knowledge of Oxygen Toxicity, and maximum PO2 etc. So 'if' you dive beyond your qualification i.e. to 30m+ (99ft) on Nitrox 36, then you risk Ox Tox' - a direct result of diving beyond the knowledge level you have.

On the amusing - but a demonstration of complacency.
A group of us (pretty experienced) where diving off a shuttle boat. A small boat shuttled us from the shore to a pontoon, where the larger shuttle boat was moored. On the second day, the smaller boat shuttle was a bit messed up. To avoid missing slack, we waded out to the pontoon, loaded the boat and went diving. After the morning dive, we waded back from the pontoon. Afternoon dive, we used the same technique to load the boat. On returning the shuttle boat was still missing.
A shorter member of our party slung his twinset on his back, stepped off the pontoon, and........... disappeared....eventually reappearing spluttering and yelling, his gas was turned off, no mask, no fins....down he went again.... up he popped, someone grabbed him and turned his gas on and inflated his jacket.
Whilst some think 1000 dives and an instructor qualification means you can walk on water -- he proved the opposite!


Once he was safe, he came in for a lot of stick for the rest of the season, and a few beer fines

 

[TMHeimer]

In many ways, I think boat diving is far safer than shore diving.

• Normally its easier to enter and exit the water (in the UK we generally have lifts - so getting a casualty out is a lot easier.)
• The boat will come to you.
• You have fast communication with the emergency services.
• You have exact location information (GPS).
• Getting help is often easier/quicker (RNLI, Coastguard, medical etc).
• You have trained surface cover - the skipper

You don't have to contend with surf, bad footing, or any of the other complications of shore diving.

Agree with all of that. I would think the only "safer" thing about shore diving may be that boat diving is more likely deeper.

 

[scrane]

As an example. If the rules say you can't dive deeper than 20m (66ft), then anyone can breath Nitrox 36. As a novice you are restricted to 20m, and can use Nitrox 36. but you have no knowledge of Oxygen Toxicity, and maximum PO2 etc. So 'if' you dive beyond your qualification i.e. to 30m+ (99ft) on Nitrox 36, then you risk Ox Tox' - a direct result of diving beyond the knowledge level you have.


Once he was safe, he came in for a lot of stick for the rest of the season, and a few beer fines

If an operator lets you dive Nitrox without the Nitrox ticket he certainly won't worry about anyone diving > 20m.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

If the rules say you can't dive deeper than 20m (66ft), then anyone can breath Nitrox 36. As a novice you are restricted to 20m, and can use Nitrox 36. but you have no knowledge of Oxygen Toxicity, and maximum PO2 etc. So 'if' you dive beyond your qualification i.e. to 30m+ (99ft) on Nitrox 36, then you risk Ox Tox' - a direct result of diving beyond the knowledge level you have.

Do I understand you correctly that you say that divers can use nitrox without nitrox training?

 

[Gareth J]

If an operator lets you dive Nitrox without the Nitrox ticket he certainly won't worry about anyone diving > 20m.

I think you miss-understand. The diver is qualified to dive to a maximum depth of 20m, using Nitrox mixes up to and including Nitrox 36. Which is perfectly safe if he/she dives within the limitations of the qualification. If He/she dives beyond the limit of his/her qualification, he/she is at risk.

 

[Charles Graves]

As someone who's a cave diver, advanced OW, and rescue diver, I tend to agree with you.

I say wear your mask however you want to wear it! It's your property, your body, your decision. The Nazi's who try to tell me how to wear my mask really annoy me. I know the risks, I've been through training, and I have plenty of money to blow. If I want to put the mask on the top of my head in very calm oceans after the end of a dive in Florida, then so be it. I'm not panicked, if I was I would be waving my arms or making a big O sign, I wouldn't be calmly swimming towards the ladder with a mask on my forehead. Having it around my neck is annoying, and I just don't like it there. I shouldn't have to explain that to people. I could swim an entire dive without wearing a mask at all,

I think that 90% of the people who claim they will think you are a panicked diver, won't actually think that you are, they are just wanting to look pompous and superior by trying to look like they know more about the PADI rulebook than you do. That's a big problem with some, (not all or most, but some) in the dive community IMO. I agree with the guy who said "Peer pressure!!" is why people will blast you for not wearing the mask around your neck or on your face. Truthfully though, if the seas are super calm or you are in a lake, it does not matter.

One time I had a person tell me that my mask was gonna fall off, or that I might be panicked, when we were floating at the surface OF A CALM LAKE. I literally am not kidding. I told them how ridiculous they sounded, and they realized how stupid they sounded, and that was the end of that discussion lol

But to be fair, there are times when you DO need to be careful.... If the seas are choppy or whatever, yeah, you should definitely keep your mask on... Take it off only at your own risk haha.

 

[Mike1967]

I'm not panicked, if I was I would be waving my arms or making a big O sign

You'd be making the OK sign if you're panicked?