Underwater drills with contacts

[kaylee_ann]

Hi! I'm taking the OW certification course in May and am curious about one thing. I wear contacts, and am nervous for underwater drills. I've heard of people having to throw masks into the pool then find them, but idk how I would do that if I can't open my eyes. Clearing water doesn't concern me because I don't have to go find the mask- I don't really need to see to do it lol. Any advice? Or should I ask the training facility? Hopefully this kinda made sense, lol.

 

[Marie13]

Throwing masks into the pool to make you find them? That sounds more like old school scuba training and not modern classes. People with contacts have just told me they kept their eyes tightly closed. Heck, I don’t wear contacts and I still kept my eyes closed!

 

[kaylee_ann]

Throwing masks into the pool to make you find them? That sounds more like old school scuba training and not modern classes. People with contacts have just told me they kept their eyes tightly closed. Heck, I don’t wear contacts and I still kept my eyes closed!

That's possible, I'm not sure when they were trained.

 

[Marie13]

Just contact the shop you’re training through and ask them.

 

[kaylee_ann]

Will do. Thanks!

 

[rx7diver]

Hi! I'm taking the OW certification course in May and am curious about one thing. I wear contacts, and am nervous for underwater drills. I've heard of people having to throw masks into the pool then find them, but idk how I would do that if I can't open my eyes. Clearing water doesn't concern me because I don't have to go find the mask- I don't really need to see to do it lol. Any advice? Or should I ask the training facility? Hopefully this kinda made sense, lol.

Earlier this week, my eldest daughter sampled the local univ scuba course, both the lecture session and the pool session, and committed. (This is the same semester-long course I took in 1986, except with my instructor's then-assistant now teaching the course.)

First wet session: Determining the weight the students will use on their weight belt for the pool sessions, and being introduced to their masks and snorkels. First skills: Breathing off the snorkel, and mask clearing, including tossing their masks down the (shallow) swim lanes, and surface swimming to dive down to retrieve and clear their masks underwater. The first pool session ended with lap swimming (swim suits and maybe swim goggles, only). Exactly the same as my opening day skills.

My daughter wears contacts. I think she might have switched to eyeglasses for the pool session, except maybe removed the eyeglasses before entering the water--just as she did when swimming on the high school varsity swimming team a couple of years ago.

Don't worry. Just ask the instructor for his/her suggestions about this--or any--skill.

rx7diver

 

[kaylee_ann]

Earlier this week, my eldest daughter sampled the local univ scuba course, both the lecture session and the pool session, and committed. (This is the same semester-long course I took in 1986, except with my instructor's then-assistant now teaching the course.)

First wet session: Determining the weight the students will use on their weight belt for the pool sessions, and being introduced to their masks and snorkels. First skills: Breathing off the snorkel, and mask clearing, including tossing their masks down the (shallow) swim lanes, and surface swimming to dive down to retrieve and clear their masks underwater. The first pool session ended with lap swimming (swim suits and maybe swim goggles, only). Exactly the same as my opening day skills.

My daughter wears contacts. I think she might have switched to eyeglasses for the pool session, except maybe removed the eyeglasses before entering the water--just as she did when swimming on the high school varsity swimming team a couple of years ago.

Don't worry. Just ask the instructor for his/her suggestions about this--or any--skill.

rx7diver

I'll definitely ask the instructor about it. I do have glasses; I may do what your daughter did actually.

 

[Johnoly]

I'll definitely ask the instructor about it. I do have glasses; I may do what your daughter did actually.

I wear glasses and dive too. Our brain looks at ALL the light images that shine on our eye's retina and gets interpreted as blurry. Sometimes by focusing that light image to a smaller part of the retina we can see the image clearer and that's how glasses work to better focus. As diver's, we can trick our brain to focus on a smaller part of the retina image underwater by making a tiny hole with our curled up index finger. Tuck your index finger in a tight curl leaving only a small hole opening about the size of a pencil lead. Hold it tight with the your thumb on top. You can hold this up to your mask lens underwater or eye and you'll still be able to clearly read your gauge or computer underwater.

You can also test this right now if your eye won't clearly focus on something without glasses at or above your screen. Take off your glasses, tuck your index finger and read the words. Even though the amount of area you can read is tiny, you can still clearly see the letters as you move down the sentence or see across the room to read something. It's not a substitute for a prescription mask or plastic inserts that are available, but it's a nice trick for a backup plan when you need to see something clearly and quickly,,,,,Even in the pool or underwater.

 

[Raphus]

i had a lot of students with contacts, no problem. Just keep the eyes closed and tell your instructor about it.

Personally i would recommend getting a mask with optical glasses, so you dont need to use contacts.
There are a couple reasons for it:
1. Less chance to loose it
2. Training should be as close to a real world Szenario as possible. And if you loose you mask in a real dive you would not close your eyes in mid water. Loosing you contacts should not be a concern in that situation.
3. There are some cases of eye infections, when water gets trapped by the contacts.


My gf uses glasses before the dive and optical glass in her mask during the dive.
Tusa has some great masks with good lenses. But other companies got them too

 

[kaylee_ann]

i had a lot of students with contacts, no problem. Just keep the eyes closed and tell your instructor about it.

Personally i would recommend getting a mask with optical glasses, so you dont need to use contacts.
There are a couple reasons for it:
1. Less chance to loose it
2. Training should be as close to a real world Szenario as possible. And if you loose you mask in a real dive you would not close your eyes in mid water. Loosing you contacts should not be a concern in that situation.
3. There are some cases of eye infections, when water gets trapped by the contacts.


My gf uses glasses before the dive and optical glass in her mask during the dive.
Tusa has some great masks with good lenses. But other companies got them too

later on I may invest in a mask with glasses. but right now I don't have money for them. first I'm going to get the money for LASIK which is a surgery that basically gives me normal vision. (I've wanted this ever since my dad got it- not just for diving) so down the road it won't be an issue