Advanced Deep Dive Fail

[KenGordon]

At the risk of offending, I will disagree, and ESPECIALLY with this diver. Without trying to brag, as an old diver/instructor/anesthesiologist whose business is airways, I have to gently disagree.

Here's the deal. Without a mask that is almost COMPLETELY empty of water already, what happens when you look "way up"? Air bubbles (in your nose) rise and are replaced by water (in your mask), that then trickles down your nose/throat and increases the very sense of panic that worsened this diver's dilemma.

Second point: how do divers in perfect horizontal trim clear their mask? They can't look "way up". They stay horizontal, look out at the horizon and clear. The nose cup is the lowest part of the mask, and when they replace all the water with air, the lowest part is dry. There is NO NEED to look higher than horizontal. Additionally, this provides the added benefit of making the nasal passages HIGHER than the nares (nose holes). That means that it keeps this area dry, and keeps panic down.

Since I'm a PADI Instructor, I know it is professional suicide to tell my students that their textbook and videos and pictures are wrong. The pictures and my required training technique is not wrong. But finding that one phrase in the manual or video that instructs the student to look up AT THE END, is hard to do.

I teach my students to start by looking DOWN at about 45° (keeping water out of the nose). As they exhale thru the nose and the mask empties, ONLY THEN do I tell them to look up, and I explain why (to keep drops from trickling back). As soon as they try their second mask clearing drill while hovering horizontally, they realize that they don't have to look way up, they stay drier in their nose and have less panic.

I'm always reluctant to say that a given post is incorrect, but in this case I feel strongly about this technique, and hope I have adequately explained why.

It depends on the shape of the mask to an extent. Some masks will clear completely while looking horizontally, some need a bit of a tilt back or water remains at the bottom of the lenses. I agree that there is never a need for the exaggerated looking to the surface pose.

To the OP. Mask clearing is a core skill. The solution is not a better fitting mask, perhaps it is a worse fitting one. Get used to clearing your mask as second nature. I am a verry lazy person so I have a part beard a lot of the time. This means I have a leaky mask a lot of the time, so I have to keep clearing. I couldn’t tell you how many times on a given dive I clear my mask any more than I could tell you how many times I breathed.
I take in a lot of divers for their first dives. This usually happens in UK quarries with not so good vis and cold to very cold water. These are not good conditions for mak clearing and many to most people have a problem with it. With a hood and gloves, wearing a thick and restrictive suit, it becomes quite a difficult skill. However it is an essential skill, especially so if you dislike water on your face. I will always have a student do this successfully in standing depth before trying it at 5 or 6m as I don’t want them rushing for the surface and this is the skill that is most likely to result in that.

If you wear contact lenses leave them in the car. The extra worry and hassle doesn’t help. Keep your eyes open if you can bear it. Practice controlling mouth vs nose breathing out of the water. Know for sure you can exhale through your nose while your mouse is open. Practice with a a snorkel and no mask. Take your time for practice. If it takes two hours to be happy replacing a mask in standing depth then that is two hours well spent.

People who leave initial training fearful of mask clearing often avoid it to such an extent that they never get over it. Don’t be that person, Diving is supposed to be fun, nagging doubts and hoping stuff doesn’t happen isn’t a way to have fun.

 

[seeker242]

when you have an issue with water around your nose?

Condition yourself to stop being bothered by that. Take the mask snorkeling, or in a pool, or a bathtub, and leave it partially filled with water so that you become comfortable with it. You can even fill it with some water and then go watch TV or something. Being unconformable with water near some part of your body, when you are underwater, is never a good thing. It's an additional stressor that can be eliminated with fairly simple training.

 

[kelemvor]

Do more diving before taking AOW. I was required to have a minimum of 25 logged dives before being allowed to take the AOW course with a NAUI shop. No idea if that was NAUI or the shop who made that rule. I take it by reading this that the agency or shop you're using has no such requirement.

 

[msinc]

It sounds like the first thing you need is a mask that don't leak. You don't pick your mask, your mask picks you. Some masks are made with a very soft skirt. It is supposed to be more easily conforming to the contours of your face, leak less as a result of the better fit and also be more comfortable. I guess because it is just softer it feels better and if it really does conform to you better then it feels like it fits better. All this is fine, but then you get in the water and pressure gets thrown into it.....and what I found was a whole new problem for me.
The very soft skirt type masks, especially the frameless ones seem to be very touchy about exactly how you have the strap adjusted. Mine has to be dead on just right or it will leak. The other thing, again I believe it's because of how soft it is, is that the mask has to be carefully equalized as you descend or it will leak.
I really like my nice, soft, comfortable frameless mask once I get to depth and it's all adjusted and equalized right, but the rest of the time it's kind of a pain. Not saying this mask will necessarily work for you, but I have tried many masks and the one I have that absolutely will not leak a drop is the ScubaPro Spectra. Not a soft skirt and not the most comfortable one I have tried, but it does not leak and that is saying something on me.