embarrassing novice question

[havnmonkey]

I would suggest not opening your eyes in salt water anyway... it will temporarily irritate most peoples eyes. When I clear my maskin salt water I make sure to close my eyes first, so no salty drops get in them.

You shouldn't need to open your eyes any way, especially in class.

But just remember, if you ever have to open them under water you can. It's not going to hurt them, and it will not burn that bad while underwater anyways; it always seems to be a worse after you surface.

 

[TxHockeyGuy]

According to my eye doc I have extremely sensitive eyes, much more so than the majority of the population apparently. I've had salt water in my eyes and while I must say that was very unpleasant it only lasted for about 3-5 minutes and I could still see the entire time. I've also had to flat out open my eyes in fresh water to recover a mask that was kicked off and that was also unpleasant, although not nearly as much as the salt water. The point is that while it is unpleasant, it is something you can easily overcome mentally.

 

[Prostar]

I ask all of my students if they wear contacts before doing anything with the mask off. If so, I just say to keep the eyes closed. You can always find the proper orientation of the mask by finding the nose area of the mask with your thumb and then put it back on.

So relax and enjoy diving.

Jeff G.

 

[Tortuga James]

My 20 year old daughter has been wearing contacts since about 13, and lifeguarding in the summer since 15. She recently got an ulcer on her cornea, most likely an infection resulting from being in the pool so much with her contacts on (she teaches swim lessons to kids). The jury is still out, but she may never be able to wear them again.

I got her a prescription mask from our LDS, and that seems to work great, except that she has to put her mask on to find her fins.

 

[kidspot]

fwiw - I find chlorinated pool water much harsher on my eyes than salt water - If at all possible I would recommend acclimating your eyes to having them open in the ocean - It may take some time to do, but the safety issue is well worth it imho. Not that you "need" to see with your mask off (things are pretty blurry, but you can make out shapes etc) but more so the possibility that accidentally getting water in your eyes would contribute to panic.

You can most likely make it through the entire certification process without needing to open your eyes in the water, but being able to keep them open is something that will set you at ease ...

Aloha, Tim

 

[spectrum]

I have very sensitive eyes and have never been able to open my eyes under water, either in a pool or salt or fresh water.

I hear you loud and clear. As a kid in day camp I could never get myself to count the coaches fingers underwater or fetch the plates. For the longest time I kept a dry washcloth outside the shower to dry my face after washing my hair. I hated getting water in my eye's.

Whille opening your eye's underwater is not essential for diving it's ceertainly to your benefit to know you can if you need to. Knowing that I needed to get past this I got in the bathtub full of nice warm water with my mask and snorkel. Belly down, knees at the drain end. I started by letting a little water into the mask, then more and more eventually clearing it. Just breathing with a wet face can be a challenge for some. I had already done lots of skin-diving so that was no big deal. After I was good with snorkel breathing with a wet nose I began to open my eyes, first just little blinks then more and more, still in warm comfortable water. Then start to cool the water, perhaps on the next session, whatever you are comfortable with. Eventually I was relaxed with my mask on my forehead looking at my fingers with bare eyes in the water and it was all behind me.

When I do laps in the pool or at the end of dives I make it a point to occasionally have some mask off time and to open my eyes. Once you get past this in a comfortable setting you will probably be fine.

Good luck. Remember that we all adapt differently but with a little effort and patience you can do this.

Pete

PS clean the tub first.:11:

 

[cudachaser]

In my classes for the pool classes, I do a 2 min no mask scenario, followed by flooding the mask 3 times and at least 1 complete removal.

I always ask if anyone is wearing contacts and recommend they keep their eyes closed during these exercises. Option is open for non contact wearers. I wear contacts so I'm sensitive in this area.

For the ocean, I'll do something equal or less than the pool mask work depending on ocean conditions...and I do the exercise by surprise (no I don't yank their mask off!). I wait till the situation is right, no other issues going on, then swim over to the student and give the mask clear sign. Could be mid dive end of dive or start.

Before the ocean exercise, I always tell the students the chlorine in the pool is more painfull then saltwater since the salintity in their bodies is very close to saltwater and they beleive me.

 

[shark_tamer]

I'm also a contact wearer ... and during cert classes, you don't have to open your eyes uw, just taking off your mask and putting it back on ...

What the instructor did, he was right in front of me and after the required 1 minute passed, he just tapped on my shoulder to signal to put the mask back on ... easy as pie !!!!

One dive in the Carribean, my mask got kicked and was flooded ... did not loose the mask but it really susprises you !!!! I actually openned my eyes uw and did not loose my contacts ...

I now open my eyes uw because I noticed that when I close my eyes uw, I feel disoriented and I figure that one pair of contacts is worth not panicking !!!!

So now I dive with 1 backup mask attached to my BC and 1 extra pair of contacts .... topside

.... 20 meters down is a long way to try to find your mask with your eyes shut !!!!

 

[Shasta_man]

What I was surprised to see is that it is not physically possible to "see" underwater with your eyes open. It has to do with the magnification and light bending effect of traveling through water.

I'm not saying that you see blank, I'm saying that you see a very blurry view. You can make out objects fine but smaller objects will be a difficult to discern exactly and tell the edges of.

There are no tests to take off your mask and see underwater, except perhaps mask clearing where you can look at your mask to put it on correctly. That's unnecessary if you get familiar with it so you don't need to see to put it on.

 

[H2Andy]

What I was surprised to see is that it is not physically possible to "see" underwater with your eyes open.

everything looks blurry, true... but you can still spot a mask by its bulk and shape if you happen to be looking for a mask