help!

[wsugoalie]

Hello, I'm new to the board and new to scuba in general. I'm slated to start classes in a few weeks and I was out in the pool tonight trying to master the skill of putting my face underwater (no mask) and breathing through my snorkel because I know in the class we have to breathe for one minute with no mask, just the regulator on the bottom of the pool.

Problem is...everytime I put my face under, the water would rush in through my nose and into my throat. This sounds wierd, but is there some special trick to mouth breathing underwater?? I thought I was breathing through my mouth, but I'm getting a ton of water up my nose.

Thanks!

 

[jbd]

Hello, I'm new to the board and new to scuba in general. I'm slated to start classes in a few weeks and I was out in the pool tonight trying to master the skill of putting my face underwater (no mask) and breathing through my snorkel because I know in the class we have to breathe for one minute with no mask, just the regulator on the bottom of the pool.

Problem is...everytime I put my face under, the water would rush in through my nose and into my throat. This sounds wierd, but is there some special trick to mouth breathing underwater?? I thought I was breathing through my mouth, but I'm getting a ton of water up my nose.

Thanks!

Just breath in gently through your mouth. If you tend to be a nose breather you may need to spend a few minutes using a nose clip until you get the hang of breathing gently only through your mouth. If you have one of those dry snorkles make sure that the dry feature hasn't become stuck or blocked in some way. If you are in a shallow enough pool you can try sitting or squatting sown in the water so that you are essentially vertical to start with.

Good luck

 

[goodknight411]

try floating face down without trying to breath through the snorkle first. After a while you'll get used to the sensation of the water in your nose. This makes a big difference when you try to use the snorkel (or it did for me, since i was used to the feel of the water, i could relax more) Then do like jbd said and breath gently through the snorkle.

 

[LeFlaneur]

Finally an advantage of going through life as a mouthbreather.

 

[MikeC]

Finally an advantage of going through life as a mouthbreather.

You too?? My GF had me see a doc because she thought something was wrong with me because I breathe thru my mouth... GRRRRR The doc checked me out and then told me "some people mouth breathe".

 

[computerdiver]

Yeah, Make sure you have your nose level with the ground, I had the same problem.