Is there a situation in which you would intentionally remove your mask?

[HowardE]

But is there a situation on a dive where removing your mask temporarily would somehow be helpful?

If/When my mask fogs I'll lick it on the dive, and that usually fixes the problem.

 

[tomfcrist]

On a serious note, yes....many times have i taken a mask off underwater. Usually to remove the full face comms mask that i was communicating to the captain with and putting on a regular mask to finish my dive.

 

[boulderjohn]

I like the one about taking it off to blow your nose--but I never have to do that as I avoid diving with a cold and outgrew all my bad allergies in my 30s.

Here's the explanation.

I started a thread on this a couple of years ago, and found that others have had the same experience. On perhaps 10% of my dives--whether in a pool, fresh water lake, or ocean--at some point in the dive my head will suddenly get congested, with no warning before that. Sometimes I have an urge to sneeze, and other times I want to blow my nose. As soon as the dive is over--I mean within a minute or so of surfacing--it all goes away. Because the nose blowing is not all that effective, I usually put up with it now. I have found it has never caused anything like a reverse block.

 

[JamesK]

I will sometimes take mine off on safety stops just to relax a little more. I like having the water on my face. I close my eyes and just relax with the mask off exhaling through my nose.

 

[beaverdivers]

Of course, for the classic U/W shot w/ shades!

 

[buddhasummer]

when I was younger sometimes hair would get under the skirt so Id take off, now a days I have very little hair so problem solved. Although given the choice between hair and leaky mask and no hair and no leaks id take the hair and leaks every time. Ahh hair happy days....

 

[freewillie]

I was on a dive once where one of my buddies had used a defog that was new to him. Partway through the dive, he rolled over on his back to look at the bottom of something, and got his eyes full of water with defog in it. He got an awful reaction -- his eyes stung horribly and turned bright red. He took the mask off, rubbed it and rinsed it repeatedly, but we had to call the dive and go in. We guided him, and he kept his mask off.

I know it's not new idea, but I've been in the habit of using plain old baby shampoo as my defog of choice. Much cheaper and doesn't sting the eyes as much. Works great. I was actually introduced to the idea on a snorkel charter, that's what they used and that's good enough for me.

 

[freewillie]

I was on a dive once and for some reason my mask kept flooding. Not just a small trickle, really kept filling up quickly. Tried to get a finger and pull the hood around the seal but didn't work. I got so fed up with the leak I just pulled the whole mask off and put it back on. That seemed to do the trick and didn't have any problems after that.

Later I found out that if the mask strap is too high or low it will also interfere with the seal. Since then I've actually loosened the strap slightly and pay more attention to the position of the strap when I put the mask on. Haven't had a problem since but always good to have the skills just in case.

 

[BabyDuck]

i can usually control snot wads & spit them out (remove & replace reg, usually. no need for larry to have to clean that out of my reg exhaust during servicing...), but i've had to take the mask off & wipe my face when i 'lost' one out my nose.

isn't that romantic?

 

[Bratface]

Why bother clearing out the mask before getting back on the boat? You would be surpised at how the other divers seem to get out of your way and let you sit down, when you have a bunch of flim hanging from your nose. Just an observation I have heard from a "friend".

Well Dsix36, I suppose I am just a little too shy to take off my mask and have a loogie stretch to my knee in front of other divers. (Yep, it happened once).