Learning to deal with a flooded mask

[beadlip]

Thanks everyone for your advice. I hope to get some time in a friends pool in the next week so I can get on with this! I know that most of my issue (if not all) is mind over matter.


Mrs Fic - Just for the record, the instructors never bullied me about the mask flooding issues. They would not let me go on after getting sick from swallowing so much pool water! They were very encouraging and spent as much one-on-one time as they could with me. They were great instructors and I hope I get to go back and work with them soon!! I want to dive!!

 

[Jason MacKenzie]

Glad to find this post! Today was day 2 of my initial training and this is the exact issue I had. Weird, day 1, I was fine and went through skills fine in the pool and 1 open water dive. Day 2, not so much. Really frustrated today!!

 

[joe10540]

I've never had trouble with mask clearing but after growing out my facial hair I spend a lot more time clearing out water than before. If you really want to practice and get comfortable with water in the mask do something that will keep the mask from sealing properly to your face. Don't ruin a good mask but stick something in the seal or buy a dollar store mask and cut the skirt a little. You can snorkel with it in a pool and soon enough you won't even notice the water and you'll be clearing without thinking about it! Just my $0.02 but it might work for you.

 

[MichaelMc]

You can also practice for breathing with water around or in your nose at the bathroom sink. Practice breathing through your mouth while wearing a mask half full of water. It can be messy so a few minutes a day in the tub or shower is an option as well. It will make your class go much smoother.

Start by filling your mask half way with warm water and then donning it and breathing through your mouth. You will soon get that annoying sensation of water up your nose. Which you may well get in a mask clear with lots of bubbles around. Work at it until you are used to the sensation and comfortable breathing that way while jostling the water by moving your head around. As a practice bonus, it will likely clean out your sinuses for the day.

Fresh or overly salty water stings, but 1 teaspoon of non-iodized salt in 2 cups warm water should not. Non-iodized salt is used for sinus wash with neti pots. You should be able to get it at the drug store or vitamin department. This is an easier way to start, but the pool or any lakes will be freshwater, and could be cold, so best to move to dealing with that as well.

Take precautions that the water you use is safe for your sinus and nasal passages, sometimes I have boiled water and let it cool, sometimes I’ve used warm tap water. Neti Pot Solution| Saline Solution for Neti Pots | MyLifeStages.

 

[gypsyjim]

Recently I sat through a seminar put on by DAN about preventing dive accidents.
One interesting thing that was suggested was that, every time you first get in the water, do so with your mask off.
If you place your reg in your mouth, then dip your face under the water without the mask, and then put the mask on, and clear it, you do 2 things:
1. Your face is a major part of your body's thermostat, so this quickly adapts your body to the water temperature.
2. By clearing the mask each and every time you don it, clearing it will become second nature, something you will be able to do instinctively.

I have begun doing this because I do agree that there is no such thing as too much practice of such skills.

A few years ago I was a buddy for a friend doing an intro to tech. As part of his class we had to deploy a line through a structure, then return and retrieve that line with our masks off.
THAT was an amazing experience, that I will always remember. Total silt out, zero viz, but if you just slow down and think each step through, it is very doable.

 

[gypsyjim]

I've never had trouble with mask clearing but after growing out my facial hair I spend a lot more time clearing out water than before. If you really want to practice and get comfortable with water in the mask do something that will keep the mask from sealing properly to your face. Don't ruin a good mask but stick something in the seal or buy a dollar store mask and cut the skirt a little. You can snorkel with it in a pool and soon enough you won't even notice the water and you'll be clearing without thinking about it! Just my $0.02 but it might work for you.

I have had a full beard since I was in my teens. I shave just about half the area between my nose and upper lip. This helps.
There have been times that I have also tried Vasoline, which is messy, but works, or a children's roll on sunscreen, which worked very well.

A small leak is no big deal, and I will even deliberately crack the seal just a bit sometimes, so I can rinse away any fog.

A couple of years ago I found a mask lens on the bottom at BHB, so new that the plastic US Divers sticker was still on the lease. I picked up the lens and showed my buddies, thinking to myself: "I'll bet that somebody's mask is leaking far worse than mine!"