Mask incident

[sharpenu]

While drifting along on my 1st dive of the day today, I had been dealing with a leaky mask. We have been diving for several days. Even though it was the first dive today, it was the 7th dive in the last 4 days. It was an annoyance in that I had to clear it every minute or 2, as it was filling with sea water. No problem, right?

40 minutes into the dive, the mask flooded. Rapidly. I reached up to clear it and it wouldnt clear. I then realized the problem. The left side lens was gone. It had fallen out. Banging on my tank to get my buddy's attention, I placed a hand over the hole and exhaled over my nose while tilting my head to the left. This forced enough air from the right eye so that I could see my buddy, who took a moment to realize my problem. I then took stock of my situation. Depth was 90 feet, I had 24 minutes of NDL left on the EANx30 I was breathing and I had 800psi left of my 3500 psi tank remaining.

My buddy came over, so I grabbed on to her arm with my right hand and closed my eyes. I then used my left hand to let all of the air out of my BC, so she could control our ascent. I then hung motionless on to her arm, squeezing it every so often so she would know I was still concious. After what seemed like an eternity, we broke the surface (we even did the safety stop). We took it very slow coming up, taking 8 minutes to surface.

Lessons learned
1 Even a small issue can be a warning of a bigger problem. Be careful.

2 Dont panic. As long as you can breathe, there is plenty of time to think about the problem and solve it.

3 Keep your buddy nearby. She was only 15 feet from me, which for an open water drift dive in 60' of vis was ok. More hazardous the dive, the closer they should be.

All in all, I feel like we handled it pretty well. Freak incident, though.

 

[ShakaZulu]

Very well done, you took control of the situation and didn't panic (Stop, breath, Think and Act). What kind of mask was that btw???

 

[MikeFerrara]

Good job.

can I make a couple of comments though? You knew I would anyway right?

Carry an extra mask.

I don't always for a shallow quarry dive but for about everything else I do.

Don't let all the air out of your bc. If you were in deeper water and some how your buddy dropped you you'd want to be neutral.

Let your buddy hold a hand and give you up/down/level off signals and control your own buoyancy.

Don't close your eyes.

Even without the signals you can see well enough to follow a fuzzy buddy, if your eyes can take the salt.

You're right all you need is something to breath. You need a mask to breath not to dive.

 

[Diver0001]

While drifting along on my 1st dive of the day today, I had been dealing with a leaky mask. We have been diving for several days. Even though it was the first dive today, it was the 7th dive in the last 4 days. It was an annoyance in that I had to clear it every minute or 2, as it was filling with sea water. No problem, right?

40 minutes into the dive, the mask flooded. Rapidly. I reached up to clear it and it wouldnt clear. I then realized the problem. The left side lens was gone. It had fallen out. Banging on my tank to get my buddy's attention, I placed a hand over the hole and exhaled over my nose while tilting my head to the left. This forced enough air from the right eye so that I could see my buddy, who took a moment to realize my problem. I then took stock of my situation. Depth was 90 feet, I had 24 minutes of NDL left on the EANx30 I was breathing and I had 800psi left of my 3500 psi tank remaining.

My buddy came over, so I grabbed on to her arm with my right hand and closed my eyes. I then used my left hand to let all of the air out of my BC, so she could control our ascent. I then hung motionless on to her arm, squeezing it every so often so she would know I was still concious. After what seemed like an eternity, we broke the surface (we even did the safety stop). We took it very slow coming up, taking 8 minutes to surface.

Lessons learned
1 Even a small issue can be a warning of a bigger problem. Be careful.

2 Dont panic. As long as you can breathe, there is plenty of time to think about the problem and solve it.

3 Keep your buddy nearby. She was only 15 feet from me, which for an open water drift dive in 60' of vis was ok. More hazardous the dive, the closer they should be.

All in all, I feel like we handled it pretty well. Freak incident, though.

Nice work!!!

R..

 

[DandyDon]

Nice save. I had a leaky mask when I started Scuba, a cheapie from a Sporting Goods store. Turned out it didn't have a silicone skirt, and I had used it snorkeling for a year or two, so the plastic had pulled away.

I always dive with two masks now*, both fairly expensive with Bi-focal lenses, but I figure it take what it takes. Okay, I bought the red lens mask for good viz and the yellow lens mask for night, deep, etc., so I have 2 expensive masks for another reason, too. It's gets more expensive when your lucky enough to live & dive into your 50s, and anyone who doesn't wear bi-focals in their 50s is bluffing, I think.

* 2 masks, 2 tanks, 2 seperate regs, 2 lights, 2 audio singnalling devices, 2 sausages, 2 computers, and more spare stuff in my bag. Takes me a while to board.

 

[MikeFerrara]

.

I always dive with two masks now*, both fairly expensive with Bi-focal lenses, but I figure it take what it takes. Okay, I bought the red lens mask for good viz and the yellow lens mask for night, deep, etc., so I have 2 expensive masks for another reason, too. It's gets more expensive when your lucky enough to live & dive into your 50s, and anyone who doesn't wear bi-focals in their 50s is bluffing, I think.

Both my masks are bi-focals. I wouldn't have a chance to read a gauge without them. Not even with a giant display.

* 2 masks, 2 tanks, 2 seperate regs, 2 lights, 2 audio singnalling devices, 2 sausages, 2 computers, and more spare stuff in my bag. Takes me a while to board.

ok but I don't use any computer and where I usually dive an audio signaling device wouldn't do you any good.

 

[sharpenu]

An extra mask was on the boat. For anything but caves or deep penetration of wrecks, I still dont see the need for being redundant to the point of having spare everything, even with what happened. Your best safety backup is between your ears. I dive with as little gear as possible. This reduces task loading, IMO.

I closed my eyes, because the salt water makes it too painful to see anyway.

Remember that controlling bouyancy is impossible without any reference to up/down. I couldnt even see my gauges. Im not that negative with no air in the BC, anyway. I only wear 4 lbs and my tank is -1lb. With no air in my BC in saltwater I am neutral at 20 feet. Im not wearing a wetsuit, so compression isnt much of an issue, I am nearly neutral at depth.

This could have been a bad situation, if an inexperienced diver had been involved. She has (I am guessing- she doesnt keep a log) well over 500 dives behind her. I am truly grateful that my dive buddy and I both remained calm and took what could have been an ugly problem and made it manageable. What amazes me most is that there was little communication between us. I banged to get her attention, pointed to my mask, and then held her arm through the ascent. No other communication. What a great dive buddy she is!

 

[DI_Guy]

Well done Sharpenu... you responded like a pro... I carry a cheapy "spare mask" in my BCD. ( There are some "frameless" ones that can almost be folded. )

Also, (if you ever lose your mask) have you ever tried cupping your hands over your eye brows and blowing out your nose to create an air pocket. It works well enough to read your gauges. Give it a try. I've practised it and have down pat now. ( BTW... my computer is in my console, not on my wrist ) lol

 

[MikeFerrara]

Remember that controlling bouyancy is impossible without any reference to up/down. I couldnt even see my gauges.

Not exactly true. With practice you might be surprised. You do have references but they aren't the ones that you use most often. When we practice this we do it eyes closed and with no help. Sometimes it goes better than others but with eyes open or with direction from a buddy it's a snap.

Im not that negative with no air in the BC, anyway. I only wear 4 lbs and my tank is -1lb. With no air in my BC in saltwater I am neutral at 20 feet. Im not wearing a wetsuit, so compression isnt much of an issue, I am nearly neutral at depth.

Makes a big difference since you were pretty neutral anyway. We are always diving in full thickness wet suits or dry suits and most often doubles. If we had much gas in our tanks and let the gas out of the wing we'd be gone.

This could have been a bad situation, if an inexperienced diver had been involved. She has (I am guessing- she doesnt keep a log) well over 500 dives behind her. I am truly grateful that my dive buddy and I both remained calm and took what could have been an ugly problem and made it manageable. What amazes me most is that there was little communication between us. I banged to get her attention, pointed to my mask, and then held her arm through the ascent. No other communication. What a great dive buddy she is!

As I said...good job.

 

[aquaoren]

Thank you for sharing the incident.
Well done.