Frontpointer1000
Contributor
Couple of days ago I was diving a new to us high elevation (4300 feet) colder desert lake. My son and I dive with back up masks. Despite an anal retentive pre dive check, we didn't notice we had accidentally switched masks. (Everything is black except his back up:yellow).
Went through the list including:
Masks? Check.
Now it needs to be: MY mask #1, #2?
YOUR mask #1, #2?
So cold water, poor vis (4-5 feet at best), new area, I'm at 50 feet and this mask sucks! Leaking and fogging. After clearing every 2 min, So I pull it off and switch masks. My son is watching. No big deal. Continue the dive. Then he signs that he's switching his mask. Continue dive. No big deal.
We've practiced this drill so many times that it doesn't phase us at all. Likely most diverts on this forum would say the smells thing. I don't state this in any prideful way, it's just a product of drill drill drill. We practice this hanging upside down from a horizontal pole at 20 feet at a local dive spot. I hate that drill bc water gets in my nose but it made my son and I better divers (he's better at that drill than me, the turd).
Take home: we drill on every dive, and over time it becomes muscle memory so it takes the panic away.
Went through the list including:
Masks? Check.
Now it needs to be: MY mask #1, #2?
YOUR mask #1, #2?
So cold water, poor vis (4-5 feet at best), new area, I'm at 50 feet and this mask sucks! Leaking and fogging. After clearing every 2 min, So I pull it off and switch masks. My son is watching. No big deal. Continue the dive. Then he signs that he's switching his mask. Continue dive. No big deal.
We've practiced this drill so many times that it doesn't phase us at all. Likely most diverts on this forum would say the smells thing. I don't state this in any prideful way, it's just a product of drill drill drill. We practice this hanging upside down from a horizontal pole at 20 feet at a local dive spot. I hate that drill bc water gets in my nose but it made my son and I better divers (he's better at that drill than me, the turd).
Take home: we drill on every dive, and over time it becomes muscle memory so it takes the panic away.
. Redid dive 1 with the class just for underwater time, but didn't do the skills as I can do those easily. Viz was about 5-10 ft today depending on location in the quarry. Green void as some else here called it. I was always buddied with one of the instructors and held hands as the viz was so bad. Rain, hard rain, lots of mud. Ugh. No thunder or lightning so we kept diving.
