Not yet certified, needing help!

[Kelly Schroeder]

Hello everyone! I'm Kelly. My family is really into scuba diving and recently signed all of us up for it... I gave up on my open water course.. I am having SERIOUS mask clearing issues.. This may be very amature for you all, but I could really use some help.. I want to do this, everything else I've done fine, but I can't clear a mask without sucking in tons of water through my nose... All I want to do is surface. I had my pool trainer help me out but that was 6 months ago and he's not around now... ANY help would be appreciated!

 

[Jax]

Hi, Kelly! :wavey:

Kelly, are you okay with your face in the water? Like swimming, etc.?

How about snorkeling without a mask? It could put you in the mind set of not breathing through your nose. In a pool, do a few laps, get comfortable with it. Just you, no one else, no pressure of holding anyone else up.
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Then, put your mask on in the shallow end, just under the surface. Not the strap, just the mask, hold it there. Clear it. Stand up. Repeat. Again and again.



Bathtub works, too, btw. Pool is better for exercise, and comfort.

Disclaimer - not an instructor, but it worked for me.

 

[hypertech]

Try practicing in a bathtub. Put your face in first, then put the mask on and clear it. Use your snorkel if you need to be able to take a couple breaths to clear all the water out.

For some people, its not so much the water as it is the sudden temperature change on the nose which makes them react. You can lessen this by flooding slowly from the top of the mask. To do this, start as horizontal as possible and break the seal near your forehead. This will let the water slowly come up over the nose rather than rushing in swiftly from the bottom.

Practice practice practice is the key to becoming comfortable with it. Remember, you can swim without a mask, so water in your nose is not a big thing. Its just a new thing to get used to.

 

[Insta-Gator]

Keep looking down so there is a bubble in your nostrils while breathing trough you mouth.

Practice a lot in the shallow end so you can focus solely on the mask exercise. You'll know when it's time to get a little deeper in the pool.

Practice makes perfect.

Don't beat yourself up. It happens to most folk.

 

[koozemani]

Having your nose broken a few times gets out of the nose breathing habit. But seriously, the gf had the same issues. Watching a bunch of the YouTube videos helped some, but it came down to alot of patience and practice. She ultimately did it, it wasn't pretty, but she got through and still practices.

In the end, she ended up pinching her nose through her mask on the inhales, and with her split lens mask, she would clear one side at a time. It was pretty hilarious to watch but she got through the class. It not quite so painful to watch nowadays, but she hits the pool before every trip to practice skills.

 

[TSandM]

To start with, do you know how to switch between breathing through your nose, and breathing through your mouth? Try this: Put your hand over your mouth. Now breathe out into your mouth until your cheeks puff up. Now let the air out through your nose. Now puff up your cheeks again. Alternate between the two, until you can clearly feel what it is that you do to route the air to one place or the other.

Now, try standing in chest-deep water, with your snorkel at hand (no mask). Try putting your face in the water and breathing through the snorkel. Be careful to use the "mouth" setting you discovered during the first exercise.

Once you can breathe without a mask comfortably, add the mask. Now, you can (still standing in the shallow water) put your face in the water and flood the mask. Stand up, put your fingers on the top of the mask, and exhale gently through your nose. If you are getting water in the back of your throat, tilt your head a little bit so you are looking slightly down. Your mask should clear without choking you.

Once you can do this as described, you are ready to try mask clearing underwater. Remember that, if you are upright, tilting your head back will allow water to run down into your throat. You NEED to tilt your head back, if you are in a horizontal, diving position; but if you are sitting or kneeling, you do NOT. Focus on a steady, gentle stream of air into the mask. You do not need to blast the water out -- you just need to REPLACE it with air.

You can actually do almost everything I've described in a hot tub or even a bathtub, so you don't really even need a pool, and you can practice this as much as you need to at home, until you are very relaxed in doing it.