Our First Pool Session

[spectrum]

After all that has been said I will only emphasize that this is a skill that gets easier with repetitive exposure.

Right now you don't like it. That's great, others can't do it at all and go home for good. So pat yourself on the back and just keep practicing it every free moment you have in the pool, the shower on in your bathtub. Believe it or not it can get to feel pretty good!

A wet unprotected face is something that has been bred into us as a deadly situation especially when you are asking your body to breath in this state. You shall adapt. Keep up the good work.

Pete

 

[JoeyU]

If you have a pool (only need 3' deep), then take your snorkel and mask, and see if you can borrow a weight belt. Put the weight belt on, and kneel in the pool so your mask is under water but you snorkel tip is above water. Flood the mask, and then clear it. You've got an infinite air supply as long as your snorkel is above the water. Practice it a couple of times.

(Actually see instructions in the link below for an even more specific description.)

Once you can do that, it's actually *easier* with a regulator, because you don't need to worry about the snorkel submerging. If you do it yourself in a pool, you can do it really slow. You can flood the mask and not even bother to clear it at first, just keep breathing through the snorkel, etc.

I followed a thread on this board advising that, and found that clearing my mask in class was really easy once i got the (harder) task of doing it with just a snorkel down. In fact, go to this link and look for the instructions by "Walter." That's basically what I did, and I was quite happy to have practiced it.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/new-divers-those-considering-diving/171-mask-clearing.html

Once again, thanks to everyone for all the great suggestions.

In addition to the great info in these threads, and the link above, I also found this thread from a major "nose breather". There is a ton of suggestions and info in this thread too.

Needless to say, I'm gonna try every method in all of these threads between now and Sunday to pass this task.

Thanks again to everyone here.

Joe

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ne...g-diving/248229-help-major-nose-breather.html

 

[JoeyU]

Thanks again to everyone.

Here's my first crack at it since reading everyone's suggestions.

First, I wore my mask around the house for about 20 minutes. I wanted to wear it longer, but I had family show up for Labor Day. Next, I got in the shower and filled my mask with water. then I put it on my face and held it there as long as I could. After about 3-4 noses full of water, I stopped doing that. Then, later today, I got into the pool and tried it with a snorkel. I still had water going up my nose. So I tried something a little different. I held my breath and went underwater, put my mask on full of water, and used what air I had in me to start clearing the mask. If I ran out of air, I would come up, breath through my mouth, and finish clearing my mask. I did not take my mask off until I fully cleared my mask.

I know this isn't fully correct yet because I'm holding my breath. But compared to where I was yesterday, I really feel like I'm going in the right direction.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I have done so far? Otherwise, thanks again to everyone on this board for helping me get over this hurdle!

Joe

 

[lmdtap]

Hi Joe,

I'm thrilled and amazed to say that I just completed my open water certification last weekend. I had extreme trouble with every mask skill. I couldn't partially flood, fully flood, remove/replace, or even breathe out through my nose or put my face in the water. I was the only person for every pool class who couldn't do a single mask skill. I can't believe my instructor didn't just say forget scuba. She continued to encourage me, and I tried. I did a private lesson with her and still wanted to bolt to the surface when water went into my nose and down my throat. I read tons of posts on this site, and tried Walter's suggestions, but still couldn't do it. It wasn't until I read the suggestion by TSandM ( I hope that is who made it) that you do the first few breaths with your head still titled down. It was just the advice I needed. That technique made a world of difference. You can flood and clear almost all the water in your mask without every having it go into your nose or down your throat. I went from 5 weeks of failure to literally overnight being able to complete every mask skill in a relaxed manner. On the off chance that you did get water up your nose and into your throat, I was reminded that you can cough into your regulator, which helps. My instructor gave me the okay for my open water dives and I had no problem and even cleared the mask multiple times when it wasn't necessary to demonstrate the skill. I was ready to quit scuba and if it wasn't for the head down suggestion I probably would have. Now I keep my head down for the first breath or two, get almost all the water out, and then tilt my head slightly back. By that point the water level is already almost below your nose. Good luck! I will say that it was worth all my struggles to have such an amazing experience diving this past weekend.

 

[FishOutUvH2O]

I had forgot about this thread. Thanks Imdtap for bringing it back up since I have a real world story to contribute.

As I wrote in my post in this thread, I had a huge problem with mask clearing in OW class, but learned to do it. It was still causing a good deal of anxiety in the check-out dives, but I fought through it and got my C-card. After my check-out dives I spent a lot of time in my swimming pool with a snorkel and a full mask just practicing mask clearing to become comfortable with it. Well it paid off. When we first got to Cozumel to dive with BlueXT, Christi (the owner) already knew we were newly certified. So she did what any professional outfit would do. . .She sent us out with Arturo, one of her Instructors and DM's and had us prove our skills before they would let us go out as normal divers. So out to Paradise reef we went. The first skill Arturo has us do was, you guessed it, mask clearing. He signaled to me to remove, replace, and clear my mask and without hesitation, or even a feeling of uneasiness, I ripped my mask off, waited a few seconds, then put my mask on and cleared it in one breath. At no time while doing it did I feel anything other than it was just another task. As easy as putting weights in my BC. So a little perseverance and a lot of practice can do wonders.

 

[CaptTrips]

First I want to say THANKS to everyone who posted on this thread. I thought I was going to have quit because of mask clearing. I choked on all three mask clearing skills (half, full, mask off) the second night of class (at 4ft and 10ft) then had the first open water the next morning. I did every other skill but refused to even try mask clearings. I found ScubaBoard by goggling “scuba water up nose” and am very grateful I did.

The three things I found here most helpful – 1) don’t give up 2) the shower trick, I stood under the spray and let water fill my mask and worked up to 5 minutes 3) that I was not the only one having the problem. I also found while practicing in the pool that I just needed to stop attempting clearing and just do things I was good at and I found fun.

The turning point was when my instructor told me to just sit at the bottom without my mask for 10 minutes. I thought he was nuts, here I could not do it with 12 oz of water in my mask, how was I going to do it with the whole pool of water around my nose. I tried it anyway, exhaled on the way down, took a very cautious inhale through the reg and could not believe it, no problem at all. I just kept telling my self if I can do it without a mask there is no reason I can’t do it with one on. I also pushed my mask as far down as I could to keep it from “crowding” the bottom of my nose.

I did mask clearing the last two pool classes, no problem and did the make up on my second open water dive 9 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico, 32 feet down. Anyone having clearing issues feel free to contact me.

Happy Diving Everyone