PADI Instructors

[Azza]

When wearing my mask on the surface the glare from the sun gets to me and I cant see anything if looking in that direction, so the back of the head seems like a logical place. Its no more likely to get washed of by waves in that position than if it was on my face.
Besides my back-up around my neck prohibits me from leaving it around my neck.

 

[Walter]

it is taught that is the signal for distress and we need to agree to keep it as such ...

No. You are completely mistaken. It is not nor has it ever been a signal of distress. It can be a sign of distress if combined with other signs. When someone is in distress, they should be encouraged to leave their mask in place. Anyone who teaches someone in distress to place their mask on their forehead is risking their student's life.

So how does one get their mask around the back of their head when the strap is under their hood??

One doesn't, but then why would one put their mask under their hood?

 

[teknitroxdiver]

One doesn't, but then why would one put their mask under their hood?

So that if/when you get kicked in the face by another diver, or run into something, your mask just gets dislodged instead of drifting off in the current while you paw around on the bottom trying to find it.

 

[Don Burke]

One doesn't, but then why would one put their mask under their hood?

In one aquarium I dive, Tautog will grab mask straps and pull the diver sideways. Wearing the mask under the hood prevents that.

 

[Walter]

So that if/when you get kicked in the face by another diver, or run into something, your mask just gets dislodged instead of drifting off in the current while you paw around on the bottom trying to find it.

How does that differ from the vast majority of my dives when I don't wear a hood? I've been bumped and kicked over the years, but I've never lost one yet. A mask over the hood fits and seals much better than one under the hood and it's much easier to put on and take off.

 

[teknitroxdiver]

Well I guess it's a personal opinion thing, I find that my mask fits just as good under the hood, and if there's a way to add a bit of 'insurance', however small, why not?

 

[Walter]

Because it doesn't fit as well for me and it's a PITA. OTOH, if you like it, go for it.

 

[diverbrian]

Because it doesn't fit as well for me and it's a PITA. OTOH, if you like it, go for it.

Depends on the situation. Read the beginning of Deep Descent and you see why some wreck divers advocate the "mask strap" under the hood. I would hate to be the lady that was at 240 ft. inside the Andrea Doria when someone crashed into her and dislodged her mask. I seriously doubt that she would have found her mask had the it been outside of her hood and fallen into the silt cloud generated by the digging for artifacts that the divers were doing.

Personally, I carry a spare mask in my drysuit pocket for just such an emergency (even though I have not yet needed it). I don't like the mask strap under the hood either. But, I can see why divers do it.

 

[Chocoholic]

DId anyone see that incredible Discovery HD dive show in the springs of Florida. All of the cave divers were wearing their masks turned around backwards when they were waiting to enter the water, and I thought "that looks really strange" but it must work for them. They went for miles in the underwater caves and were under for 12 hours, holy cow! It was so beautiful especially in high def.

 

[String]

Mask under hood doesnt work too well for me as it creates a gap between the hood and my face and i get noticably colder there on a dive than with the stap over the hood.

Also topical had 2 paniced diver incidents on the surface this weekend, in one occasion the mask remained on the person and the other the mask was totally removed from head. Not once was the mask left on forehead by the diver in distress. (unlike the 5 other people in various pairs who werent in distress)