bgonderi
Registered
Most of the other replies have suggested ways to overcome the problem, so I'm not sure I can add anything there.
Sounds like you had trouble clearing your mask after removing it completely (as opposed to just letting some water into it and then clearing it). Can you clear it OK with just a bit of water in it? Are you sure you're getting it back on OK after completely removing it? If you get hair under the skirt, or don't have the skirt seated properly, that makes it pretty difficult (if not impossible) to clear.
I had trouble the first few times I tried to empty an entire mask, but unfortunately, I can't really say how I overcame it. About all I can offer is that once you figure it out, it really becomes second-nature and you don't have to think about it at all. When I was initially doing the skill, I was trying to pull out on the bottom of the mask as well as push on the top. While this ended up working OK initially, I've found since then that you really just need to apply a slight amount of pressure to the top of the mask and exhale - no need to pull out on the bottom of the mask at all.
My wife had some major problems with her gear on our first pool session and ended up swallowing half the pool and getting sick. It was pretty tough for her to get back in the water the second day, but luckily, we had all the equipment issues straightened out by then, and everything went great.
One thing you might ask your dive shop is whether they'll let you hop in the pool the next time they're there to get in some additional practice, especially if you don't feel that you're getting your money's worth of instructor time. This really helped my wife (and me!) become more comfortable underwater, and gave us some extra time to work on skills.
Stick with it - the end results will be worth it! Good luck!
Sounds like you had trouble clearing your mask after removing it completely (as opposed to just letting some water into it and then clearing it). Can you clear it OK with just a bit of water in it? Are you sure you're getting it back on OK after completely removing it? If you get hair under the skirt, or don't have the skirt seated properly, that makes it pretty difficult (if not impossible) to clear.
I had trouble the first few times I tried to empty an entire mask, but unfortunately, I can't really say how I overcame it. About all I can offer is that once you figure it out, it really becomes second-nature and you don't have to think about it at all. When I was initially doing the skill, I was trying to pull out on the bottom of the mask as well as push on the top. While this ended up working OK initially, I've found since then that you really just need to apply a slight amount of pressure to the top of the mask and exhale - no need to pull out on the bottom of the mask at all.
My wife had some major problems with her gear on our first pool session and ended up swallowing half the pool and getting sick. It was pretty tough for her to get back in the water the second day, but luckily, we had all the equipment issues straightened out by then, and everything went great.
One thing you might ask your dive shop is whether they'll let you hop in the pool the next time they're there to get in some additional practice, especially if you don't feel that you're getting your money's worth of instructor time. This really helped my wife (and me!) become more comfortable underwater, and gave us some extra time to work on skills.
Stick with it - the end results will be worth it! Good luck!
Thanks everyone. Your encouragement and suggestions worked. I went to the dive shop yesterday and asked about pool time to practice my skills. A divemaster volunteered to go for 2 hours on Tuesday night. I hope I can practice my skills from Confined Dives 1, 2, and 3 one-on-one.
