Taking Mask off

[Scubaguy62]

A friend of mine had the same problem when it came time to practice the same skill. What helped her was that she practiced the skill outside of the class environment; we both sat on the steps of the pool (she had a couple of pounds in her weight belt to keep her sitting on the step) with only mask and snorkel, and without attaching the snorkel to her mask. She then removed her mask and continued inhaling through the snorkel and exhaling through her nose until she felt comfortable enough to inhale and exhale through the snorkel. I only monitored the position of the snorkel, the rest she did herself.

Because this was done in the shallow end, it also gave her the reassurance of not sinking while keeping a somewhat vertical attitude, much the same as kneeling on the deep end of the pool does, which is where you will do the skill with the class both in the pool and in open water. The only difference between the class and our practice was the breathing apparatus.

Good luck and by all means, stick with it. This is a fairly minor issue that you'll be able to overcome with practice.

Semper Safe,

Rick

 

[Tess]

You've got some great advice in this thread! I'll give you the same advice: go slowly! First of all I don't think you should be diving at all if you're uncomfortable having your face in the water. Diving means that you're going to be completely surrounded by water
with the surface 10 or 20 meters or so above. You need to
trust and love water before you go into something like that. And you wrote yourself that you're "just starting to like water".
If one of you're issues is being uncomfortable in water then you should take a break. I'm not saying that you're NEVER going to
be able to dive - because you will! But right now you should skip dive class and go to the pool or to the sea and just start swimming. Swim at the surface, swim close to the bottom, swim upside-down - have fun! Then, when you feel completely comfortable in the water - with your face in it and no goggles - then you can go on with diving. I'm not a diving instructor just an ordinary swimming instructor. But I know for sure that I wouldn't try to teach a kid how to swim if they're afraid of putting their head under water.

If you feel like you have more of a "nose-breathing-problem" than a "panicking-under-water-problem" then ignore the earlier lines. Breathing like you have a cold is what it's all about. Swimming (especially free-style) is also great to learn to control your breathing in water.

Good luck!

 

[Michael Schlink]

You might want to think about re-scheduling your OW weekend and allowing more practice time, or at least be willing to postpone if you aren't very comfortable with this skill. No mask breathing is very important. No one likes to talk about it but people get their mask knocked off-regularly-Practice, Practice, Practice-then when everything, ALL your skills are smooth and easy then schedule your OW dives-Good Luck-M

 

[gerardnealon]

many people have this problem so dont worry about it. Here is what helps me, maybe you can try it. The second the mask gets removed off your face dont inhale right away. (NEVER HOLD YOUR BREATH) but for like 2 seconds just get used to the mask off and then very very slowly inhale while you concentrate on not inhaling through your nose. Eventually you wont have to breath so slowly and wait those couple of seconds. Hope this helps. Good luck in the OW. You can do it!! Just keep practicing.

Gerard

 

[BabyAnnaRe]

Thanks to all who wrote and gave their opinions. I might have given the wrong impression when I said that I was just getting used to the water. I grew up in cold places where we never had a pool so I didnt learn how to swim until the Air Force put me in Okinawa. So I know how to swim. But I respect it deeply. My buddy doesn't seem to have any problems except with his ears but he knows that I am having a hard time with this. And he has said that if I am not comfortable with it then we were going to cancel until the next trip which was in June. So I know it will take time. I will conquer this problem and move on. I was scared snorkeling in Hawaii last year at this time. Now I wish I could go back and do it all over again. The things I missed. So even if i get all pruny and purple, I will defeat this fear and learn to do it.
Thanks again all.

Besides...I guess there really is nothing wrong with holding my nose until I get under control. I have been called worse things than a sissy in my life. Ha ha.

I am going to practice tomorrow or Sunday so I will let you all know how I do.
thanks

 

[PnL]

I also have problem with getting water up my nose and it doesn't have anything to do with feeling uncomfortable with having water on my face - I'm just a heavy nose breather and I have trouble closing off the nasal passage way when I breath. I have no problems when I swim since I inhale when my face is out of the water and exhale continuously while my face is in the water. When I'm freediving I'm holding my breath so no water enters my nose. But when I'm on SCUBA I am always getting a little bit of water up my nose when there's water in the mask. Also, I have small air bubbles coming out of my mask continuously - even when I'm inhaling! I presume that its because I have my nasal passages completely open and the increased pressure in my lungs when I'm inhaling forces a little bit of air out my nose (??? speculating here).

I find that only practice helps me and I have to make a concerted effort to not have air going through my nasal passages - and that doesn't always work 100%. When I take showers I breath through my snorkel in attempts to control my breathing, but I still haven't figured out what I need to do to stop breathing through my nose. Although I would like to figure it out it hasn't been a problem as I breath out my nose when without a mask and I pinch my nose shut with my fingers when I need to. Also, I have tried Walter's "breath through a straw" method, but that doesn't really work for me since when I drink through a straw I close off my throat and use my cheek muscles to create a vacuum ... can't breath very well when you're doing that I think with time this will resolve itself.

I just wanted to point out that just because a diver has problems with getting water up their nose doesn't necessarily mean they feel uncomfortable with having water on their face. Maybe there is some type of condition that creates a "more open" nasal passage??

 

[BabyAnnaRe]

Well. I didnt drown and I am here to talk about it. I found it hard to practice with a snorkel. So I put the regulator in (the best one I have used yet) and took off my mask. I actually had to hold my nose until I got under control and then I could let go and as long as I looked down the bubbles didnt go up my nose and all was fine. I am now having difficulty flooding my mask without getting water up my nose. First time that has been a real problem for me. So now I need to practice that some more too. But I am not so fearful now. I think being able to see underwater because there was more light might have helped some. But. At least I know I can. I just need to keep practicing. All that airflow that the reg put out was great and I didnt have to try to breathe too hard. I know that helped alot. so thanks all for the great advise.

 

[PnL]

B.A.R. - Glad you had a positive experience! Keep practicing and it should get better ... I'm hoping it will for me and that it will get to the point where I don't have to think about it when I remove my mask. Also, I wear contacts so I have to keep my eyes closed, which probably doesn't help.

Good luck!

 

[dbulmer]

PNL,
Try doing the mask removal in mid water and slow your movements down. I find that if I have something else to think about rather than mask removal that it's a lot easier -ie in mid water if I breathe too hard my buoyancy starts moving. When I am thinking about buoyancy the mask removal woes disappear and I have another problem to think about!!!!!

BAR,
When you flood your mask do it very slowly - let a trickle come in first (particularly if you are in cold water) , exhale thru' your nose a bit, remove the mask and then inhale gently. Don't rush the drill - take your time. It does get easier with practice.

And well done to you for sticking at it!. I was terrified of this drill once and although I can do it a lot better now with practice, it's still something that I don't like.

BTW it is a lot harder with a snorkel - if you can do it with a snorkel you can do it anytime

 

[bubblesdame]

Hi

which agency are you training with e.g. PADI, BSAC, SSI. Swimming with no mask and no air sounds scary to me!! It is certainly not a standard within the PADI Open Water Course.