When mask comes off at 100 ft ......

[Rick Inman]

I'm one of those strange people who enjoy doing drills on a regular basis, so I've had my mask off a bunch in the last couple of years. Sometimes, when we take our masks off, we leave them off for a while, until we complete some drill, like a line ascent or something. If I lose it at 100', it's actually easier than at 10' to hold buoyancy due to the unforgiving nature of gas expansion shallow.

So I'm comfortable without my mask. However, in the real world, like others have said, i would just put on my spare mask.

I've used my spare mask in a real situation. My buddy's mask strap broke during a dive, so I just handed him my spare and off we went.

It isn't a natural feeling to breath with no mask underwater, and if suddenly found in that situation, a diver might get anxious, start breathing faster, become buoyant and not realize it. Which is why i like to practice it. You can get comfortable pretty fast, and then losing one is no big deal.

 

[twashowich]

No difference at 100 feet, 300 feet or 4 feet......

grab it and put it back on...and clear the mask as usual....Heck sometime I routinely take it off at depth because a did a crappy job of defogging the mask and I need to clear the fog...

 

[peterbj7]

The significance of depth is not how much is above you, but how much below. If your mask is gone and sinks out of sight you can forget about retrieving it. If you've had the foresight to carry a spare mask then simply put that on. If you do it quickly you may be able to find your original mask before it's lost.

But to paraphrase an adage from flying, a good diver can always get out of trouble, a really good diver never gets into trouble in the first place. If someone kicks you in the face it means you were too close to them. They may not have realised, but that's where your eyes are and you should have done.

 

[Allen Herron]

Just another reason I like diving my AGA full face mask. With the 5 point strap harness impossible to have it knocked off accidently.

 

[TSandM]

I don't think it's always possible to avoid getting kicked. When we dove walls in Indonesia, we had divers at various depths, and my husband had a diver (an assistant INSTRUCTOR) descend on his head. He couldn't see her coming, because she was above him.

At any rate, I'm in the "pull out your backup mask and put it on" camp. But that's in part because I use bifocals in my mask, and without them, I can't read my gauges. For that reason, I carry a backup mask on every dive, even simple little ones at home.

It is an excellent skill to practice, replacing a mask and clearing it. It is also a good skill to practice, using your buddy to help you through a no-mask ascent (although I would recommend doing this at first in fairly shallow water and not after you've been deep and gotten nitrogen loaded, because it is quite possible to lose control of an ascent if you haven't tried this before). Your buddy can give you hand signals to tell you when to go up (thumb turned up) go down (thumb turned down) or level off (hand moved back and forth). Once you relax and start to listen well, it's surprisingly easy to do this.

 

[Guba]

I'm not proud...I'll tell a story on myself.

The giant stride off the MV Fling (GOM) is a pretty good one, about seven feet. After entering the water and descent down the mooring line, I noticed some minor mask leaking and corrected it, thinking I had simply folded the skirt under or had some hair under it. The leaking recurred, though, and I continually had to clear the mask, which I did without touching it (just turning my had slightly sideways and up, and blowing). Well, at depth, it was flooding big time, so I decided to give it one great big puff...and blew my mask right off my face! It seems that upon entering, the mask strap had ridden up on top of my head-the only thing holding it to my face was ambient pressure. I don't keep my mask straps exceedingly tight, so I didn't notice it.
I caught the mask, laughed, and put it back on, making sure this time to snug the straps a bit more than normal. Losing a mask should not be considered catastrophic...just annoying.

 

[scubasaint]

Thanks everyone for the replies as it is good information. Like I said, I'm comfortable without a mask on and sometimes practice completely removing it and putting it back on. My main concern was first being able to find my mask, and if I couldn't, being able to see well enough to ascend properly. Having a good buddy should help with that though.

I especially like the idea of having a necklace attached to where if it is knocked off, it will not be lost. I've considered a spare mask, but it just seems that it would be too cumbersome to carry around. Do most people who carry a spare just have it attached to their BC somewhere?

 

[ScubaJeff123]

Getting the masked removed or removing the mask underwater is a basic diving skill that everyone should know how to perform. This should be like second nature. I was in Ginnie Springs in Florida this weekend and removed my mask to adjust the strap. Very simple.

 

[ianr33]

I especially like the idea of having a necklace attached to where if it is knocked off, it will not be lost. I've considered a spare mask, but it just seems that it would be too cumbersome to carry around. Do most people who carry a spare just have it attached to their BC somewhere?

If you wear a hood putting the mask underneath the hood pretty much gaurantees you will not lose the mask. Could still break it though.

I often carry a spare mask in a thigh pocket . Glued on pockets on my drysuit or X-shorts when wearing a wetsuit.

 

[spectrum]

I'd be a lot more concerned about loosing a mask in cold water.