Diving in the 60's

[Eric Sedletzky]

Guess it takes a double hose diver to spot it , the reg, which is a Healthways SCUBA, is upside down.

I saw that but you beat me to it.
First I saw the mouthpiece upside down, then I followed the hose back to the can and it's coming out pointing downward.
Her mask looks like it has no lens. The front looks distorted and I don't see the metal clamp ring or thumbwheel anywhere, or the glare from any glass. Maybe they dropped it on a rock and it shattered so they just cleaned it up the best they could and improvised for the shoot?

 

[boulderjohn]

His spear is pointing towards her. According to the Padi police, no masks on the head it can be a distressed diver signal.

PADI does not say that at all. Some misinformed instructors will say it, but it is not a PADI-approved position.

 

[Akimbo]

…Her mask looks like it has no lens. The front looks distorted and I don't see the metal clamp ring or thumbwheel anywhere, or the glare from any glass…

I think the mask is one of those swimming pool masks with a built-in snorkel and ping-pong ball valve (cut off on right of image). Most had plastic lenses and some were amber, sort of built-in sun glasses. It always amazed me that anyone though it was a good idea let alone spend the money for tooling to make it.

 

[DandyDon]

According to the Padi police, no masks on the head it can be a distressed diver signal.

An old instructor once threatened to give me mouth to mouth after seeing my mask on forehead. Maybe she was no older than me, but she looked tough - got my attention.

I don't think this girl was diving. She just delivered the glass bottles to the hero diver.

 

[fishi]

Besides glass bottles on rocks? Her mask will get last in the surf with one wave. His is secure on his forehead, where I wear mine - except the strap is low.

It's all fun and games until someone breaks a bottle.

 

[DandyDon]

It's all fun and games until someone breaks a bottle.

That's all coke had then, the deposit was only 2¢ I think, and we often saw them used as electric fence insulators. I think the deposit did go to 5¢. Nowadays we only see Mexican coke in glass. All of ours are corn syrup based, in plastic, no deposit no returns, most going to land fills. :sad:

What few soft drinks I buy come in cans, which I take to recycling along with applicable plastics.

 

[LoveOceanicGears]

PADI does not say that at all. Some misinformed instructors will say it, but it is not a PADI-approved position.

During my OW training, my instructor INSISTED everyone to hang mask on neck, not forehead. Besides distress diver signal, the other reason he gave is if you are on ocean surface with mask on forehead, ocean wave may knock it off your forehead.

And that's enough reason for me to follow his instruction.

 

[Skittl1321]

During my OW training, my instructor INSISTED everyone to hang mask on neck, not forehead. Besides distress diver signal, the other reason he gave is if you are on ocean surface with mask on forehead, ocean wave may knock it off your forehead.

And that's enough reason for me to follow his instruction.

Our instructors pulled the distressed diver BS. To the point they'd say things like "I see a diver in distress!" and wait until people moved their masks. The wave thing makes a lot more sense, and is a good habit to get into. Most of the instructors put theirs on backwards on their forehead though (so the strap is on the forehead). I like that, because I cannot handle things around their neck, but I admit I'm lazy and just put it on my forehead, or I take it off entirely and hold it if the waves are rougher and I don't want it knocked off. The strap (neoprene to protect my hair) is slightly bouyant if it gets knocked off. Although I'm doing better about keeping it on...but it fogs up on the surface in a second since I exhale through my nose.


The distressed diver thing is just ridiculous. If I'm floating in the water chatting with my buddy with my mask on my forehead, I am exhibiting no signs of distress. I exhibited GREAT distress during training. When I calmed down, I had to swim most of the pool to go retrieve the mask I had thrown off my face in an attempt to breathe. Neatly on the forehead? No way.

 

[Akimbo]

Fortunately, I don't remember any of the mask-on-forehead nonsense in the 1960s. It was more about giving people the understanding to think problems through, at least in my little sphere of visibility. I will take what passed for harassment dives any day over this kind of childishness.

 

[El Graduado]

I think the mask is one of those swimming pool masks with a built-in snorkel and ping-pong ball valve (cut off on right of image). Most had plastic lenses and some were amber, sort of built-in sun glasses. It always amazed me that anyone though it was a good idea let alone spend the money for tooling to make it.

I enlarged the woman's mask from the Coke ad and then began an on-line search for that model.


No luck so far, but that is because I got so distracted during the search. These types of mask/snorkel combos go back a long way:


The one above appeared on Scubaboard a few years back.


It seems that it took a few years before the designers of these things figured out that you didn't need to put the snorkel smack-dab in the middle. Must have been very distracting. Eventually, they refined the concept and diminished the number of cross-eyed divers they were creating.


After a while, they went to twin snorkels:

Below is the Dutch Princess Irene wearing one:


They got to be pretty popular:


Even Sandra Dee wore one in her movie "Gidget."



I found an example of this Riviera Cannes model:


And then realized I once owned a 1950s Riviera Monaco model:



I loaned it to a girl at the country club and she laid it down on the concrete edge of the pool and the convex, amber plastic surface got too scratched up to use anymore. I gave it to my little brother.

Anyway, it looks like they are still trying to perfect the mask/snorkel combo idea. Here is one that is currently on the market:



And below is a REAL Mickey-Mouse swim mask: