Mask off, do I really have to keep my Eyes open?

[g1138]

There was an accident and incident post here last year of a diver who found a woman w/ no mask, hung up on the reef by a taunt reef hook in heavy current. It was speculated that she turned her head to look back and the current swept her mask from her face.

So this in my mind says that there are certain conditions where you can lose your mask and have no buddy in sight AND you don't have to be on a tec dive for this to occur.
It also made me drill even harder to get any student I work with to be able to swim maskless without holding their nose.

If you do lose your mask you should be able to make a safe ascent unassisted should the need arise. You may have to hold your gauged up to your face, squint your eyes, or reference your bubbles. It doesn't have the 30ft/min per say, but you shouldn't be rocketing to the surface with your eyes shut either.

There are worse things than squinting your eyes open in a pool. Try it in cold water w/ 2 feet of viz, during a red tide w/ sand particles surging about. That hurts.

 

[RJP]

Have that many people lost a mask during a dive for eyes open vs. closed really be a point of discussion?

I've lost a mask frequently. Though, come to think of it, each time came right after my tech instructor showed me a wetnote page saying "LOST MASK."

:d

 

[redacted]

It is not really a question of how often you lose a mask. It is a matter of knowing, without a doubt, that losing a mask is no big deal.

 

[RonFrank]

There was an accident and incident post here last year of a diver who found a woman w/ no mask, hung up on the reef by a taunt reef hook in heavy current. It was speculated that she turned her head to look back and the current swept her mask from her face.

What you describe is the woman at 4 corners in Palau who died 7-8 years ago after loosing her mask. She was not alone but drowned when she freaked out. This was a writeup from the 'Lessons for Life' column in Scuba Diver long ago maybe 2004. There was not speculation she plain and simple lost her mask, freaked out, spit out her reg and drowned. As you describe it down to the reef hook I am betting this story has become Legend!

I wear contacts and never carry a spare mask any more. I've been kicked in the face and had my mask knocked numerous times but never lost one. If I lost a mask I would survive.

Mask drills are something everyone should practice every now and then. If you hate mask drills then practice them until you no longer hate them. Mask loss may not happen much but mask flooding can and will happen.

 

[boulderjohn]

I've lost a mask frequently. Though, come to think of it, each time came right after my tech instructor showed me a wetnote page saying "LOST MASK."

How nice of your instructor. Mine just peeled our masks off. On one training dive we did, but my buddy and I had to ascend and do deco stops after we each had both our primary and backup masks removed. We were thus trained to react to a scenario in which an event neither of us had ever heard of happening happened four times.

Yes, we should prepare for foreseeable emergencies, but I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that the likelihood of two divers losing four masks on one dive is relatively remote.

 

[Randy43068]

that sounds like my GUE instructor, way back when.

How nice of your instructor. Mine just peeled our masks off. On one training dive we did, but my buddy and I had to ascend and do deco stops after we each had both our primary and backup masks removed. We were thus trained to react to a scenario in which an event neither of us had ever heard of happening happened four times.

Yes, we should prepare for foreseeable emergencies, but I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that the likelihood of two divers losing four masks on one dive is relatively remote.

 

[Laurie S.]

When I did my pool training, we were told to remove our masks and swim the length of the pool along the bottom. All three of us wore contacts, so they said to close our eyes and feel our way along the tile stripes. I thought it was rather silly since I always opened my eyes in a pool and even in the ocean (but not with my contacts in). I did the drill and it did something wonderful for me. I had been greatly bothered by the bubbles coming out of my regulator in front of my face, but once I couldn't see them, it stopped bothering me and never did again. One of the other students said the same thing happened for him.

BTW, I'm not worried about losing my soft contacts, but that salt water sure makes them burn like the dickens! LOL

 

[SeahorseDeb]

that sounds like my GUE instructor, way back when.

When I recertified, the instructor had us individually kneel on the bottom of the pool and then he came in behind us and ripped our masks off. I wear contacts, can see people, but not clear enough to pluck their eyebrows. I was told it was a skill that their shop decided to incorporate into the training. Whatever, but I knew it was coming. I've heard more people grumble about taking their masks off, but little discussion about breathing and exhaling on the controlled ascent to the surface. I don't think this skill is practiced as much as the dreaded mask removal. Am I alone in this thought? Seems to me it is vitally important.

 

[vladimir]

As has been noted, you won't lose your soft contact lenses by opening your eyes underwater. If you have the 1-day disposables, as I do, they are cheap enough to dispose of between dives, as necessary, in favor of a fresh pair. You don't want to continue wearing them once they've soaked up some of the ambient water.

 

[AfterDark]

Ya know if ya don't wear a snorkel you can put the mask strap under your hood (if you wear one) and make it very difficult to lose your mask.