Who carries an extra mask with them?

[shark.byte.usa]

Left thigh pocket for deep or solo dives, for shallow buddy dives generally not.

 

[Nemrod]

If I have gone to great effort to get to a local I carry back up equipment in the truck or on the boat or gear bag. I don't carry an extra mask or extra fin or extra BC or extra this or that in the water with me. On an open water, no deco profile the loss of a mask only means you will have to return to the surface without a mask which is no big deal, a good diver should be able to complete an entire dive with no mask if need be. Analog instruments with high contrast can be viewed underwater which is helpful. If you want to carry extras equipment by all means do so but I don't want sagging pockets and hanging pieces and the Christmas Tree look and all the drag and complication that results from runaway redundancy. N

 

[Cacia]

I don't want sagging pockets

I don't want any pockets.

I move best in the water with as little as possible. I would choose a snorkel over another mask for ocean dives up to 100 ft.

 

[Nemrod]

Yes Catherine, I don't want any pockets either, I hate them. It is just a place to gather un-needed junk that upsets balance and produces drag. Anything extra is just that--extra and not needed. N

 

[scarefaceDM]

Put this sinario into play. Diver wears contact or uses corrective lenses in mask. Looses mask. Cannot see properly or has eyes closed due to contacts. What then? Does that make them a bad diver? So you state.

Best to have a spare mask handy. Fins in the face happen mask straps break. best be prepared.

I agree less is more and streamlined to the max. If your configured right. Lowprofile masks are called for in this case. No runnaway redundancy if you are configure right.

On an open water, no deco profile the loss of a mask only means you will have to return to the surface without a mask which is no big deal, a good diver should be able to complete an entire dive with no mask if need be. Analog instruments with high contrast can be viewed underwater which is helpful. If you want to carry extras equipment by all means do so but I don't want sagging pockets and hanging pieces and the Christmas Tree look and all the drag and complication that results from runaway redundancy. N

 

[Nemrod]

scarfaceDM, "good" was not a good (lol) choice of words, granted, but I will stay with what I said, a diver should be able to complete a dive without a mask well enough to return safely to the surface with good comfort, contacts or whatever aside. If you have really bad vision such that you cannot see anything without your prescription then you better carry your extra mask. Most people are not that impaired. Maybe rather than a spare mask you could carry spare contacts. Don't they make cheap disposable ones nowadays--just asking--I don't need them so I am ignorant of contact issues. N

 

[scarefaceDM]

Loll good is gooder...loll...impaired probably not...Ignorant I would say not. Maybe a little arogant in your statment. Glad you have good vision and do not need any correction etc...hope you never do. Contacts are kind hard to put in water...best have a spare mask handy just incase.. for us folks whom are visually challenged to a point and need correction.

scarfaceDM, "good" was not a good (lol) choice of words, granted, but I will stay with what I said, a diver should be able to complete a dive without a mask well enough to return safely to the surface with good comfort, contacts or whatever aside. If you have really bad vision such that you cannot see anything without your prescription then you better carry your extra mask. Most people are not that impaired. Maybe rather than a spare mask you could carry spare contacts. Don't they make cheap disposable ones nowadays--just asking--I don't need them so I am ignorant of contact issues. N

 

[MikeFerrara]

Well.....

I usually carry an extra mask on cave dives and dives planed with staged decompression. Actually, the extra mask lives in the thigh pocket of my dry suit and all those dives are done wearing my dry suit.

On OW no-stop dives especially in warm water when I ight even be wearing a wet suit (with no pocket), I don't usually have a spare mask.

I can dive just fine without a mask especially if I can end the dive at any time but...I can't read.

I've had masks knocked off but I never lost one. I had a mask strap break on one dive but I finished the dive using the mask without a strap.

I do know one guy who claims to have had a turtle or something swim into his mask real hard and shatter it. I guess I can believe it because I had a turtle swim into my rib cage and knock the wind out of me. LOL but he missed the mask.

 

[Wayward Son]

I wear contacts. Normally in event of a flooded mask I will close my eyes so as to not lose them. However, if the mask becomes lost from me, I will gladly open my eyes & take my chances on the contacts. I keep an old pair in a lens case in my save a dive kit for that very reason, if I lose one or more during a dive I can put the old ones in once back on the boat or ashore.

I don't have any pockets to put a mask in. If I did I might consider carrying a spare, particularly in the winter when the water is colder.

 

[Nemrod]

scarface, I wear glasses and for the spare contacts I meant putting them in AFTER getting back to beach/boat or whatever. No big deal, I cannot read one of my regular buddy's computer, console thingy with my glasses on and on the surface. It has to many thngs going on so underwater it would be usesless with or without a mask, good old analog mechanical guages with big numbers and high contrast is what I need. I have a prescription X Vision BTW but I am hardly blind without it. N