you lost your dive mask now what?

[Meng_Tze]

Backup mask or buddy retrieves..............if neither.... abort dive.

 

[muddiver]

In So. Cal. where most divers do beach entries through, sometimes serious surf, masks get lost all the time.

I knew an instructor who made a really cool mask leash that you hung around your neck. The mask was clipped off with a fishing swivel which was just strong enough to retain the mask if knocked off. It worked really well, but I would be concerned with the possability of it getting cought on something and hanging you by your neck.

I would suggest making either a brake away neck strap or using a weak coard as the teather.

 

[hollywood703]

it also is a big difference in fresh water compared to saltwater...I can open my eyes all day long in fresh water and regularly will practice mask loss in fresh, however, in salt I dont practice as my eyes burn for a long time if opened(dont dive but one week a year in salt). Fresh water I could find mask replace and clear just fine...in salt however, after i regain my mask and clear, would probably have to call the dive to rinse my eyes out with fresh water and then could go in again.

 

[ClayJar]

There is also a technique of cupping a hand over an eyebrow then filling it with exhaled air allowing you to read your depth while making a controlled ascent.

I've still never met anyone who can pull that off. Personally, I couldn't focus on a gage that close to my face.

I pulled it off at the end of a goof-off dive at Ginnie Springs. It was quite a bit harder to get the hang of it than one would think, but I did manage to read my gauges. Trying to do it while hanging off a line would likely be impossible for me at present. :biggrin:

Actually, on that same dive, one of the things I tried was lost mask retrieval. I got the okay from my buddy and then tossed my mask away. A quick spin made sure I didn't go to it by dead reckoning. I looked for a minute or two and couldn't find the thing. Finally, I blindly signaled "my mask please", and my buddy retrieved it and handed it to me. I was actually taken aback by how difficult it was to try to find it.

Turns out, a snorkeling kid was watching us, and when I took it off and tossed it away, he apparently dove down and caught it. He apparently looked at my buddy with a "what's going on? I don't get it" look and handed the mask over. In the end, the mask didn't end up anywhere near where I'd "lost" it. (My buddy had a good chuckle while telling me all this, by the way.) Anyway, I took it as a good lesson that a lost mask might not be where you think you lost it, or it might not be retrievable at all.

Thankfully, I found a nice mask buried in the silt out in the Gulf. It cleaned up pretty well, and now I have an additional backup mask. :biggrin:

 

[altitudemike]

I also carry a spare low profile mask in my BC pocket. If I am wearing my wing I carry it in the leg pocket of my drysuit.

 

[Blackwood]

however, what is the sensation of opening your eyes in saltwater? is it painful?

Not even slightly. It stings me a little once I put my mask back on and my eyes dry out until the tears can clean out the salt. But eyes open in the water is fine.

I pulled it off at the end of a goof-off dive at Ginnie Springs.

But we've never met

Just now I put a piece of paper in front of my face as far away as half the width of my hand. I can't focus on it. I bet I could have before I got LASIK, though!

 

[Peter Guy]

Good information given here -- but the one thing I'll add is that you should practice maskless diving every once in a while. We were doing some warm water wall diving last year where the bottom was NOT reachable (more than 300 feet -- sometimes way more!) and, of course, we were in groups. It was not uncommon to all of a sudden find a fin too close to one's face as a diver either came up or down.

One of our group said "I don't know if I could handle getting my mask kicked off." My thought was, if you can't handle it, you have no business diving a "bottomless" wall.

So, practice swimming maskless with your buddy -- either eyes open or eyes closed, your call -- and see how it goes. It is one of those skills that might not be needed, but if it is, be prepared.

 

[OceanicRocks]

hey does anyone know where I can read a bit more about the technique of using air and a hand over your eye brow to see guages... I wopuld like to see proper technique. Is there a thread on this board?

 

[Rainer]

hey does anyone know where I can read a bit more about the technique of using air and a hand over your eye brow to see guages... I wopuld like to see proper technique. Is there a thread on this board?

I've tried this in the pool and it worked extremely poorly. For boat dives, I bring along a spare in my right thigh pocket. Practicing maskless ascents with a good buddy is also a decent idea. Trying to read gauges by cupping your hand and trapping air proved rather fruitless...

 

[Cave Diver]

Thanks guys... as you can tell I have a need to know different options. I'd love to hear more about the air traped in your hand above the eye. sounds like an interesting concept. question is does it work.

the other question... we all opened our eyes in a pool before. stings a little. however, what is the sensation of opening your eyes in saltwater? is it painful? I suppose you do what you have to.

The chemicals (chlorine) is what causes the stinging sensation in the pool. I used to swim in saltwater with my eyes open underwater quite a bit. I found that as long as my eyes were open underwater it really didnt bother me much. If I close my eyes and surface, when I opened them again was when it would really sting. If I surfaced without closing my eyes, it was hardly noticeable.

My summation is that if you surface with your eyes open, most of the salt washes out, but if you close your eyes you trap it in there, which increases the drying/irration effect.

YMMV.

I dive solely in clear tropical reefs and wear a black zeagle mask. All black.... if it was to fall on the white sand and assuming you can open your eyes and see a blurry vision than I would probablybe able to find it on my own if I had to but I would signal a buddy of the situation first.

You might be surprised how difficult it might be to spot...

I also wondered why I've seen a tether for the reg? the reg will never go far if kicked out of your mouth... and if that should happen you have several methods of retreaval. Practice in this case like anything else is key to keeping yourself sharp. It just seems to me that a tether for a mask is more of a necessity than a tether for a reg. Don't you?

I think a tether for either is pretty pointless. Good buddy skills and awareness will reduce the chances of getting a mask or regulator kicked off. Dont tailgate! If you're swimming NEXT to your buddy this really shouldnt be an issue. If you are diving without an attentive buddy, then you might want to consider a small backup mask, just in case. A tether is just one more thing to have to deal with and a possible entanglement hazard, etc, etc etc.

Good buddy skills and proper planning could go a long way to solving this problem without additional equipment.