you lost your dive mask now what?

[Storker]

note to self, after a great dive take the mask off close to surface and see how bad salt stings the eye.

IME, it depends on the salinity. The somewhat more salty Mediterranean water stings my eyes slightly, while NE Atlantic water doesn't sting noticably. I lost my mask during one of my OW course dives (got it kicked off by one of the other students), and my first reaction was "hey, why is everything suddenly so blurry?" When I next saw my mask tumbling leisurely through the water in front of me, I didn't even think. I just reached out, took the mask, put it on, cleared it and continued the dive. No stingy eyes at all

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[rivers]

Signal buddy, reach into right drysuit thigh pocket, get out back-up, put it on and clear. continue dive.

 

[kathydee]

+ 1 for a back up mask in the right pocket & occasional drills to assure you can the the new mask on easily - issue solved

 

[Nemrod]

Unfortunately this is a skill you cannot practice in a chlorine pool. But, really, the saltwater might initially sting, but, man up or cowboy up or whatever. Most people are very tolerant of seawater, once they get past the psychological part/fear. You need to open those eyes to maintain orientation and direction. As far as carrying around every conceivable spare part, I have no room for that.

N

 

[CamG]

I deploy my back up mask then retrieve my lost mask.
If it is in Davy Jones's locker I move on with the dive or ascent.
If I am in a cave I deploy back up mask.

Salt water as said is uncomfortable for a few moments then you deploy your back up.
I think you see where I am coming from BACK UP.

CamG

 

[Redshift]

There was a recent thread similar to this where I don't think anyone writing there had lost a mask or knew someone who had lost one while diving... Mask malfunction did happen, but also rare and usually manageable...

 

[Doc Harry]

you lost your dive mask now what?

I reach into the pocket on my wetsuit and pullout my spare mask.

 

[genxweb]

During your open water class you should of learned how to swim and breath without a mask. This is so you can have experience and be calm if this ever happened in the open water. Though in all theory your buddy should be near by and should be able to help recover the mask. If you can not recover your mask you should be able to rely on your buddy to help you ascend and end the dive. That being said during my tech classes we practiced numerous times without masks to hold our stops. To work together for gas switches and so on. You learn to trust your dive buddy. Though you also learn about redundancy and that is why in my pocket you will always find a extra mask. a quick unzip and and I have a new mask on and ready to continue.

 

[agesilaus]

In the book Scuba Confidential, the author claims that a panicked diver who is OOA is likely to knock your mask off grabbing your primary reg out of your mouth. He also advocates using a long hose on the primary for this reason. He claims that this is likely to happen as that diver comes at you from above and behind you, since his first instinct will be to surface causing him to go up. And then he will turn around and snatch your primary.

I don't know what people think about the advice in this book. A lot seems to be common sense.

BK

 

[scubafanatic]

I recently added a compact spare mask (and pocket) to my kit for just such an event. I've never lost a mask yet (knock on wood!) but I decided it was something I should start doing, just in case I (or a buddy) do ever have such an issue.