clearing mask harder at depth?

[Kim]

HOW THE ---- CAN YOU CALL YOURSELF A SCUBA DIVER AND USE A PURGE VALVE MASK?

Flamed enough?

Don't you still need to flood the new mask to de fog also? The purge does make it easier, you can clear with your face down, although I don't use one.

I either clear or flood and clear so much I don't even think about it. (Some days those wrinkles just don't smooth out under the mask skirt).
But thinking about it now, I just lift the bottom of mask a bit. If I am flooding first I pull it away until some water enters, shake my head around to clear the face plate, then lift little on bottom again and blow out the nose. When I am swimming along on the bottom, I tilt head more to the side than back to get better clearance. On the up line while in a vertical position, I just tilt head straight back.

To the original post: Its actually easier at depth w/regulator than on surface w/snorkel. On surface w/snorkel you turn your head to the side and the snorlel is underwater and you now have to clear the snorkel as well.

Ahhhh......toasty!

Actually my new mask came with a bar of something that you are supposed to smear on the inside - only I forgot the first time I used it! The mask fits so well that I actually had a problem breaking the seal to let water in!

Oh well - maybe one day I'll be a scuba dope (no, no, no..........diver, diver, diver )

 

[Allen42]

Ahhhh......toasty!

Actually my new mask came with a bar of something that you are supposed to smear on the inside - only I forgot the first time I used it! The mask fits so well that I actually had a problem breaking the seal to let water in!

Oh well - maybe one day I'll be a scuba dope (no, no, no..........diver, diver, diver )

Seriously, though.... one tip that I can add from watching students and newbies... is that mask clearing is a gentle thing.

It is not a spastic deep blowing of air out of the mask. When I clear my mask, the casual observer might think I was merely adjusting it. The idea here is create just enough positive pressure inside the mask to force the water out the bottom. You can hold the top to your forehead so that the bottom is the "weakest point", you can pull the bottom out a teeny bit, or you can do both by simply "twisting" the mask a bit from the side. (I grab the mask with one hand, my index finger at the top of the frame, my thumb at the bottom, and sort of twist my hand a teeny bit so that the bottom moves away from my face about a millimeter, and the top is compressed into my face a teeny bit (much easier to see than to describe).

Now, do this while exhaling through your nose. Note that I did not say blow through your nose... that'll waste gas, prolly screw up your bouancy, etc. You don't need to take a deep breathe before you do this or any such thing.... just exhale gently through your nose while making the bottom of the mask the weakest seal and making sure the water in your mask is collected in the bottom by looking up just a wee bit.

It's all gentle and graceful... just like diving.

 

[nauidiver2004]

Wow, so many wayt to achieve such a simple goal. Who would of thought it could turn into such a war of words.

 

[ChrisA]

I plan to get certified in the next few months. I've been reading a lot on here, it seems many people have a problem with clearing a flooded mask. I've been practicing in the ocean and can retrieve my mask , get mask on, clear snorkel and then clear the mask underwater but being that I'm only snorkeling it's only a few feet from the surface. Is clearing in deeper water with a regulator more difficult?

If you can clear a mask while snorkleling you've got it made.
It's easier with scuba as you do not have to deal with keeping
the snorkel clear and above the surface.