Extremely poor visibility without mask (skill)

[KD8NPB]

Squinting seems to help for me.

But, your vision will still suck. Humans aren't built to see underwater.

 

[rhwestfall]

anyone ever do the "hand on the forehead, and hold an air bubble over their eyes" maneuver?

 

[Edward3c]

I am training to dive for my Ocean Diver (BSAC) and as part of the skills, my instructor told me to remove my mask, drop it to the bottom of the pool, swim away, turn around, find the mask, refit it and clear it.

I was happy doing this but when I attempted to see underwater, my vision was VERY blurred and kind of double, with other divers in the water, I couldn't see if I was going to bump into them when swimming and it got difficult to navigate. I decided for my safety and others (to stop me swimming into them when they too have no masks on) I decided to surface. If I had to swim down again to recover my mask I think I would have had real problems recovering it.

Am I doing something wrong? Does anybody have an suggestions on how best to do this please?

I was wondering with this and your other thread on CBL whether you have talked to your instructor about your issues. When I teach these lessons I demonstrate the activities, as often as necessary, so students get to see how easy they are.

 

[jw2013]

anyone ever do the "hand on the forehead, and hold an air bubble over their eyes" maneuver?

Can you explain more please?
This sounds interesting!

 

[robertarak]

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/...72946732.45177.161876720620091&type=3&theater

If you take your mask off very carefully, you can keep the air pocket around your eyes.

 

[rhwestfall]

behave Robert.....

 

[kimbalabala]

Maybe this should be a new thread but I'm wondering if those of you who have glasses to see distance are able to wear contacts for distance and also see your gages and fish/coral within 2 to 3 feet? I have prescription masks and I'd love to switch to contacts, but I'm afraid I'll lose that close vision that I need. I have been having trouble with close vision even with my masks and I'm flummoxed. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Btw, I've tried wearing one contact for close up and one for far away - and I've tried the progressive contact lenses. Both make my eyes squirrely - I can't get used to them. Help.

 

[tracydr]

I'd never have thought of this - brilliant! Thank you!

Assuming there are tiles on the bottom. Ours is a bumpy concrete type of bottom, no lines or anything else that you could follow.

 

[Storker]

Maybe this should be a new thread but I'm wondering if those of you who have glasses to see distance are able to wear contacts for distance and also see your gages and fish/coral within 2 to 3 feet? I have prescription masks and I'd love to switch to contacts, but I'm afraid I'll lose that close vision that I need. I have been having trouble with close vision even with my masks and I'm flummoxed. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Btw, I've tried wearing one contact for close up and one for far away - and I've tried the progressive contact lenses. Both make my eyes squirrely - I can't get used to them. Help.

It seems as if you're noticeably presbyopic. In that case, you have three alternatives:

1. Progressives
2. Bi-vision (one eye corrected for far focus, one eye corrected for near focus)
3. An intermediate correction, giving you somewhat poor vision both near and far, with perfect correction somewhere between

There's really no difference whether you get that correction with glasses, contacts or a prescription mask. I'd guess that your prescription masks are #3, so if you can't get used to progressive lenses or bi-vision, my advice would be to try out single strength contacts with a correction about equal to your favorite mask. Or you could get a pair of those stick-on lenses for the bottom part of your mask glasses, basically making your mask into a pair of bifocals.

I'm using progressive contacts myself, but they are and will always be a compromise for me. I see noticeably better at distance with my single strength contacts, and I see noticeably better close up without them - or with the single strength contacts and reading glasses.

 

[kimbalabala]

I'm using progressive contacts myself, but they are and will always be a compromise for me. I see noticeably better at distance with my single strength contacts, and I see noticeably better close up without them - or with the single strength contacts and reading glasses.

I do well with progressive eyeglasses - but I just cannot adjust to the progressive contacts. I use a datamask, which complicates things because there is only enough room for a bifocal on the left lens - so if I want to see up close I really have to close my right eye - and that's just not working. I LOVE my datamask but I guess my prescription has changed just enough to make the distance vision poor and then the near vision ridiculous.

I'm going to pick up a pair of distance contacts and borrow a non-prescription mask and get into the water and see what that's like. When we first started diving we got the stick-on dots for close vision. Maybe that will be my best bet. I can't even blame this on aging since I've worn glasses since I was 12!!