Fear of Clearing the Mask

[crpntr133]

I still have the same feeling about clearing my mask. I don't mind a little bit of water but have always hated doing the full mask flood. I do it from time to time just so that I can remind myself. Of course everything changed after I had me sinus surgery and now I have to watch inhaling to quick or I suck any left in the mask through my nose. Best advice is practice now that you have done it once.

Barfing through the reg....the fishies love that.

 

[Sideband]

Hi Kerstin,

Forget about, trying it in the shower. i always teach my students 1 thing, no matter how it looks, as long as it works for you.
The easiest way is:
just pinch your nose (no other way of breathing than through your mouth)
when you replaced the mask, pinch again

It does not need to look pretty as long as it works,
ciao for now
Berdi

I was wondering if that would be allowed. As I have said in another thread, I am also having a hard time with this. Today in the pool I tried breathing off the reg. without a mask while pinching my nose and it wasn't too bad at all. As soon as I unpinched the nose though everything went to crud and I was "unable" to get a breath of air from the reg. without snorting a pint of water up my nose. I want to try the whole process with the nose pinch next weekend to see how it goes. Here's hoping. Another thing I can't stand is the bubbles from my regulator going up my face. ARRRG!

To anyone else that is having trouble with this, I hope you see that you are not alone. There is a reason they call it a SKILL. Skills are learned. Some are easier than others for us but if we stick with it, practice and have patience with our selves then we can do it. Look at all of the positive support we have out here.
Joe
who will be taking a shower in his mask and snorkel in the morning.

 

[SusiQ]

I was wondering if that would be allowed. As I have said in another thread, I am also having a hard time with this. Today in the pool I tried breathing off the reg. without a mask while pinching my nose and it wasn't too bad at all. As soon as I unpinched the nose though everything went to crud and I was "unable" to get a breath of air from the reg. without snorting a pint of water up my nose. I want to try the whole process with the nose pinch next weekend to see how it goes. Here's hoping. Another thing I can't stand is the bubbles from my regulator going up my face. ARRRG!

To anyone else that is having trouble with this, I hope you see that you are not alone. There is a reason they call it a SKILL. Skills are learned. Some are easier than others for us but if we stick with it, practice and have patience with our selves then we can do it. Look at all of the positive support we have out here.
Joe
who will be taking a shower in his mask and snorkel in the morning.

Me too. I mean the mask in the shower routine--- a week until I leave for my certification trip to Belize, so i'll be trying it every day!!!..

 

[Sideband]

Me too. I mean the mask in the shower routine--- a week until I leave for my certification trip to Belize, so i'll be trying it every day!!!..

I'm jealous. My cert. dives are going to be in a quarry in Illinois.
Good luck and happy diving. Hope all goes great for you!

I'm back in the pool tomorrow so we will see how my little problem works itself out. I did notice 1 thing. I had switched masks from my earlier, more successful, attempts and the new mask has a larger volume. I'm going to try them both tomorrow and see if that really is an issue.

Again, have an incredible trip!!!
Joe

 

[chantana]

I had the same problem. I am very nearsighted and wear contacts when I dive. It took me six weeks to finish open water and I was terrified of taking off my mask. I would inhale through my nose and freak out, literally, going to the surface. I was so terrified I was literally crying and unable to sleep before class. Fortunately my instructor let me stay and work on it for as long as I wanted.

The best tip I ever got was to tip my head forward, so that the bubbles would go up the sides of my face instead of up my nose, causing the sinus pressure and panic. Also it helps to just without your mask, use a snorkel and practice sticking your face in. You can also go down without the mask, reg in mouth, slowly. Practice, practice, practice. I was even in the bathtub at home with the snorkel. If you want it bad enough, you will overcome it.

As for the seeing, I keep my eyes closed and just try to visualize the calmness of the water. People with normal eyesight don't see that great underwater either. I am having lasik soon though.

Anyway, best of luck! By the way, I'm a Master Scuba Diver now, quite a difference from the girl who was crying at the pool.

 

[Paddles]

The best tip I ever got was to tip my head forward, so that the bubbles would go up the sides of my face instead of up my nose, causing the sinus pressure and panic. QUOTE]

Right on!

When I was in the pool, I was glad I was in the shallow end...had to stand up every time...coughing and gagging...I was almost in tears because everyone else was still down...then my DM told me to tilt my head forward, looking at about a 45 degree angle...that time I stood up yelling "I did it!"
I kept practicing it and when I had to remove my mask in the deep end of the pool, I took a deep breathe, told myself to relax and go slow...even if I was the last one to complete it I told myself "This is not a race, do it at your own pace"

BTW, in the ocean, it was easier...don't know if it was all the practice in the pool or my preference for salt water over chlorine...didn't snort any water and even though everything is fuzzy without a mask, the saltwater didn't burn like the chlorine!

Practice, practice, practice...I find myself partially flooding and clearing just to remind myself I CAN do it!

Paddles

 

[Kerstin]

Well folks, I was the one who posted this problem a few months ago, and for those of you are scared, I promise you will get it. I did and I passed the OW dives 2 weeks ago! In fact, on my fourth dive, my mask was not on properly for almost the whole dive and I had to clear it about 50 times. (I was convinced that it didn't fit, but my instructor later told me I did not have it low enough on my face.) It's the old thrown into the fire routine and I swear it worked. I was calm and able to do it every time -- just more annoyed than anything else b/c it certainly distracted me from looking at fish.

I loved the dives so much i'm going to dive in Thailand in June!

 

[Foo]

CONGRATULATIONS and thank you for posting! I've wondered about you many times, I'm so glad that you love diving now. Good for you for sticking with it! Have a great time in Thailand- it should be awesome.
Foo

 

[Kerstin]

Thanks to all who've helped me thru this! I just wanted to mention one more thing: I switched to using contacts and a mask and am very happy w/ the results. I found that closing my eyes underwater was not a big deal as you do that anyway normally when you swim. I also found, like the person some names above, that doing this in the ocean was easier than the pool. It's probably b/c I've spent way more time in the ocean than a pool in my life (I spent every summer at the shore and grew up on a lake -- never knew anyone who had a pool until I was in high school) so my level of comfort is much greater with "natural" bodies of water I guess. Or, I'm just more used to salt than chlorine. I know it sounds trite, but so much of it is just relaxing (like everyone says) and going really slow. If you mess up, you just keep breathing and try again. Good luck everyone and remember, if I did it, you can too!