Mask off skill difficulty

[Teamcasa]

... In my pool at home, with my weight belt on I have tried on my knees in the shallow end. I am able to put my head in the pool with the snorkel in my mouth and no mask but when I try it a foot down is when I have the problem (pressure?). I have tried without the mask, holding my nose and then letting go and same thing - sinus irrigation! ...

Questions, Are you comfortable swimming in your pool without a mask or nose clip?
Can you dive to the bottom of your pool in confidence as well?
Do you feel the mask pressing against your face as you descend?

If you are comfortable in the pool without a mask and you feel mask pressure as you descend then I’d suggest learning to equalize the mask as you descend (very slight puff from your nose). Then, before removing your mask under water, puff a little air from your nose as you remove the mask. It only takes a slight amount of air pressure from your nose to prevent water from entering it. After some practice, this practice will become second nature.

 

[scubapatton]

Someone mentioned leaning to the side when exhaling, so the bubbles do not go up the face (sometimes creates twitching and a desire to breathe out more). Another option is to lean back slightly. Since the exhausted bubbles will go straight up, if you are not kneeling straight up (cuz your leaning back), then the bubbles will not run along your face and bother you.. one less thing to worry yourself about. Exhaling slightly instead of forcefully will go a long way as well.

 

[Melicertes]

I wonder if perhaps another piece of the puzzle could be breathing too "hard". When I have my mask off, as long as I'm breathing normally (with my head slightly forward and all that), I have no problems at all.

On the other hand, when I first started trying no-mask breathing, I had a tendency to "gasp" air. A sharp, hard inhalation was often enough to suck some water up my nose in addition to the air from the regulator through my mouth. By breathing more slowly (more "normally", perhaps?), I managed to kick my drinking habit.

(Of course, I'm much better now, and I actually found it fun to swim around the deep end for several minutes while wearing no mask and buddy breathing (one reg) with another diver in the divemaster course I recently completed. :biggrin

I agree I had very much the same issue when I started out. The sudden rush of cold water against my face made me want to instinctively "gasp" like you said. And of course once I gasped the water tended to go up the schnoozle - man I had to work at it to stay calm and breathe regularly - I remember those pool sessions vividly It took my a while to get used to it and it's still something that's a good exercise to do for me even today (especially if the water's really cold).

I started out flooding my mask slowly so the cold against my face was not such a rush and a shock. The more comfortable I got the quicker I flooded the mask and today I can practically pull off the mask without this gasping reflex becoming a problem. It just takes time and practice.

On another tangent: When my wife completed her 2* CMAS cert she was required to do a mask remove/no mask breathing for 3 minutes/mask replace during winter at Miracle Waters in South Africa at a depth of 20m. Due to a schedule conflict she could not make it during the weekend her instructor took their class to perform their skills at Miracles and he asked Nunno Gomez, who was doing some gear check dives at Miracles the following weekend, to take us and supervise the skills she needed to do. I wondered at the time why the requirement for the depth at 20m but it makes sense to me now - increased stress and environmental awareness at depth, combined with colder water past the thermocline we usually would encounter at about 14m - it was a good test and evaluation of performing the skill not just in a comfortable confined/shallow water environment. After all the skills were done Nunno just looked at us, gave an OK signal, gestured a brief wave, turned around and disappeared into the gloom with his three (or was it four?) tanks strapped to his back, as per the dive plan, to go find his sweet spot somewhere in the quarry for the next couple of hours.

We finished our multilevel dive about 30mins after that and then went to grab some breakfast while we were warming up topside. It was the first time I figured out that there's more than just recreational diving out there and Nunno with his tankpack on his back seems to be that image burnt into my memory now associated with mask clearing and cold water dives. Man, what memories.

 

[Walter]

I have to hold my nose when I have my mask off, but I've never tried tipping my head to the side - which I know will cause ear problems, I have very sensitive ears and the bubbles going across them actually hurts. I know it's the exhaust from the reg that cause me to get water up my nose as I only have problems with the reg and not with the snorkel. When I was getting it up my nose with the snorkel, I got in the habit of holding my nose, which forced me to remember to breathe only through my mouth! After awhile, I was able to do it without holding my nose, but I'm still working on the ability to do that with a reg...

How'd you get certified? You've yet to complete the requirements.

 

[ScubaJeff123]

You could practice this skill in your bathroom or kitchen sink. Fill the sink with water. Put your face in the water and practice blowing air out of your nose. YOu could also try doing this in a shallow pool. After you feel comfortable blowing air out of your nose, try putting your mask on in the shallow pool and take off your mask. Hope this helps.

 

[jenlaur]

I just wanted to thank everyone for their help. Tonight I was able to do the mask off skill on the first try! Huge sense of accomplishment. The rest of class was a breeze and very fun. Thanks again!

 

[violakat03]

When my mask leaks or floods out in real life I can clear it no problem, but for some reason flooding it intentionally (or, god forbid, removing it) was a big deal!

I think that was my biggest problem too. I've had my mask kicked off by my dive buddy and had no problem at all (made a couple incoherent underwater noises at him, even!), same with leaks. But any time I take it off intentionally, I get water up my nose.

How'd you get certified? You've yet to complete the requirements.

Easy. I can take my mask off, leave it off for a while, put it back on and clear the water from it. No where in the requirements did it say "without holding your nose when your mask is off."

 

[shoturtle]

I think that was my biggest problem too. I've had my mask kicked off by my dive buddy and had no problem at all (made a couple incoherent underwater noises at him, even!), same with leaks. But any time I take it off intentionally, I get water up my nose.




Easy. I can take my mask off, leave it off for a while, put it back on and clear the water from it. No where in the requirements did it say "without holding your nose when your mask is off."

It is very true, at no time does it say that you can not pinch your nose. The task is to remove, breath on the reg, re-donning, and clear. And when my wife did that, the instructor said it works, nothing wrong with it if it works for her.

And it is not a safety issue only having one hand to do other things with.

 

[shoturtle]

I just wanted to thank everyone for their help. Tonight I was able to do the mask off skill on the first try! Huge sense of accomplishment. The rest of class was a breeze and very fun. Thanks again!

Congrats, have fun diving

 

[Melicertes]

I just wanted to thank everyone for their help. Tonight I was able to do the mask off skill on the first try! Huge sense of accomplishment. The rest of class was a breeze and very fun. Thanks again!

Glad to hear you did well! It's not that big a deal now is it?
Now don't go do what most other students do - now that their instructor made the check mark next to the skill they don't worry about making sure that they practice the skill until it's close to 2^nd nature. The idea is to master the skill, and in my book that means that you have to be able to perform this task comfortably and easily without thinking much about it. Remember this skill is not just something you have to show your instructor so you get a little plastic card that says you are a certified diver - you need to be able to let your trained instinct take over to deal with replacing your mask if something happens like for example when someone unexpectedly kicks it off your face by accident on an open water dive - and this does happen, trust me.

You've made a very good start and you've done well to not let this get the better of you. Very nicely done.