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Sorry but i'm going to be the negative nancy. If you aren't yet comfortable swimming with your face underwater, you need to nail that before decide to take up scuba. If you can't breath underwater comfortably with a full or missing mask you are going to be risking a panicked ascent which is very dangerous. If you were someone I knew, my advice would be the same. Put the course on hold, and get comfortable swimming and snorkelling first. You don't need to become a gun, but you need to be able to breath through your mouth only. You can do this at a swimming pool or better in an ocean where you'll encounter waves that hit your snorkel at just the wrong moment.
Thanks All, by way of an update, I have had a 121 session and have done nothing but practice this and mask removal for that time. I am also stood in the shower with a mask flooding it and clearing. Still not 100% and still get water up my nose but using the tips here has helped. Also knowing that I am not the only one struggling or has struggled has def given me some reassurance.
Strangely, while on this session I did swim under water without the mask but with the regulator and found this a lot easier than I thought. Swimming on the surface without a snorkel or regulator still sends me into panic but I think this will help. Or hope so. I have two weeks to the OW session so plan to practice as much as I can. My issue is that I am not near a sea I can try and some of the pools can be funny about this but hey, my life is on the line so shower and extra sessions where I can will hopefully help.
Thanks again for your support, I am sure I will be on again asking for more advise soon.
Whatever you do, don’t give up. It doesn’t sound like you will, but if you should be discouraged, that is the time to focus even harder on accomplishing the task.
If others can do it, you most certainly can as well.
Positive news! Well done and enjoy your new found confidence.
Today I dived near the Eddystone lighthouse off Plymouth to a depth of 30m. Very scenic and loads of life with the turning tide. It's the sort of diving I've always wanted to do and what originally gave me the drive to do my basic training.
Being able to swim UW with reg and no mask indicates you can seperate mouth and nose breathing and is excellent basis for progressing. Snorkel with no mask is also useful exercise.
Even swimming in your local pool with face/head underwater is helpful. The aim is to get comfortable with the sensations/experience of face in water.
Getting back to mask clearing: try blowing gently through nose while holding top of mask and only then tilting head back. If water has not cleared, tilt forward before you run out of breath so that you are only tilting head back while blowing out throuhg nose.
Mask clearing can seem much more difficult than it is to a begginer. Even if you do nothing except blow air gently out through your nose in a flooded mask you should clear most water. The other things you do are just to get the last bit out. A key point is to blow gently. Blowing too hard can actually work against a successful mask clear as air can blast out the bottom of the mask without displacing much water. With practice it is easy for most to clear mask quickly and reliably, and even do it hands free.
1) Fill your sink or bathtub with water and use only your snorkle. Practice breathing in your mouth and out your nose. Keep doing it until it's second nature.
2) if you don't like your mask, tell your instructor. Mine will let me swap out my gear during the class if it's not working. Remember your training: fit and comfort are the most important features of a mask.
Face your fear, spit at it, defeat it and move on. Good job! Mask clearing was the single hardest thing I had to do in training. Back then low volume masks were still a dream, I was a small kid at 16 and probably didn't have quite enough lung volume to comfortably clear those old masks. I found once on SCUBA I could easily clear my mask with a second breath.
If you want to get real good at it get a cheap mask from Walmart stick a pin thru it at the bottom and dive with it. You'll be clearing your mask so often it'll become 2nd nature. Water on your face will become routine.
I had a leaky mask for a few seasons when I was rising a family and didn't have the money to buy even a cheap mask. I lived with it and dove, got so clearing a mask was just part of the dive. Although by that time I did have the skill down but I still believe it helped to make it muscle memory.
Hi Emma! When I was getting certified I personally had a lot of trouble with taking my mask off and breathing through my reg without the mask on. I would panic when I felt the bubbled hit my nose. So one thing that really helped me was I tiled my head a little and the bubbles would go past my nose and not up my nose.
I also had to swap masks on my first confined dive.The mask I bought kept leaking, I have higher cheek bones and a smaller face so I dive with a kids mask. I still have a little leaking every now and then so clearing my mask has become second nature on a dive.
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