Odd-Looking Scuba Mask Turns You Into a Fish

Sneeky said:
I have seen many people struggle with the basic concept of just snorkeling, in a pool, or in the ocean on perfectly calm days.
They tend to rush breathe and completely panic with the slightest bit of water in the snorkel or mask.

Its about having faith in the equipment and your own ability really, both of which take a different amount of time depending on the individual. Same with a scuba rig.
I agree with Sauron its not natural for a lot of people.

My old man used to dive and when we were laaitjies still in the pool with water-wings on he taught us to clear a mask with a breath of air.
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The panic is common even after people successfully pass their open water course. Even after a number of dives they still suck in gas like monkeys on acid. That is why I still recommend beginners to couple the open water with the advanced course. The advanced course is strictly practical and there is a notable difference between a diver's comfort before the advanced course and afterwards.

I always check my gear in our pool in my complex and often have kids' parents ask me if their laaitjies can try it. Funny how kids are far more comfortable with breathing under water than most adults. Lack of inhibitions FTW :D:D
 
xrapidx said:
Completely different, I've only done fairly shallow dives around here, I'd imagine deeper wreck dives to be more interesting... I'm just tired of the silver fish, jellyfish, and occasional seal. Warmer water is an explosion of colour...
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I snorkeled in Thailand. What I mind blowing experience.
 
Sneeky said:
I have seen many people struggle with the basic concept of just snorkeling, in a pool, or in the ocean on perfectly calm days.
They tend to rush breathe and completely panic with the slightest bit of water in the snorkel or mask.

Its about having faith in the equipment and your own ability really, both of which take a different amount of time depending on the individual. Same with a scuba rig.
I agree with Sauron its not natural for a lot of people.

My old man used to dive and when we were laaitjies still in the pool with water-wings on he taught us to clear a mask with a breath of air.
Click to expand...

That's interesting because I'm 100% with snorkeling.
 
SauRoNZA said:
That's interesting because I'm 100% with snorkeling.
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Don't use school/rental regs,those things work of breathing are terribad usually. Personal comfort level for my own regs vs school ones = 300% better. I've had the occasional mini panics using some Mares Rover regs during courses. Feels like slow suffocation
 
SauRoNZA said:
That's interesting because I'm 100% with snorkeling.
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If you snorkel a lot, I think that snorkeling may in fact be the cause of your discomfort. I may be mistaken but I bet at the surface with just your face under the surface while you float on the water you have no difficulty breathing with a regulator. The discomfort probably comes in as you descend past a depth that would result in you sucking in water through your snorkel had you been snorkeling (which I am sure you have experienced many times and know how unpleasant it is) and your natural reaction to the expectation of water rushing down the snorkel into your lungs is to clasp and take shorter breaths which is not a comfortable way to breathe and probably sets off a mild panic as a result which you don't manage to shake until you surface again. Best thing for this is to float on the surface of a pool and breathe as if you were snorkeling, close your eyes and have someone slowly deflate your BCD. You won't even notice that you are descending and will most probably continue to breathe normally as if you were still on the surface. Voila, problem potentially solved.
 
Datura said:
If you snorkel a lot, I think that snorkeling may in fact be the cause of your discomfort. I may be mistaken but I bet at the surface with just your face under the surface while you float on the water you have no difficulty breathing with a regulator. The discomfort probably comes in as you descend past a depth that would result in you sucking in water through your snorkel had you been snorkeling (which I am sure you have experienced many times and know how unpleasant it is) and your natural reaction to the expectation of water rushing down the snorkel into your lungs is to clasp and take shorter breaths which is not a comfortable way to breathe and probably sets off a mild panic as a result which you don't manage to shake until you surface again. Best thing for this is to float on the surface of a pool and breathe as if you were snorkeling, close your eyes and have someone slowly deflate your BCD. You won't even notice that you are descending and will most probably continue to breathe normally as if you were still on the surface. Voila, problem potentially solved.
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I had the opposite. Was snorkelling round a reef in the red sea and spotted an octopus about 8 metres down. Swam closer to take a look, and inhaled :/
 
Sinbad said:
I had the opposite. Was snorkeling round a reef in the red sea and spotted an octopus about 8 meters down. Swam closer to take a look, and inhaled :/
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Yep, did that too. More than once. I was at about 10 to 12 m when I did it the last time. Had to get dragged by my buddy to the surface. Almost blacked out. It is fscking scary. We were trying to get a necklace like idiots...
 
Datura said:
Yep, did that too. More than once. I was at about 10 to 12 m when I did it the last time. Had to get dragged by my buddy to the surface. Almost blacked out. It is fscking scarey. We were trying to get a necklace like idiots...
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I didn't have a buddy with me - the rest of the group were off on a proper dive, I was taking a rest. Could have been nasty, fortunately I was close to the surface.
 
Datura said:
The panic is common even after people successfully pass their open water course. Even after a number of dives they still suck in gas like monkeys on acid. That is why I still recommend beginners to couple the open water with the advanced course. The advanced course is strictly practical and there is a notable difference between a diver's comfort before the advanced course and afterwards.

I always check my gear in our pool in my complex and often have kids' parents ask me if their laaitjies can try it. Funny how kids are far more comfortable with breathing under water than most adults. Lack of inhibitions FTW :D:D
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That, Sir, is very good advice.
 
Sinbad said:
There is NOTHING like doing a 70 minute dive in just baggies and a BCD...
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did a 70 minuter up in Pemba, far north Mozambique, with a shorty although I could have just as well have done it in baggies, was an awesome reef profile, went down to about 24m and then had an inclined wall ascent up to 5m so my safety stop was right on top of the reef, I could probably have stayed down a bit longer but the missus and the DM were sitting on the boat waiting for me cause they called time at 50 minutes :D
 
Ol' Mean Bastid said:
did a 70 minuter up in Pemba, far north Mozambique, with a shorty although I could have just as well have done it in baggies, was an awesome reef profile, went down to about 24m and then had an inclined wall ascent up to 5m so my safety stop was right on top of the reef, I could probably have stayed down a bit longer but the missus and the DM were sitting on the boat waiting for me cause they called time at 50 minutes :D
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lol this was at inhambane. The DM called time at about 50. The group I was with had about 6 certified DMs in it, so one of them took the buoy line and sent the DM up to wait on the boat...

We had another dive at Umhlanga where my buddy stuffed up her dive computer settings. We did a nice conservative profile, 40 minutes or so, but on ascent noted that she had a 20 minute(!!) deco stop at 5 meters... the guy on the boat was not amused.
 
Gerhardva said:
That, Sir, is very good advice.
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I'd say take it all the way to rescue diver. It really pushes you to find your limits and comfort zone under water - changed my diving completely.
 
Datura said:
If you snorkel a lot, I think that snorkeling may in fact be the cause of your discomfort. I may be mistaken but I bet at the surface with just your face under the surface while you float on the water you have no difficulty breathing with a regulator. The discomfort probably comes in as you descend past a depth that would result in you sucking in water through your snorkel had you been snorkeling (which I am sure you have experienced many times and know how unpleasant it is) and your natural reaction to the expectation of water rushing down the snorkel into your lungs is to clasp and take shorter breaths which is not a comfortable way to breathe and probably sets off a mild panic as a result which you don't manage to shake until you surface again. Best thing for this is to float on the surface of a pool and breathe as if you were snorkeling, close your eyes and have someone slowly deflate your BCD. You won't even notice that you are descending and will most probably continue to breathe normally as if you were still on the surface. Voila, problem potentially solved.
Click to expand...

Makes sense.

Like I said part of my problem with the whole experience was due to the fact that they were rushing to get us ready to hit the sea.

Other people have told me they spent two days training in the pool before coming close to the sea, or they started on land and "walked" in rather than going straight for a boat dive.

A friend of mine in the navy has said I should come with them for real training and just sit on the shallow sea floor for as long as it takes me to become comfortable.
 
SauRoNZA said:
Makes sense.

Like I said part of my problem with the whole experience was due to the fact that they were rushing to get us ready to hit the sea.

Other people have told me they spent two days training in the pool before coming close to the sea, or they started on land and "walked" in rather than going straight for a boat dive.

A friend of mine in the navy has said I should come with them for real training and just sit on the shallow sea floor for as long as it takes me to become comfortable.
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sheesh dude, I think I had about 4 pool sessions then a couple of inland dives (including simulated boat roll-offs) before I even saw the sea
 
We had an ex Police rescue diver as our instructor. He had no mercy, 2 days in the pool in July. Water was 12 deg. Then Bass lake, where we did 7 open water dives before he certified any of us for a sea dive. It paid off. My wife could never swim under water, he trained her, and she now has 70+ sea dives as my dive buddy.
 
Gerhardva said:
We had an ex Police rescue diver as our instructor. He had no mercy, 2 days in the pool in July. Water was 12 deg. Then Bass lake, where we did 7 open water dives before he certified any of us for a sea dive. It paid off. My wife could never swim under water, he trained her, and she now has 70+ sea dives as my dive buddy.
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hahah my instructor was an ex-parabat...
 
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