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Originally Posted by Crompsin
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What I'm not sure about and what I'm sure I'll quickly learn is when / how to lean my head so as to fill the mask up with air while not letting water into my nose. God, that sensation feels like I'm choking even if I'm sucking air at the moment. I know that while I have the mask off, I squish my nose down and breathe through the reg... but the order of operations for the replacement and clear is getting me. I figure I need to take a deep hit from the reg through my mouth, then use it to clear the mask by exhaling forcefully through the nose. Is it realistic to clear the mask in one shot? They said some may require multiple breaths to do it.
Any tips? Suggestions? Why am I messing this up?
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Clearing your mask is hard at first. Once you get it, you won't really have to think about it again though. I think the thing here that screws people up is resisting the urge to breath through your nose. Make sure you're consciously thinking about everything and eventually you'll get it. As Tully said, a small crack at the bottom of the mask will be fine, and leaning your head back will help trap the air.
If you're still having trouble next time, your instructor should be able to let you spend some more time working on it. The last thing he wants is for you to get out there on the open water dive and have problems.
Oh and one other note, I picked up clearing my mask pretty quickly but on the open water dive it was different. When the cold water hit my face, I forgot what I was doing for a second. Just something to be aware of if you're doing your open water dive in colder water.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Crompsin
Aaah, my front crawl is a front crawl, but it's not very coordinated. It's like the bastard child of the breast stroke and the front crawl. But, yeah, I think after I get SCUBA down, I'm going to go take some instruction on how to be more of a torpedo and less of a sinking ship. This water stuff is gnarly.
Thanks, Tully. I was pondering an army-buddy Mexico trip for spring break next year. Got an independently wealthy buddy I was in Iraq with who wants to dive in Mexico next year. I heard Cancun is a nice dive site (touristy), but somebody else mentioned another C-name place and said it was better. I have no desire to dive anywhere close to cold, I've got like 5% body fat and I was shivering cold in the hotel pool last night anytime we surfaced.
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Keep moving in the water, it'll help you stay warm. I'm sure it looked funny when I was taking my refresher course but I was bobbing up and down while the instructor was talking. I wasn't shivering though!
Good luck!
