Loosen Up!

I tend to wear my mask a little too tight when I'm diving. It always seems like the tighter it is, the more it will keep the water out. However, that's not the case! If it fits correctly, it forms a seal, especially at depth with the pressure. I also tend to clear my mask too often because I always think I'll be able to rid it of those few little drops at the bottom. This, too, is a bad habit and I'm pretty sure that when my mask flooded the last time, I was broken of that bad habit. As you can see from the photo (8 hours after my dive) I still have lines on my face from the mask.

For those of you who may be new to diving, here's a bit of mask clearing 101. Why would you ever clear a mask? You might want to deliberately get some water in your mask, or "flood" it, when you're on a dive if you happen to fog up. Or, you may get some water in your mask accidentally and want to get rid of it. Here's how: All you have to do is look up to the surface, take a breath through your regulator, and blow out through your nose as you gently push the top of the mask, tilting it and lifting the seal from the bottom away from your face. The air from your nose completely clears it. The most important thing is to make sure you're looking to the surface at all times so that water doesn't fill it back up as you're clearing it. This is one of the things you'll learn in your certification course, and you should definitely always take a certification course before you dive.

Hugs and fishes,
Jenny Mo