Scuba Mask Clearing is Easy

If you're struggling with mask clearing, take a break from it.

The other night I spent an hour and a half in the local swimming pool with the sole objective of overcoming this obstacle on my road to becoming a BSAC Ocean Diver.

I went along slight nervous. It's been a few week since my last dive, at Swanage, so I was feeling a little out of practice. I turned up to discover the club's monthly pool dive session was packed with novices on try-dives, getting their first scuba experience.

This was good news because it meant I didn't have an instructor to look after me. They each had a novice to care for and I was left pretty much to do what I wanted. The only thing required was that I completed the mask clearing exercises under supervision.

I've documented my mask clearing problems before. This time, with two sea dives behind me, I felt more confident. While diving off Swanage I'd had to do some minor mask clearing 'for real' when water leaked in. I also just felt more confident being underwater.

Climbing into the pool I found a quiet corner and ducked under. I tried to kneel on the floor of the 1.2m pool and after struggling to stay down I spotted the first problem of the evening - I'd forgotten to pick up a weight belt.

Moments later, with a borrowed 2kg of ankle weights around my waist (yes, it's possible and not because I'm particularly thin) I tried again.

I spent a minute or two kneeling on the pool floor, watching the novices as they were being shown the basics. I was still a little concerned about the mask clearing but it had to be done, so I allowed a small amount of the water in and then cleared it.

No problem. Okay, let some more in and clear. Again, no problem. I encountered none of the issues I'd had before - an inability to blow hard through my nose and subsequent inhalation of water, which had led to anxiety.

Something's either very wrong, I thought, or very right. So let's do the big test - I pulled my mask off completely and then put it back on my face, blowing air out through my nose all the time and clearing it in seconds.

I did it again. And again. It was ridiculously easy. One of the instructors came across to observe me do it and he added a new test, pulling the mask off my face while I looked the other way, and putting it in my hands. Again, I put it back on and cleared it in a moment. I went to the 3m pool, sank to the bottom and again, removing, replacing and clearing the mask presented no problem. I was even enjoying it!

I also witnessed the novice divers being introduced to mask clearing during their try dives. They too appeared to be finding it easy. It was a reminder that not everyone struggles with that particular exercise.

My advice to anyone struggling with mask clearing is to take a break from it and spend more time learning to be comfortable underwater. That worked for me. My two sea dives in Swanage didn't involve any training exercises - we just enjoyed the diving experience. But it gave me the confidence boost I needed to overcome mask clearing.

Some trainee divers, like me, aren't big fans of water. That meant I found it hard to relaxed in the stuff, which in turn made mask clearing a struggle. Those precious extra minutes of dive time have enabled me to become more comfortable, which in turn allowed me to conquer this particular challenge.

I mustn't become over-confident, because that brings its own problems. But I am almost looking forward to my final mask clearing exercise, in open water, this weekend.