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.

How I (Almost) Mastered Mask Clearing

A problem shared is a problem halved.

Don't you just hate irritating little sayings like that? Patronisingly pithy words of wisdom, wrapped sweetly and succinctly for delivery just when you don't want to hear them.

They're made all the more annoying by encapsulating a truth that you know even before you're reminded of it.

This time I decided to get ahead of the game and share my mask clearing frustrations. I blogged about them here and had one or two useful comments, but I also asked for advice on the UKDivers.com forum which I've recently joined.

The response to my posting on this scuba diving discussion site was immediate. I received lots of friendly feedback from divers who agreed that mask clearing was the one thing that almost everyone struggled with. Some shared tips from their own experience and many offered encouragement that I'd eventually conquer it. Practice and persistence were the key, apparently.

"It was the skill I most struggled with" wrote PuddleFish. "The least enjoyable part of my OW" (Open Water) said Major Clanger. "I too had a lot of problems with mask clearing" concurred Steppenwolf.

I immediately felt better about my inability to blow air through my nose to push the water out of my mask. The gasping, choking embarrassment was not my unique problem; I was facing a barrier that many others had encountered and eventually overcome.

In addition to this reassurance came advice. How about clearing the mask before putting on the strap, suggested Jenkins. "I also find it easier to clear the mask before putting the strap on", agreed Toria82.

Now there's a thought. I'd already been encouraged to practise breathing in through my mouth and out through my nose when diving, which worked fine. The exhaled air pushed its way out from under my mask and no water came in.

So when it came to the next mask clearing session I removed the mask completely and breathed out through my nose. I started to put the mask on, under the water, and exhaled through my nose as I did so. In a moment the mask was half-empty and I'd barely put it on my face.

I tilted my head back and exhaled again and the mask was cleared. I was then able to put the strap around my head and the job was done.

To prove this wasn't a lucky one-off I did it again, at my instructor's request. I was then asked to remove the mask once more, led on a circuit of the diving pool at 3m depth (with my eyes closed because the water stung) and then replaced the mask using the same technique. It worked!

With the help of my virtual dive buddies I seem to have got to grips with mask clearing. It wasn't as easy as I've made it sound, and this technique I've adopted only works when I remove the mask completely. I'm still not entirely happy clearing a mask that's half-full of water and strapped to my head, but I can do it without inhaling much water.

What this proved to me was that the problem could be overcome and, perhaps more importantly, that there's a great community of divers out there who are willing to help. I'll probably never meet Puddle Fish, Major Clanger or the others I've mentioned here, and I might never even learn their real names. But I appreciate their input into my diving education.

Thanks, guys!