The day I learned I was flooding my own mask on every dive

I spent two whole years thinking I just had a leaky mask. Every time I went below 60 feet in Puget Sound, I'd get water creeping in around the nose pocket. I'd clear it constantly, figured that's just how it goes. Then last month a senior diver named Rick on a barge job in Tacoma watched me gear up and asked why I was yanking the strap so tight below the crown. He said I was crushing the skirt seal against my face and causing a gap at the bridge of my nose. I loosened it up one notch and suddenly my mask stayed dry for the whole 90 minute bottom time. Has anyone else been cranking their mask strap too hard and blaming the equipment?

3 comments

3 Comments

jasonallen6d agoMost Upvoted

Come on now. You sure it wasn't just a bad mask all along? Looser straps just means the skirt floats off your face at depth which is the real path for a leak.

uma_williams6d ago

Yeah but @jasonallen, a loose strap can still seal fine if the skirt is soft enough to follow your face...

west.richard6d ago

Looser straps just means the skirt floats off your face at depth" - that actually makes a ton of sense. I used to think tighter straps were always better for sealing, but you're right, too much tension just pulls the skirt away when pressure changes. Good point, I'll loosen mine next dive.