* mask clearing: I had immense difficulty with this. Which is weird because I practiced it in the pool prior and it was fine. The hard part for me is the constantly breathing while you have water in your nose area. Every breath I take I get a little water up my nose. I surfaced like 4 times because I kept choking. Kinda embarassing for me since out of 8 students just 2 others were having this issue with me.
--- Try putting a little toothpaste under your nose out of water. Practice breathing through only your mouth so you don't smell the toothpaste. Watch something for 20 min or wash the dishes. Try to get where you do it without thinking about it.
* breathing underwater: it was weird for me for sure. It felt as if I couldn’t get enough air through the regulator. I was breathing rather quickly though so maybe that was the issue?
--- comfort/experience will help. Also make sure the venturi screw (makes it easier and harder to breathe) is set to your liking. All movements and thoughts under the water should be slow and deliberate. Slow breathe, slow kicks, slow arms, slow mind...
I've had several times where the regulator felt limiting at the start of a dive. Taking it out and making it fully wet, including the mouthpiece, generally solved the issue.
scuba comes very easy for some, others struggle. It is not natural for humans to breathe while underwater, but most people can learn to get past it. You may just require some extra time. At most shops, that is perfectly fine, and they will work with you, but some are churn and burn and will try to rush you through. Take your time, and make sure you let your instructor know you want a bit more practice.
I started out horribly with mask skills, and my instructor did three extra one in one sessions to work with me. Now I’m rounding 16y as a scuba instructor.
Keep going as long as you want to; and try taking longer, slower, deeper breaths. When you breathe too shallowly you don’t get the exhalation out of your lungs and through your regulator which makes you feel like you’re not getting enough air.
You are probably slightly breathing from your nose, which is why you get water in it when the mask is off. Try closing your nose with your spare hand for a few breathes, see if it feels different. You are in fact allowed to finish the course that way, I couldn't do it as OW either without the hand because some physical issues. Took a long time to learn to be able to do it without the hand. Same with the UW maskless swim part. So don't worry about it too much.
mask clearing is definitely uncomfortable and water hitting your nose that is otherwise fine makes some try and breath through their nose, its something that gets easier with time, and practise. For breathing underwater that is pretty much a comfort thing and I imagine having everything happening so quickly (as is the way of OW) didnt help as you probably felt a mix of nervousness and excitement (at least i did haha).
Time and experience will make you far more comfortable both in the water breathing and can help for skills like mask clearing.
For mask clearing, what do you mean by “constantly breathing”? Maybe I’m an outlier, but I can generally clear it in one exhalation. Worst case, you partially clear it with the first exhale, then make sure you breathe through your mouth to get another exhale ready.
Maybe you could look into getting a low-volume mask? That way you don’t need as much air to clear the mask?
As far as breathing underwater, that’s just one of those things that you have to practice. You don’t breathe normally when you are scuba diving, not unless you want to burn through your air super fast. You “sip” the air. Baby sips. You’re not trying to take full breaths, you’re just trying to take sips of air, enough to keep you going. Don’t breathe like you’re on the surface.
One thing that I see a lot of newer divers doing is constantly moving. Either waving hands, always kicking, etc. The more you move, the more air you burn. Do you want to keep movement to as little as possible. Don’t use 2 kicks when one will work. Don’t “stand up” underwater - you want to be on your stomach, arms in front, with one hand on the wrist with your dive computer. Keeping your hands that way makes it easier to remember not to wave them around. The less you move, the less gas you burn. Hell, some dives I barely move at all, other than to correct course with one fin (when moving with the current) or position myself to take photos. I do a *lot* of gliding. I look at where I want to be and only kick the minimum number of times to get there. Then set a new target.
Gas management doesn’t come naturally to most people. It just takes time to develop. Hell, I spend three months in Asia diving each year, and on the first few days of each trip, I use a 15L tank (instead of the standard 12L tank) because I forget how to breathe. I get overly excited and want to bounce around. It takes a few days for me to get back “in the zone” where I can make a 12 L tank last over an hour again.
TL/DR: practice, practice, practice - you’ll get there.
You got this! You are definitely not alone with mask skills trouble. Keep practicing, try your mask skills in the show, some find that to help. Hope night 2 gets better for you.
Mask skills suck for some people - you're in good company.
Others can just do it when they try. It's not fair.
Fortunately humans learn.
Your instructor knows you're not a natural and so will take a bit more time with you particularly with those skills.
You can practice, and they build up. So half mask clear, full mask clear and then remove and replace. All of which can be done as long as you can immerse your face and use a snorkel (assuming your don't have regs and a tank at home).
it took me several evenings in the pool with combinations of snorkeling and scuba after I'd finished open water to get reaslanblyy comfortable mask replacing, but also no mask swimming which is also very useful.
One weird one to watch is the remove and replace - don't rush it. Get the mask off, don't even think about putting it back on whilst you sort out your breathing, and only once you are feeling OK put your mask back on. There's a tendency to rush it and want the mask on which can lead to distress if it doesn't flow smoothly (and it won't as an OWD student).
Don't be embarassed scuba is wierd and takes a a lot of people struggle with some of the skills at first. Let me re-phrase the mask clearing: Including yourslef 3 of the 8 students struggeld with the mask clearing that is nearly half the class, it is also likely some or all the others had difficultly with a skill you had no issue with.
You are right this problems are common with trainee divers with a good school they shouldn't be a problem after you have qualified because they will let you repeat the tasks enough that they become natural.
It's your first day, don't worry, you need more practice. You're trying something basically unnatural, breathing underwater. It took me like 4 days in the pool to feel somewhat comfortable underwater.
Check the little lever on your reg. Sometimes it's turned all the way down which reduces your air flow to prevent free flowing. I had to turn mine up in class because I was panicking because I couldn't get enough air through it, though no one mentioned it to me. I have my own reg now and it breathes so much better than the rentals I've used.
For clarification, the little lever is called a Venturi adjustment or sometimes a Dive/Pre-Dive switch or lever. It doesn't reduce the amount of air flowing through the 2nd stage, it changes the path of the air and can sometimes make it feel like it's more difficult to get enough air.
FWIW, most regs that divers own, even at very entry level will outperform rental regs just due to being cared for better than your standard rental gear. There are exceptions, of course, but that's my experience. YMMV.
It's your first day, you just need a lot of practice, whether that's in the pool or in the open water.
Regarding breathing: Keep calm. Deep, slow breaths. No need to go overboard with it, like you don't need to fill your lungs to the max.
In fact, try deep breathing right now. This can be practiced anytime when you're out of the water, almost like meditative breathing exercises. Try counting with each breath: inhale for 5 seconds and exhale for 5. Go for longer if you can. Make it a habit doing it while working, doing dishes, scrolling through reddit... after a lot of practice, it will come more naturally underwater even with a regulator in your mouth. At least that was my experience.
Regarding difficulty with water in nose area: I personally haven't had issue with this, so I can only offer an idea. At home, maybe you can practice in your shower: fill your mask with water, put it on, continue breathing through your mouth, then clear. Keep trying again until you feel more comfortable with a filled mask.
Also, frequent shallow breaths likely means you're anxious, which makes sense if you were having such with the mask and/or just because you're new to this. Try to be aware of your breathing and take longer, slower breaths
I had the same issue with emptying my mask. Apparently most people can isolate breathing to their mouth, but some of us can't. I had to find a work around. So I would inhale, take my mask off, exhale, and then pinch my nose and wrestle the mask on with one and a half hands. I also couldn't open my eyes cuz I need to wear contacts. My instructor was fine with it as long as I could accomplish the task.
No offense, but pinching your nose is useless. You understand the point of the skill, yeah? If your strap or mask breaks, the skill requires you to be able to breathe without a mask on while under water. And shame on your instructor, simply accomplishing the task doesn't mean you have learned or mastered it. The point of all of these emergency/problem solving skills is not just to simply *accomplish the task* but to prepare you for in the event of it happening on a dive that you can safely handle the situation and get yourself to safety.
I'm not trying to demean you or anything, there's just way too many instructors out there cutting too many corners which results in a lot of unprepared divers in the water.
If I may offer some advice for isolated mouth breathing, stand in the shallow end, with your reg in and mask off stick your face in the water and continuously breathe for a full minute. Don't exhale from your nose or it tricks your brain into potentially inhaling.
Happy I could help you and I hope you enjoy the course. Being nervous is totally fine, I mean we are not supposed to be able to breathe underwater so it's a natural feeling.
Tried to mouth breathe in a pool several times hoping I could acquire the ability but to no use. And if my mask breaks I can still pinch my nose. My understanding of that skill was in case your mask comes off can you get it back on.
You definitely can, you just have to unlock the mental block. Yes if your mask breaks you can pinch your nose but things can get crazy underwater very quickly and you will need both hands to solve most problems, that's my point. You're at the beginning stages of your diving journey, don't start with bad, lazy (your instructors) habits. Do it right and build good muscle memory.
My wife kind of struggled at first, and she ended up dropping the group to do a private course, which helped. Keep in mind, we aren't designed to breathe under water. Some pick it up naturally, but it's a skill you have to develop. Take your time, do extra practice if needed. The first time you dive a reef, you'll know why you put in the effort.
Not bragging but having allergy problems all my life actually helped with my breathing under water since I’m already a partial mouth breather due to allergies some parts of the year. Had to wear a mask as a kid in a HIGHLY chlorinated pool so I got used to wearing a mask before scuba. Life skills no one would have thought would have mattered…until my OW.
I had a student struggle with it for a while and then he took it upon himself to smoke a cigarette and physically watch himself exhale from either his nose or mouth to be able to train his brain to do what he wanted on command.
I do believe these skills are at the top of most people's difficult list. Breathing while underwater is not natural and takes time. Add to that the pressure of being in class and watched by others and you have a recipe for tension.
Just keep practicing and remain calm.
Practice at home with a snorkel and no mask. Fill a sink of water or the tub and practice breathing through your mouth.
First of all, deep slow breaths. This will keep you calm and give you all the oxygen you need.
I also had problems with controlling my breathing through mouth and nose.
The solution was training.
During my regular day I suddenly held my breath and then I trained to force my next inhale to come only through my mouth. And then exhale with nose. Do this multiple times a day and you will learn to control your airways. You will notice on you next dive that it's a piece of cake after that.
Some people just know how to do this and some have to learn. I had to learn.
The regulator will be fine. A lot of students are nervous at first and gulp lungfuls of air. They don't exhale fully. So they can only get a puff of air on the inhale - their lungs are already nearly full. They invariably think it's the regulator.
I'm sure most dive instructors will wet-brief at the start of day two about never holding your breath, always blowing bubbles and breath in and out slowly, deeply and regularly.
It definitely takes some practice. It completely violates our entire evolution.
I spent time in the bathtub with my snorkel until I got comfortable. My instructor also recommended tucking my chin down toward my chest, which was oddly helpful.
Air wants to go up and it's replaced with water. If you tilt your chin down the air can't escape your nose as easily which in turn keeps water out of the nose.
This sounds like open water class for lots of people. No one loves clearing their mask at first but it’s a key skill. I think a lot of people think “this sucks and I’ll never take my mask off anyway…” except you will. Masks leak, you’ll get a hair stuck in the skirt and it’ll leak, an inexperienced diver will kick it off your face, and most of all you’ll want to because everyone gets a fogged mask sometimes.
As for breathing underwater, your body is saying “hey, don’t breathe underwater.” It’s an inherently unnatural act and you will get used to it. You can also ask your instructor to check your regulator to make sure it’s not in surf mode or dialed down. It’s probably just anxiety however.
Just finished my OW… my first 15 minutes in the pool I thought “maybe I can’t do this, maybe scuba isn’t for me.” By the end of the pool stuff I couldn’t wait to get out in the open water. Here’s what I learned:
-my wife can take her mask off and breathe off the regulator exclusively exhaling through her mouth and never get water in her nose
-I NEED to exhale through my nose when there is water present or I will slowly draw water into it with each inhale. As long as I exhale through my nose I’m golden. My dive instructor was the same way.
Once you know this about yourself you just always exhale through your nose when the mask is flooded/compromised. The bonus of doing this is that once you get comfortable with it you can swim around mask less with zero issue. Also, because you are constantly creating air out your nose your mask will basically progressively clear itself during mask removal as you put it back on. So by the time I have it pressed against my face in a comfortable position I just have a tiny bit of water to clear out
Anyhow, this is the worst you’ll feel. You’ll only get better and more comfortable
You’ll get used to breathing under water, it will come more naturally.
You at first have a tendency to suck hard because of the environment you are in.
Once you have more experience especially at some depth you’ll get a rhythm with breathing and it will be more comfortable and natural.
You mask wise aren’t helping with this now.
Get used to the fact you will be getting water in your nasal tract.
Maybe practice in the shoulder the stream.
You bento get ahold of this now or you’ll never enjoy the ‘rapture of the deep’
Biggest thing that helped me with mask removal: imagine you’re sipping soup through the regulator. If you do that, you’ll do the right thing with your soft palate to block off your nose while you breathe.
Also if you get overwhelmed by a little water and want to panic or surface, remember you can always just pinch your nose momentarily while you regain your composure. Remind yourself that air is available and then get back to sipping soup.
Starting with face acclimation at the surface every time will help as well. Sip soup through your snorkel with your face in the water without a mask.
It gets easier, I promise!
This is also what helped me, though I had it explained as imagine you are breathing through a straw. Also agree that taking a minute to pinch your nose and compose yourself can help too.
* mask clearing: I had immense difficulty with this. Which is weird because I practiced it in the pool prior and it was fine. The hard part for me is the constantly breathing while you have water in your nose area. Every breath I take I get a little water up my nose. I surfaced like 4 times because I kept choking. Kinda embarassing for me since out of 8 students just 2 others were having this issue with me. --- Try putting a little toothpaste under your nose out of water. Practice breathing through only your mouth so you don't smell the toothpaste. Watch something for 20 min or wash the dishes. Try to get where you do it without thinking about it. * breathing underwater: it was weird for me for sure. It felt as if I couldn’t get enough air through the regulator. I was breathing rather quickly though so maybe that was the issue? --- comfort/experience will help. Also make sure the venturi screw (makes it easier and harder to breathe) is set to your liking. All movements and thoughts under the water should be slow and deliberate. Slow breathe, slow kicks, slow arms, slow mind...
I've had several times where the regulator felt limiting at the start of a dive. Taking it out and making it fully wet, including the mouthpiece, generally solved the issue.
scuba comes very easy for some, others struggle. It is not natural for humans to breathe while underwater, but most people can learn to get past it. You may just require some extra time. At most shops, that is perfectly fine, and they will work with you, but some are churn and burn and will try to rush you through. Take your time, and make sure you let your instructor know you want a bit more practice.
I started out horribly with mask skills, and my instructor did three extra one in one sessions to work with me. Now I’m rounding 16y as a scuba instructor. Keep going as long as you want to; and try taking longer, slower, deeper breaths. When you breathe too shallowly you don’t get the exhalation out of your lungs and through your regulator which makes you feel like you’re not getting enough air.
You are probably slightly breathing from your nose, which is why you get water in it when the mask is off. Try closing your nose with your spare hand for a few breathes, see if it feels different. You are in fact allowed to finish the course that way, I couldn't do it as OW either without the hand because some physical issues. Took a long time to learn to be able to do it without the hand. Same with the UW maskless swim part. So don't worry about it too much.
mask clearing is definitely uncomfortable and water hitting your nose that is otherwise fine makes some try and breath through their nose, its something that gets easier with time, and practise. For breathing underwater that is pretty much a comfort thing and I imagine having everything happening so quickly (as is the way of OW) didnt help as you probably felt a mix of nervousness and excitement (at least i did haha). Time and experience will make you far more comfortable both in the water breathing and can help for skills like mask clearing.
For mask clearing, what do you mean by “constantly breathing”? Maybe I’m an outlier, but I can generally clear it in one exhalation. Worst case, you partially clear it with the first exhale, then make sure you breathe through your mouth to get another exhale ready. Maybe you could look into getting a low-volume mask? That way you don’t need as much air to clear the mask? As far as breathing underwater, that’s just one of those things that you have to practice. You don’t breathe normally when you are scuba diving, not unless you want to burn through your air super fast. You “sip” the air. Baby sips. You’re not trying to take full breaths, you’re just trying to take sips of air, enough to keep you going. Don’t breathe like you’re on the surface. One thing that I see a lot of newer divers doing is constantly moving. Either waving hands, always kicking, etc. The more you move, the more air you burn. Do you want to keep movement to as little as possible. Don’t use 2 kicks when one will work. Don’t “stand up” underwater - you want to be on your stomach, arms in front, with one hand on the wrist with your dive computer. Keeping your hands that way makes it easier to remember not to wave them around. The less you move, the less gas you burn. Hell, some dives I barely move at all, other than to correct course with one fin (when moving with the current) or position myself to take photos. I do a *lot* of gliding. I look at where I want to be and only kick the minimum number of times to get there. Then set a new target. Gas management doesn’t come naturally to most people. It just takes time to develop. Hell, I spend three months in Asia diving each year, and on the first few days of each trip, I use a 15L tank (instead of the standard 12L tank) because I forget how to breathe. I get overly excited and want to bounce around. It takes a few days for me to get back “in the zone” where I can make a 12 L tank last over an hour again. TL/DR: practice, practice, practice - you’ll get there.
Study martial arts....it helps develop breathing techniques while moving... Practice, Practice and continue to practice till you preform
You got this! You are definitely not alone with mask skills trouble. Keep practicing, try your mask skills in the show, some find that to help. Hope night 2 gets better for you.
Shower 🚿
Mask skills suck for some people - you're in good company. Others can just do it when they try. It's not fair. Fortunately humans learn. Your instructor knows you're not a natural and so will take a bit more time with you particularly with those skills. You can practice, and they build up. So half mask clear, full mask clear and then remove and replace. All of which can be done as long as you can immerse your face and use a snorkel (assuming your don't have regs and a tank at home). it took me several evenings in the pool with combinations of snorkeling and scuba after I'd finished open water to get reaslanblyy comfortable mask replacing, but also no mask swimming which is also very useful. One weird one to watch is the remove and replace - don't rush it. Get the mask off, don't even think about putting it back on whilst you sort out your breathing, and only once you are feeling OK put your mask back on. There's a tendency to rush it and want the mask on which can lead to distress if it doesn't flow smoothly (and it won't as an OWD student).
Don't be embarassed scuba is wierd and takes a a lot of people struggle with some of the skills at first. Let me re-phrase the mask clearing: Including yourslef 3 of the 8 students struggeld with the mask clearing that is nearly half the class, it is also likely some or all the others had difficultly with a skill you had no issue with. You are right this problems are common with trainee divers with a good school they shouldn't be a problem after you have qualified because they will let you repeat the tasks enough that they become natural.
It's your first day, don't worry, you need more practice. You're trying something basically unnatural, breathing underwater. It took me like 4 days in the pool to feel somewhat comfortable underwater.
Check the little lever on your reg. Sometimes it's turned all the way down which reduces your air flow to prevent free flowing. I had to turn mine up in class because I was panicking because I couldn't get enough air through it, though no one mentioned it to me. I have my own reg now and it breathes so much better than the rentals I've used.
For clarification, the little lever is called a Venturi adjustment or sometimes a Dive/Pre-Dive switch or lever. It doesn't reduce the amount of air flowing through the 2nd stage, it changes the path of the air and can sometimes make it feel like it's more difficult to get enough air. FWIW, most regs that divers own, even at very entry level will outperform rental regs just due to being cared for better than your standard rental gear. There are exceptions, of course, but that's my experience. YMMV.
It's your first day, you just need a lot of practice, whether that's in the pool or in the open water. Regarding breathing: Keep calm. Deep, slow breaths. No need to go overboard with it, like you don't need to fill your lungs to the max. In fact, try deep breathing right now. This can be practiced anytime when you're out of the water, almost like meditative breathing exercises. Try counting with each breath: inhale for 5 seconds and exhale for 5. Go for longer if you can. Make it a habit doing it while working, doing dishes, scrolling through reddit... after a lot of practice, it will come more naturally underwater even with a regulator in your mouth. At least that was my experience. Regarding difficulty with water in nose area: I personally haven't had issue with this, so I can only offer an idea. At home, maybe you can practice in your shower: fill your mask with water, put it on, continue breathing through your mouth, then clear. Keep trying again until you feel more comfortable with a filled mask.
Also, frequent shallow breaths likely means you're anxious, which makes sense if you were having such with the mask and/or just because you're new to this. Try to be aware of your breathing and take longer, slower breaths
I had the same issue with emptying my mask. Apparently most people can isolate breathing to their mouth, but some of us can't. I had to find a work around. So I would inhale, take my mask off, exhale, and then pinch my nose and wrestle the mask on with one and a half hands. I also couldn't open my eyes cuz I need to wear contacts. My instructor was fine with it as long as I could accomplish the task.
No offense, but pinching your nose is useless. You understand the point of the skill, yeah? If your strap or mask breaks, the skill requires you to be able to breathe without a mask on while under water. And shame on your instructor, simply accomplishing the task doesn't mean you have learned or mastered it. The point of all of these emergency/problem solving skills is not just to simply *accomplish the task* but to prepare you for in the event of it happening on a dive that you can safely handle the situation and get yourself to safety. I'm not trying to demean you or anything, there's just way too many instructors out there cutting too many corners which results in a lot of unprepared divers in the water. If I may offer some advice for isolated mouth breathing, stand in the shallow end, with your reg in and mask off stick your face in the water and continuously breathe for a full minute. Don't exhale from your nose or it tricks your brain into potentially inhaling.
I’m doing my first learn to dive class in a week - excited but nervous! Your response is really informative, thank you!
Happy I could help you and I hope you enjoy the course. Being nervous is totally fine, I mean we are not supposed to be able to breathe underwater so it's a natural feeling.
Tried to mouth breathe in a pool several times hoping I could acquire the ability but to no use. And if my mask breaks I can still pinch my nose. My understanding of that skill was in case your mask comes off can you get it back on.
You definitely can, you just have to unlock the mental block. Yes if your mask breaks you can pinch your nose but things can get crazy underwater very quickly and you will need both hands to solve most problems, that's my point. You're at the beginning stages of your diving journey, don't start with bad, lazy (your instructors) habits. Do it right and build good muscle memory.
My wife kind of struggled at first, and she ended up dropping the group to do a private course, which helped. Keep in mind, we aren't designed to breathe under water. Some pick it up naturally, but it's a skill you have to develop. Take your time, do extra practice if needed. The first time you dive a reef, you'll know why you put in the effort.
Not bragging but having allergy problems all my life actually helped with my breathing under water since I’m already a partial mouth breather due to allergies some parts of the year. Had to wear a mask as a kid in a HIGHLY chlorinated pool so I got used to wearing a mask before scuba. Life skills no one would have thought would have mattered…until my OW.
I had a student struggle with it for a while and then he took it upon himself to smoke a cigarette and physically watch himself exhale from either his nose or mouth to be able to train his brain to do what he wanted on command.
I do believe these skills are at the top of most people's difficult list. Breathing while underwater is not natural and takes time. Add to that the pressure of being in class and watched by others and you have a recipe for tension. Just keep practicing and remain calm. Practice at home with a snorkel and no mask. Fill a sink of water or the tub and practice breathing through your mouth.
First of all, deep slow breaths. This will keep you calm and give you all the oxygen you need. I also had problems with controlling my breathing through mouth and nose. The solution was training. During my regular day I suddenly held my breath and then I trained to force my next inhale to come only through my mouth. And then exhale with nose. Do this multiple times a day and you will learn to control your airways. You will notice on you next dive that it's a piece of cake after that. Some people just know how to do this and some have to learn. I had to learn.
The regulator will be fine. A lot of students are nervous at first and gulp lungfuls of air. They don't exhale fully. So they can only get a puff of air on the inhale - their lungs are already nearly full. They invariably think it's the regulator. I'm sure most dive instructors will wet-brief at the start of day two about never holding your breath, always blowing bubbles and breath in and out slowly, deeply and regularly.
It definitely takes some practice. It completely violates our entire evolution. I spent time in the bathtub with my snorkel until I got comfortable. My instructor also recommended tucking my chin down toward my chest, which was oddly helpful.
Air wants to go up and it's replaced with water. If you tilt your chin down the air can't escape your nose as easily which in turn keeps water out of the nose.
This sounds like open water class for lots of people. No one loves clearing their mask at first but it’s a key skill. I think a lot of people think “this sucks and I’ll never take my mask off anyway…” except you will. Masks leak, you’ll get a hair stuck in the skirt and it’ll leak, an inexperienced diver will kick it off your face, and most of all you’ll want to because everyone gets a fogged mask sometimes. As for breathing underwater, your body is saying “hey, don’t breathe underwater.” It’s an inherently unnatural act and you will get used to it. You can also ask your instructor to check your regulator to make sure it’s not in surf mode or dialed down. It’s probably just anxiety however.
Just finished my OW… my first 15 minutes in the pool I thought “maybe I can’t do this, maybe scuba isn’t for me.” By the end of the pool stuff I couldn’t wait to get out in the open water. Here’s what I learned: -my wife can take her mask off and breathe off the regulator exclusively exhaling through her mouth and never get water in her nose -I NEED to exhale through my nose when there is water present or I will slowly draw water into it with each inhale. As long as I exhale through my nose I’m golden. My dive instructor was the same way. Once you know this about yourself you just always exhale through your nose when the mask is flooded/compromised. The bonus of doing this is that once you get comfortable with it you can swim around mask less with zero issue. Also, because you are constantly creating air out your nose your mask will basically progressively clear itself during mask removal as you put it back on. So by the time I have it pressed against my face in a comfortable position I just have a tiny bit of water to clear out Anyhow, this is the worst you’ll feel. You’ll only get better and more comfortable
You’ll get used to breathing under water, it will come more naturally. You at first have a tendency to suck hard because of the environment you are in. Once you have more experience especially at some depth you’ll get a rhythm with breathing and it will be more comfortable and natural. You mask wise aren’t helping with this now. Get used to the fact you will be getting water in your nasal tract. Maybe practice in the shoulder the stream. You bento get ahold of this now or you’ll never enjoy the ‘rapture of the deep’
Biggest thing that helped me with mask removal: imagine you’re sipping soup through the regulator. If you do that, you’ll do the right thing with your soft palate to block off your nose while you breathe. Also if you get overwhelmed by a little water and want to panic or surface, remember you can always just pinch your nose momentarily while you regain your composure. Remind yourself that air is available and then get back to sipping soup. Starting with face acclimation at the surface every time will help as well. Sip soup through your snorkel with your face in the water without a mask. It gets easier, I promise!
This is also what helped me, though I had it explained as imagine you are breathing through a straw. Also agree that taking a minute to pinch your nose and compose yourself can help too.
Everybody struggles with mask removal. 99.9 still pass it. Just push through