I was born with a complete cleft palate and lip. After fourteen surgeries, I still have a small connection between my mouth and nose, an under bite, and a large deviated septum blocking my whole right nare. SCUBA diving, based on the amount of dependence on external breathing equipment seemed like an impossibility, but it is not. Here is what I have learned so far:
1. Clearing your mask is no easy task. While this is a problem for most other divers as well, clearing a completely flooded mask takes a bit of effort. First off, learning with a low volume mask is the way to go. My SCUBA instructor John taught me that. The Oceanic shadow is a great example of one. Second, the more you tilt your head back, the easier it is to clear. Third, it may take more than one breath to clear your mask. I clear what I can with the first breath, cover my nose because water will enter my nose and go into my mouth due to the connection, take a breath in and clear with my second breath. This can also be applied to your mask being removed. Cover your nose while breathing underwater without a mask. During slow exhalation through your nose, sit the mask on your head and cover your nose. Take a breath in, while slowly exhaling through your nose place the mask in the appropriate position and partially clear it with the remaining breath. Repeat the above procedure to finish clearing your mask. This is just my technique and what works for me. Every person will b different, find what works for you and practice, practice, practice!
2. Fogging your mask is going to be common. I found these neat fog wipers on Amazon that I will review at a later time, they make your dive so much more enjoyable.
3. Mask fit. It is hard for someone without a history of cleft palate or lip to find a properly fitting mask. Definitely try before you buy and make sure you take your regulator with you so you can try it on with it in your mouth and test the seal. 4. Regulators should not be a problem. You can buy mouthpieces that can be customized to your bite. A definite consideration.
While diving may be seen as daunting, it is not. It is by far one of the most enjoyable things I have ever done and recommend it to everyone. If you have any questions, just post a comment and I will get back to you!
Its a very nice and informative post till i saw on that topic.
ReplyDeletePadi Divemaster Course Thailand
Great post! I am doing some research because I took the open water course this weekend with my 13 year old son, who has a bilateral cleft lip and cleft in the soft palate. He did all of the shallow water skills like mask clearing like a rock star, but when it came time to go into the deep part of the pool, he couldn't equalize. We even had him spend a couple extra hours working on it and he couldn't do it. The dive shop suggested diving ear plugs with small holes in them and we may try that. Any other suggestions?
ReplyDeleteHi Jamelyn!
DeleteI actually forgot I had this blog lol. Maybe I'll get back into it. So my dive buddy dives with Doc's Pro Plugs with the string attached. For your son it would probably be good to get the variety pack on Amazon so he can grow into the different sizes. My dive buddy swears by them. I've been pretty lucky to dive in a few places across the world and this is what I noticed about diving... If I start in the shallow area (either the pool or shore diving), drop down (I usually don't have to equalize in 3-8 feet deep water), and swim out along the bottom I find that I don't have to equalize at all. Not the optimal dive profile but it works. Last time I was in Cayman I did 3 dives like this with no problem. Between those dives I did another dive where I swam out to where it was 130 ft deep, the second I dropped down at 5 feet I had to clear my ears and it only got worse from there. The next shore dive riding the bottom from shallow to deep, no problem. Maybe have him drop down in the shallow area of the pool and swim across the bottom to the deep part, see if that works. Your instructor has to understand that. With more experience (a lot of scuba gets better with experience and repetition) he may be able to clear his ears better starting in the deep but until then, this world has some great shore diving to get the experience on. Anyhow, let me know if this works!
Wow! I think I can really do scuba diving. I will give it a try once we hit Tawali diving destination in PNG.
ReplyDeleteImpressive web site, Distinguished feedback that I can tackle. Im moving forward and may apply to my current job as a pet sitter, which is very enjoyable, but I need to additional expand. Regards. best snorkeling destination
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