How can you transport your freediving gear on a motorcycle or scooter?
Can you freedive with a SCUBA mask?
Sometimes my students ask me: "I have a SCUBA mask, can I use it for freediving?"
My answer is: "Yes, but..."
Freediving masks are smaller and have less internal volume than SCUBA masks. Since the air in the mask is compressed during the descent (Boyle's Law), the diver must let air from the nose into the mask to prevent it from sucking uncomfortably against the face. If not, it can cause eye barotrauma.
The lower the volume of air in the mask, the less air is needed to equalize the pressure in the mask. While the loss of 100 ml or 200 ml of air during a dive to 10 m does not significantly affect the duration of the apnea, this air will be missing from the nasal cavity to equalize the pressure in the middle ears. For this reason, it will be harder for a freediver to equalize the pressure in their ears with a SCUBA mask.
My test shows that a typical SCUBA mask has an internal volume of 200 ml, compared to 100 ml for a typical freediving mask from the same manufacturer.
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