HOW TO USE YOUR MASK
How Does Snorkeling Actually Work?
Snorkeling allows you to swim face-down at the surface while breathing atmospheric air through a tube called a snorkel. Your mask creates an air space in front of your eyes, allowing you to focus and see underwater. Your snorkel extends above the surface so you can breathe without continually lifting your head. Your fins increase the amount of water you can move with each kick, helping you travel through the water with less effort.
Think of the equipment this way: the mask lets you see, the snorkel lets you breathe and the fins let you move. They’re simple pieces of equipment, but understanding how each one works makes you a much better snorkeler.
Anatomy of a Snorkeling Mask
A snorkeling mask isn’t simply a pair of underwater glasses. The large clear section in front of your eyes is called the lens or faceplate. Quality snorkeling and diving masks commonly use tempered glass, and masks may have one continuous lens, two separate lenses or additional side lenses that increase your field of view.
One of the biggest differences between a snorkeling mask and ordinary swimming goggles is that a snorkeling mask encloses your nose as well as your eyes. That nose pocket is important. It allows you to exhale air into the mask when necessary, clear water from the mask and access your nose for pressure equalization if you make a breath-hold descent beneath the surface.
Surrounding the lens is the soft silicone skirt, and this may be the most important part of your mask when it comes to comfort. The skirt acts like a flexible gasket against your forehead, temples, cheeks and upper lip. When it fits your face properly, it creates the seal that keeps water out. A stray piece of hair underneath the skirt, a folded edge or a mask that simply doesn’t fit the shape of your face can break that seal and allow water inside.
Depending on the design, the mask may also have a frame that holds the lens and skirt together. Frameless masks bond the lens more directly into the silicone skirt. Neither design automatically makes a mask better for snorkeling. Fit is far more important.
Finally, there’s the strap and buckles. The buckles allow you to adjust the strap, while the strap keeps the mask positioned on your head. This is where beginners frequently make a mistake: the strap holds the mask in position, but the strap does not create the watertight seal—the skirt does. Cranking the strap tighter and tighter can actually distort the silicone skirt, make the mask uncomfortable and sometimes make leaking worse.
Destin Snorkel Expert Tip: Test Your Mask Before You Get in the Water
Place the mask gently against your face without putting the strap around your head. Move your hair away from the skirt and gently inhale through your nose. A properly fitting mask should create enough suction to stay against your face briefly without you holding it there. Once the strap is in place, it should feel secure, not as though the mask is trying to become permanently attached to your forehead.
More strap pressure does not equal a better seal.
