Nearly lost my mask on a 100 foot ascent in Puget Sound last Thursday

I was doing a hull inspection on a tugboat near Bremerton, about 90 minutes into the dive. Everything was going fine until I tried to adjust my mask strap and the buckle just snapped clean off, right at the temple. Water flooded in instantly and I couldn't see a thing, just white foam and bubbles. My first instinct was to panic but I forced myself to stop moving and just clamp my hand over the skirt. I signaled my tender with a sharp pull on the rope and started a slow controlled ascent, holding that mask on with one hand the whole way up. By the time I hit the surface my hand was cramping so bad I could barely open it. The buckle had cracked from salt corrosion I guess, I never even thought to check those little plastic bits before a dive. Anyone else had a mask fail mid-dive like that, or am I just unlucky?

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1 Comment

sullivan.elliot2d ago

You seriously never checked the buckles for cracks before a dive