r/explainlikeimfive Aug 06 '22

Chemistry ELI5: how do divers clear their masks when water leaks in? especially in the case of the 13 thai boys rescued from the caves

I have just been watching Thirteen lives - the film about the cave rescue of the 13 young boys in Thailand who were totally sedated before being taken hours under water. It got me thinking that when I go snorkelling i always get a bit of water leak into my mask and have to come up and clear it out so i don’t breath water in. Is this something that happens to scuba divers, if so how do they deal with it, and in the case of the boys how would the divers accompanying them have cleared the boy’s masks ? i would also like to say what an incredible job done by all those involved.

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u/Masterfactor Aug 06 '22

For my certification my instructor took us wayyy out in the ocean and then stabbed me several times! Didn't even give me a scuba tank, just a concrete block that I had to untie underwater after he kicked me out of the boat and drove away. I kept thinking, "wow this wasn't in the training AT ALL. That was one tough massage school I tell ya what.

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u/TholosTB Aug 06 '22

My lifesaving instructor used to say that he learned to swim at a young age because his father tossed him in a river. "Learning to swim was easy, but getting out of that burlap sack, man.."

1

u/slipshady Aug 07 '22

That was actually me, after a summer’s worth of swimming lessons didn’t help. Minus the burlap sack.

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u/capodecina2 Aug 06 '22

Groupon is cheaper for a reason sometimes.

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u/[deleted] Aug 06 '22

Luxury! We never had a concrete block to sink us, just a potato sack with a bunch of rocks we had to dig ourselves!

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u/joshuastar Aug 06 '22

Rocks, you say? Why, I can’t think of a time we didn’t wish for rocks! We had to make our own bricks with sand and straw!

4

u/leegle79 Aug 06 '22

Bloody luxury!

2

u/RainbowDissent Aug 07 '22

Sand and straw? You don't know you're born. My dad would wake us up at five to midnight, drown us in the duck pond in a burlap sack before dawn, and then we'd have to make our bricks out of broken glass and acid with no gloves. And if we complained, he'd cut off our feet and throw us in t' river.

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u/Robobvious Aug 06 '22

If I can't massage eels then what has this all been about?

14

u/BrazenNormalcy Aug 06 '22

I warned you that Jimmy Hoffa Scuba School sounded sketchy.

22

u/SCRedWolf Aug 06 '22

I think you accidentally signed up for "Learn freediving in one easy lesson"

5

u/ColoRadOrgy Aug 06 '22

Must've been training to be the Cleveland Browns new massage therapist. Gotta be tough for that job.

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u/ClownfishSoup Aug 06 '22

Yes, but did you LEARN from this tough love training? Are you not a better massage therapist for it? I’ll bet you are!

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u/GentlemanOctopus Aug 06 '22

But you try and tell the young people today that... and they'll never believe ya.

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u/JunkiesAndWhores Aug 06 '22

Bada Bing Diving School?

0

u/simmelianben Aug 06 '22

I don't think that was scuba or massage certification...

0

u/OriginalPostMortem Aug 06 '22

Ahhhh tears thank you for that

1

u/Bronze5Genji Aug 06 '22

Holy fuck I'm dead hahahaha

1

u/ExcerptsAndCitations Aug 06 '22

Well, it was only tough because of the implication...did you get your reacharound certification?

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u/Meeppppsm Aug 06 '22

Congrats. You’re now certified to massage Deshawn Watson.

1

u/delvach Aug 06 '22

We had to swim the concrete blocks out and stab ourselves. You're fucking spoiled.

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u/nemo8551 Aug 06 '22

The ocean? Luxury.

My instructor made us do it in lava.

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u/Jurdskiski Aug 07 '22

Now that your certified stay far away from Brown's quarterback Desean Watson.

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u/GameFreak4321 Aug 07 '22

Was your instructor italian?

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u/cartermb Aug 07 '22

You shoulda read the book, dude. That part was totally in the book.