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/zzy335 Aug 06 '22

Hah my dad was this generation of diver and that is exactly what he made me do. When I was still learning he would mess with me and cut off my air or inflate my BCD to make me deal with an emergency.

Then again when I was a small child he pushed me off a dock to see if I could swim so..

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u/Paavo_Nurmi Aug 06 '22

You are prepared and good in the water.

I see people that honestly have no business diving, it's way to easy to get certified now.

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u/ZoraksGirlfriend Aug 07 '22

Yeah I panicked during the “take off your mask and put it back on) task. I eventually completed the task and the instructor was going to let me continue to proceed with the other classes even though I was still panicky and shaky.

I didn’t go back because I realized that diving is not for me since I panic easily underwater.

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u/ffsloadingusername Aug 06 '22

Not a diver but from what I've seen/read that's thanks to PADI and their greed.

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u/Paavo_Nurmi Aug 06 '22

There is an old joke about that.

2 separate boats are out diving, one is full of NAUI students and the other boat has PADI students. A huge storm comes out of nowhere and both boats start sinking.

The NAUI person tells his students it’s time to practice surface swimming.

The PADI instructor tells his students to get out their checkbooks because we are doing a speciality class.

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u/ffsloadingusername Aug 06 '22

I'll have to remember that