Freediving Masks

Hello Friends!

I hope you had a fantastic week and managed to tick off some of the self-care 'to do’s' over the weekend, including getting in the water!

Its officially September 1st! The start of our Spring in South Africa, this means 2 things, warm sunny days and diving in waters closer to 20 degrees which might be great respite from the cold 13 degree waters we’ve been diving in!

I thought this might be a perfect time to chat about masks, if you’re new to freediving, I often say the list of your purchases in order of importance is,

1. Mask and Snorkel

2. Fins

3. Suit

Just because masks are incredibly personal, if you can, try go instore to see how the masks fit because its not one size fits all.

Some challenges I’ve had in finding the perfect mask is,

1. Not being able to reach the base of my nose to equalize because the first mask I bought the nose part was not made for a flatter wider nose :)

2. A mask leaking when I smile because we know my cheeks could feed a small army :)

So, finding the 'right' low volume mask… lets chat about my favourites,

The Aqualung Sphera

The favourite (I own about 5 or 6 Freediving masks…)

Pros

1. Its super low volume which means you need less air to equalize the mask the deeper you go,

2. In my experience, you don’t need to equalize this mask until you get to 20-25m which is a great benefit considering when you start, the idea of using the precious gold your air is to equalize the mask can seem daunting.

3. It fits beautifully flush against your face which means no leaks

4. It looks good.. Cat Woman good.. Batman good ;)

Cons

The Sphera is made with a plastic lens, this means it has a level of fragility to it. In travel the one time from airport bag move around, I opened my bag to later discover in the water that something had pressed against the lens causing it to leak. It couldn’t be fixed so I ended up using someone else’s mask – ever since, I always travel with 2 masks, the mask is personal… enter the Hunter!

The Hunter

The Hunter Mask is also a great low volume mask that works great for both Freediving and Scuba, I weirdly enough don’t enjoy my Sphera on Scuba, I don’t know why that is, anyway, let’s get into it

Pros.

1. Low Volume Mask

2. Made with tempered glass thus less fragile

3. Great for both Freediving and Scuba Diving

4. Fits beautifully against the face and has a great solid base squeeze for equalizing (is that even a thing?)

5. It looks good in pictures, think sun reflection good… looking like you’re emitting light through your eyes underwater good.. yes I said it!

Cons, none!

Hope this helps you in your search for a good mask, happy diving!

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And on our Instagram Lives this week we had Aaniyah Omardien,

Aaniyah focuses on work that connects people and nature. She worked for WWF SA from 2001 to 2010, where she helped start and eventually managed WWF South Africa’s Marine Programme. She is the founder and one of three directors to The Beach Co-op (TBC). TBC is a not-for-profit company that evolved from the work of a group of volunteers that started collecting marine debris at their local surf break, the rocky shore at Surfers Corner in Muizenberg, Cape Town in 2015.

A conversation threading through being a water woman, conservation, advocacy and the importance of history in this beautilful ocean we can now all share in, have a listen here!

Happy Spring day! And new-ish week! And all the good!

Xx