Spearfishing kit - What and where? (part3 - Mask)

A mask is almost as important as a speargun because you cant shoot what you cant see!

There are a few different varieties of masks mostly due to the scuba diving and snorkeling industries but spearfishing has some unique demands that are not often met by the run of the mill masks out there. When diving to depths in excess of 5m one will note a bit of pressure on your face caused by the air cavity between your face and the glass of your mask becoming compressed. This can not only cause pain but can effect your vision as well as leave nasty marks on your face where the blood is drawn to the surface of your skin.

Mask Squeeze

To avoid this one needs to equalize the pressure in the mask with that of the outside pressure, this is done by breathing a small amount of air through ones nostrils and into the mask cavity. Obviously when holding ones breath on a dive every little bit of breath is precious, so what spearfisherman and freedivers have done is use a low volume mask. This is a mask that holds a smaller amount of air in the cavity between your face and the glass than that of conventional scuba masks and therefore only requires a tiny amount of air to be breathed into the mask to equalize it.

You will also find most spearfishing masks have a black silicone skirt. This feature is to give the spearfisherman tunnel vision so as to aim correctly and not be distracted by reflections of light that tent to come through the sides and skirt of the clear silicone masks.

Low volume mask with black silicone skirt

Another feature that is becoming popular amoung spearfisherman is that of reflective lenses. Most divers report that fish are spooked when they make eye contact with a diver, so many manufacturerers have now released models with a reflective coating on the lenses that avoids the fish making eye contact.

Mask with reflective lenses

These are just a few of the features most sought after in a mask by spearfishermen, but one of the most important features is going to be fit, so go into your local dive shop and try on a few making sure that the mask seals correctly and most important that it is comfortable.