Soft pallet issues…

Freak214

Ok, I had a strange experience this weekend and I thought I would post here and see if anyone has any suggestions.

Diving on a wreck in about 170 fsw, 68 degrees with no noticeable thermocline. During the first dive I had major issues with gas escaping past my soft pallet and out my nose. I could hear and feel what I can only describe as a clicking or popping in my nose and upper throat area. This continued through most of the dive, even when I was running with minimum loop volume. During the deco I found I could stop this by going head down and getting my counter lungs above my head so I know it was a pressure issue. I blew though a ton of gas both O2 and Dil and in general had a horrible dive.

Now here is the strange thing… After a two-hour surface interval I jumped back in for the second dive and had a great dive! No issues, no leaking, just a good dive that felt great. I did not make any changes or adjustments to the rebreather between dives. The only ‘gear’ changes I made was to ditched the hood for the second dive. I have worn the hood on several dives and never had this issue so it’s hard to say the hood caused it.

The only thing I can thing I did that might have caused this to use Neosynephrine 12 hour version to help clear my sinuses prior to the first dive. I used it about an hour and a half before the dive

Any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks
JohnL

ScubaDadMiami

I don't know if this is related or not, but run a search for the threads where people describe "snoring" effects. See if that matches your issue.

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Howard Packer
IANTD CCR Instructor
Miami Beach, Florida
CCRDiveTraining.com

ccrdude

Hi John,

When I am diving my Mk 15.0, I noticed early on that gas bubbled out my nose and past the mask when diving in a 'heads-up' attitude. This was solved by adjusting my buoyancy such that I dive in a 'flat' position with my feet even with or just slightly lower than my head. I have found that if you get this under control, this feature can be used for 'fine' buoyancy control. That is, if you ascend slowly, and you feel the inevitable tug of buoyancy, then you just lift your head, and your nose erupts with fine bubbles to vent the excess gas.

It's interesting that you brought this up, because I remember during my training sessions, when I began to understand what was happening here, I exclaimed to my instructor 'The mask is part of the loop', and he new what I was talking about. The mask is a dead-end on an open part of the loop, and when it becomes the highest part of the loop, can act as an pressure release valve.

I later spoke to photographers using similar equipment, and they described using the same technique for fine buoyancy control when operating equipment with their hands. They referred to this as 'hands-free' operation.

Maybe your hood was under your mask seal on your first dive, and that was why you lost gas through your mask. I don't wear a hood, as I live in So Cal, and don't have this problem.

Ron.

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