Hi Susan,
I'm really not going to be helpful, but I must share a
dive-mask related story about my good friend Allen, an
older Kiwi bloke, who is the most avid self-collector
I have ever met. I have seen his shells and I believe
he is correct that he has found two new species of
conus, or at least new forms from new locations. Allen
is a retired lobster fisherman who now spends his
years sailing his 65 foot yacht around the pacific
islands collecting shells. He was doing two
decompression dives a day collecting a new species (or
at least form) of conus at around 130 feet depth
outside a poorly-charted and uninhabited mid-ocean
reef in the South Pacific. He was spending
decompression time snorkeling for cowries under rocks
in the day inside the lagoon in shallow water. A large
gray reef shark approached him and started a
territorial display, fins down and undulating from the
middle. "Oy mate" Allen said, "I had me dive knife on
me wrist strap. I looked down through me bifocal mask
- big knife! I looked over me bifocal lens in me mask
at the shark - small shark. I knew I was in for it so
I pulled me knife just as the shark came at me - Oy
mate! Then I saw it all through me bifocals; big
shark, little knife!" I saw the pictures and I saw the
scars.(The first time I saw Allen after the shark
attack was at the Mermaid Cafe in Tonga on a crowded
Saturday night and as soon as he saw me, he dropped
his trousers to his ankles in the bar to show me his
scars.) The shark ripped Allen's belly open as Allen
drove the knife deep in the shark who then veered
around and bit his ass off. Seriously, most of one
butt cheek was bit off in a huge chunk hanging by a
thin flap of skin down to his ankle. Allen was lucky
to get to Nuie and find a Kiwi doctor to sew him up.
So, Susan, my dad who was a dive master, says the best
is the type where the prescription is ground into the
mask lens. But whatever prescription lens mask you
get, be careful with the different perspectives of
what is big and what is small. I wish that you may see
small sharks, big shells, and not need a knife.

John Flynn
S/V White Hawk



--- Susan O'Connor <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hello all; I am a novice collector going on my first
> abroad shelling trip
> and need a new mask,snorkel and fins for snorkeling.
>  I now need a mask
> with prescription lenses.  My question is do I get
> the type that has the
> lenses bonded to the inside of the mask or do I get
> the type where the
> glass in the mask is the lense?  It has been over 20
> years since I've been
> snorkeling.  My eyesight has changed drasticaly and
> I now wear bifocals
> perpetualy. My prescription is fairly high. I do not
> plan on snorkeling in
> deep water.  It's like starting all over for me with
> all the new gear
> available. Dry snorkel? Fins? I'm short and heavy.
> Anyone out there with
> my same issues?  Any advice would be greatly
> appreciated.
> Thank You, Susan
>
>
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