The strap belongs under your hood and nowhere else.

Those silly neoprene straps are not needed either.


With the strap under the hood the mask will ALWAYS be in place. You cannot lose it, it cannot come off your face in a gas share drill or emergency. Simple exhalation will also put a little air in the hood which also makes ear equalization easier too.

The method for putting it on is simple. Peel your hood back, put the mask on. Stretch the hood over your head and put in place. DONE. When you come up, peel back hood, take off mask.

Some pointers. Once you have adjusted your mask strap for a comfortable fit take some electrical tape and tape down the straps. This keeps those silly danglies from getting all over the place.

Also -- only after the mask is on and hood is in place do you put on your gloves.

It will take you 10 dives with the strap under the hood to understand why this is THE way to do it.

The only reason you were not taught to put it under the hood is that during OW trainining you need to remove and replace your mask for skills. In the real world once the mask is on it stays on till you are back on the boat or out of the water completely.

My mask has been under my hood since November 12, 1988.

Cheers,