A unique website dedicated to fishing information from Florida's Northern Big Bend. This includes the area from the Econfina River west to the Apalachicola River
SCALAWAG wrote:I think i would go with the old school mask, i have heard the same stories as mentioned. The first week at Keaton i think i am going to get a chair, umbrella, bug juice and drinks and just sit there at the ramp and watch the show
Thanks, Yeah I was thinking the ole ones, good to know about those whole face ones, I was curious if anyone know much about them
I tried a buddy's whole face mask a few times. Aside from looking like an underwater unicorn I wasn't a fan. It didn't really work if you had to dive deep, not that you really do for scallops. I didn't like how the mask felt with the pressure change once you get 12+ feet, and it never really worked well for me. Leaked a lot, even though I was clean-shaven. It could be my weird face, so take it with a grain of salt!
One of my brothers is blessed to get a steady stream of free stuff from Amazon due to his reviews being ranked highly (think they call it the Amazon vine program), so he throws stuff my way from time to time and one of the things he gave me was a full-face mask.
Most of the full-face masks are designed only for surface use and NOT diving friendly. Copied from an article I found via google...
"A full-face snorkeling mask restricts the access to your nose, so you are unable to equalize the pressure in your ears that increases as you dive down. What’s more, during the descent, a large volume of air in the mask creates a strong pressure on your face. While with the traditional mask you can relieve the pressure by breathing out through your nose, this is impossible with the full-face snorkeling mask. So, if you like to freedive to get a closer look at the reef and sea creatures, this type of mask is not the best option for you."
Very much fits with my experience where I was able to grab scallops in waters about 6' deep but the extra buoyancy of the mask was rather noticeable from the moment I'd go under the surface until coming back up. Didn't take me long before I wanted to switch back to traditional snorkeling gear.
"The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank GOD for the United States Marine Corps." Eleanor Roosevelt, 1945
FWC no longer conducting preseason scallop counts. I checked the site recently and it had been updated to read 2020 abundance survey but provided no data for 2020. I contacted FWC and was told they are switching the survey to after the season and report spawn related info instead of preseason count. I verified that no preseason count info would be provided this year
