Removing water up the nose

Question
Hi James, I have decided to take up scuba diving and am taking the Scuba Diving certification ( NAUI ). I have always been comfortable in the water and am a fairly strong swimmer. During our pool sessions we are covering the basics of mask clearing, retrieving your reg, etc. Yesterday when I was in the process of a mask clear, I think I likely tried to breath through my nose and took in some water. I started to cough and surfaced from 10ft underwater. First time I ever felt a tinge of panic in the water and to be honest it spooked me a bit. In any case, I am not one to give in. I know my mistake of not exhaling through the nose and basically just not taking my time. So my question is what do I do when I take in water via the nose ? I want induce this situation with water in the nose again and ensure I can deal with it if were to ever happen at depth. Thanks for your response.

Answer
Hi Steve,

I would say AVOID inhaling water.  You don't want to repeat it, you want to never do it again.  It isn't something that you should try to 'tough out,' it is something to never do again.

Inhaling water is the first step to drowning.  Are you sure that is what you did?  Normally, it is just discomfort and the onset of panic, and a strange feeling of water while you have an air source in your mouth.  These are new feelings.  You need to ease into them.  Practice.

I don't think your mask clearing should be done in 10' of water, either.  You should become comfortable with it in water that is shallow enough to stand up in.  That is RSTC (http://www.wrstc.com/ NAUI conforms to this organization's policy, I believe) standards.  Only once you have demonstrated proficiency in it should you attempt it at deeper depths.

Does this make sense?

Let me know.

saludos,
James