How hard is it to swim without goggles?

Question

I'm 18 and I haven't started learning swimming until just a year ago. One problem I'm currently having while swimming is the difficulty of dunking my head underwater without goggles. Opening my eyes underwater isn't too hard, but when I do everything looks blurry, which isn't the case when I have goggles on. And worst of all is after I rise up again, I find it very difficult to open my eyes. I have to rub off the water around it and wait a while before I could open them comfortably. What suggestions would you give for someone in my situation? Is more practice and experience in the water all I need to overcome this problem? Or is there something specific I should be doing?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Wear goggles.  I hate swimming without them as well; plus I like to know where I am going when I am swimming.

If your eyes start to burn after you get out, do not rub them - it makes it worse.  Just put over-the-counter eye drops in them.

Answer 2

I would suggest to wear goggle on when swimming. I used to swim without goggle & I faced the same problem. I couldn't see clearly underwater & my eyes became red. I supposed the water is not clean enough or contains high chlorine level. So it's better to wear the goggles to protect our eyes.

Answer 3

well i swim in a swimming club and i usually use goggles but if i ever swim without them i don't really open my eyes cos our pool is really chloriny.i suggest wearing goggles =p much easier.Buuuuttt if u really wanna swim goggleless, u just need to practise swimm underwater without them and ur eyes will become accustomed to the water

Answer 4

If you've done it all your life it is pretty simple. But once I switched over to wearing goggles I can't swim without my eyes burn. My eyes burn so bad that I can't open them without crying. Also outdoor pools tend to sting less unlike indoor pools.