YOu may experiment by going to the scuba shop and trying on a few different mask styles. Sopme of the older type designs (Lloyd Bridges era) can be quite confining, but there are quite a few stypes out there that may eliminate the closed in feeling. They make a multiple pane mask which has hardly any outside interference, and gives lots and lots of ambient light to the user, but its main draw back is volume of air required or numerous times to clear it if it floods.......another type is thoe masks with the clear or translucent silicone skirts that fit up very close to your face..virtually no sense of being closed in or even having anything on yur face as they are extremely confortable, and if it was not for having to breathe through yur moouth you probably wold not even think you had one on, and they require very little volume of air to clear...probably your best bet.....Odds are the shop may have one around you could rent or borrow, after all they stand the chance to sell gear and give instruction if it works...Once your in the open waters you certainly should not have any feeling of being claustophibic.....I taught scuba at the local dive shop for over 8 years, and had students express these same problems about feeling closed in......yet with a mask and allowing them to take it home and play (wear it while watching TV, in the bathtub, etc etc) getting used to it, they were able to take their certification and get into the world of scuba diving......back then the masks with multiple panes were big, and the translucent low profile silicone skirted masks were just coming out. Built in purge valves were a big thing in a mask, so when those folks wanted to dive and take lessons but were somewhat claustophobic, we loaned them a mask and removed the air purge valve so they could breathe normally through their nose....If your intent is to see the undersea side of this world, I would h onestly give the mask thing a try........if you make it you certainly wil not regret it.
