I can't put my face in the water for more than 2 seconds. Nor can I use a mask. It's a feeling of of total claustrophobia, panic, and feeling like I am going to die.
I can swim, but obviously not really fast, because I don't like the breathing part. I also wear contacts, so that's another reason for not putting my face totally in the water. I can't use goggles, either. Anything that takes away the feeling of having all of my senses, i.e. breathing the normal way, seeing totally clearly, freaks me out.
I didn't learn to swim until I was 7 or 8 because of this, even though I spent all summer at the beach and 2 years in day camp. I also won't swim in water where I can't stand up, except in a pool, but then I have to be very near the edge, so I can grab ahold of something.
I have a real fear of drowning, not being able to swim the distance, even though I know I have cardio endurance. Many years ago, I had a stress fracture in my foot, from teaching too many aerobics classes on a concrete floor. The only thing I could do was swim. It was September in AZ, so I got up a 4:30 AM to swim for 30 minutes in my own backyard pool. But even that freaked me out. I had to put on all of the floodlights and put the radio on, or else I felt like I was being enveloped in something that was going to do me in.
It's amazing that both of my kids are excellent swimmers and my younger son has the highest swim classification that you can get in the military.