It's happened to hundreds of divers and may have even happened to you... It's the perfect day for a dive. Cloudless blue skies, flat seas, crystal clear water. You giant stride over the side of the boat with great anticipation of the glorious dive just ahead of you. What will you see? And then it happens, almost instantaneously... That dreaded fog starts creeping it's way across the front of your mask.
"Ugh! Not again! (you think to yourself) I just bought this mask...it's brand new! And I paid somewhere around $95.00 for it! At that price it should never fog up, right?! My last mask did this all the time too!"
If you don't take one simple and often overlooked, but a very necessary step in preparing your new mask for diving it will fog, no matter how fancy and expensive it is, every. single. time.
The secret here is that all high-quality masks are made with a silicone skirt. While this silicone skirt gives you the most comfortable, pliable, leak-free fit of any mask around, it also leaves a film on the lens of your mask during the manufacturing process. Unfortunately, the manufacturer of the mask does not clean this invisible film off of your mask before selling it to you, the consumer. That is what you have to clean off before you use it on your first dive, otherwise, it will fog every time, even if you use defog on your mask. If you follow the simple steps below, you should only need to clean this silicone film off one time to prevent the mask from fogging in the future.
Steps to prepare your mask for it's first dive out of the box:
Step 1: Apply a bead sized drop of either toothpaste (the paste kind, not gel) or Softscrub to both the inside and outside lenses.
Step 2: Using your finger, vigorously scrub both sides of the lenses, concentrating on the inside of the lens, with the chosen paste. Make sure you scrub every inch of the lens.
Do not use a textured sponge or steel wool!!!! This will scratch the glass.
Step 3: Thoroughly rinse the paste off the lens with fresh water.
Step 4: Store your mask in it's box and you are ready to go!
If done properly, this silicone removal process is only a one-time deal. You will need to use defog on your mask during each and every dive.
