Scuba diving is a beautiful experience, but half of it will be lost if your mask is foggy and prevents you from seeing the beauty around. This is why you need defogged masks. If you are a new diver and have no experiences with diving instruments, it will frustrate you to no end. To end the frustration, you need to know how to defog your mask. Below given are some techniques for defogging the mask and have a wonderful visual experience beneath the water.
How to Defog your Scuba Diving Mask
You can defog the mask before you jump in to the water, or while scuba diving. This is how you do it
Defogging BEFORE Scuba Diving
Generally the masks are covered with a sticky lubricant which with use makes the vision blurry. Thus you need to wash the mask with lukewarm water to prevent this problem. If the lens of the mask is made of glass then you may use a mild cleaner to clean the inside. Toothpastes that are non-gel types are very good for cleaning the lenses. But remember, the regular household cleaners can be a hazard to the lenses. You must rinse it carefully too on the day before scuba diving.
What do you do if the mask gets foggy during scuba diving? Here is the process of defogging.
Defogging DURING Scuba Diving
This should be done in three steps.
- First step is opening the mask just a little bit, from the side or the middle so that little water could enter inside the mask. Be careful so that there is not too much water inside the mask and the water must not come up to the eye level. If there is a lot of water inside the mask at once it will lead to discomfort.
- In the second step, you need to bend your head forward, and move your head in such a manner, that the whole space is swiped by water. Make sure all parts of the lenses are rinsed by the water inside your mask.
- The third and final step would be to clear the water out of the mask. In order to do it, you need to exhale through your nose, tilting your head towards your back and pushing the mask inward to your face. Once the water inside the mask has cleared out, you can start exhaling through your mouth again. On the other hand if you have a mask with a purge valve, you will have to bend your head forward and exhale. Remember, when the mask is clean and the water is drained, you should not exhale through your nose, because, that will result in fogging of the mask once again.
However there is one problem in underwater defogging, the fog tends to return again after some time. In such cases you might take out the mask for a bit and clean it with your fingers. But unless you are an expert, this might be a bit difficult for you.
