Prescription Skin Diving Masks?

[whogo]

Please, does anyone have any information on how I can get a prescription skin diving mask? I am very nearsighted. I borrowed a friend's prescription mask in 1984 and it greatly increased my enjoyment.

I saw masks with interchangeable lenses on sale in a dive shop somewhere in Florida. I did not have my prescription, but should have just tried lenses until I found those that worked best.

I located a couple of manufacturers on line that seem too expensive and there is no way to know if the mask fits properly. I would like to buy one in Ft. Lauderdale before embarkation. Can anyone help, please?

[kakalina]

We just purchased ours at a local dive shop for a reasonable price. We pack our gear for every cruise, you never know when a chance will present itself .

[wowzo]

You might need more time for them to make the lens than when you come into town pre-cruise. Check with the companies as to how long between ordering and pick up.

Any dive shops in your area could help - or - maybe an eyeglass place.

Good luck, M.A.

[Cruisechik]

I bought mine online at snorkel-mart.com. Prices were quite a bit less than the local dive shop.

[debjo]

For whogo...
After falling in love with snorkeling and NOT being able to see what I "actually" saw until I developed the pictures from my underwater camera, I was fixated on getting a prescription lens mask.

After getting my eyes examined (and getting new glasses), I obtained a prescription sheet with my lens information on it and went to a local dive shop. Mind you, we live in Central New York, so I was surprised to find a dive shop locally, as there really isn't any "call" for going SCUBA diving around here! With some professional help in getting a mask & snorkel tube to suit my needs (and not leak), I paid for my "gear" and gave them my prescription from the eye doctor. The dive shop "sent" everything out and about a week later, I had my very own "gear" back. Rather than replacing the entire front of the mask with a large prescription glass (or plastic), they adhered two lenses to the inside of the mask where I would be looking through. This way, if my prescription changes dramatically, all they need to do is replace the lenses and not the entire viewing portion of the mask.

Let me tell you the difference in snorkeling experiences...without sight and with clear viewing...was amazing and well worth the expense. I'm sure that everyone was a bit puzzled with I exuberantly emerged from the water declaring "I CAN SEE, I CAN SEE!" I bet they thought there had been some "healing" done in those Caribbean waters...in a way, I guess they were right!

Debjo

[bala girl]

Go to a local dive shop with your prescription. It doesn't matter where you live - most people travel to their dive sites. My right eye was much worse than my left, so I had to pick out a mask that would take two separate lenses and not one that went straight across. Things underwater appear as 25% larger than actual which might account for the fact that I still see great out of my mask even though one eye has gotten significantly worse.
Don't leave it to the last minute. Have fun!
Diane

[whogo]

Thanks all for the help. I talked to a different clerk at my local dive shop who said, "Sure we can do that." I will check the local price against http://www.snorkel-mart.com/ and go from there. I am guessing that snorkel-mart is cheaper ($68 - $78 incl shipping), but I would be assured a good fit locally. Decision, decisions. Thanks again.

[Pete&Cat]

My wife and I were shopping for just that last night. scuba.com has some nice masks with prescription lenses as well.

[AMICUS]

Yep-- shouda stayed-- fastest and easiest way is to take your prescription to the dive shop and get a half mask with goggle type lenses so each eye can be "lensed" . They just insert the lens for your base perscription number for that eye. They can't do all the fancy corrections of the next sets of numbers in your perscription so just look at the signs at various distances away from you in the store and change lenses until with each eye and with both together things are sharp. Again, because you are underwater and not reading the fine print at the back of your travel docs they should be fine for all the diving/snorkeling you'll ever do. I've also found because they are smaller and have a flexible nose bridge they are easier to pack than a full mask.

[sadie mae]

I got a mask with pop in lenses about 5 years ago from my eye Doc.
They are basically a flexible frame without earpieces that snap into a mask that has a place to snap them in. Sure made snorkeling even more fun. They charged me $112 (75 was for the mask) but said they wouldn't do another for less than $150. I was the first, but not the last, to order from this Doc. My prescription hasn't changed much so I'm still using them. Most sports stores that carry this sort of stuff have masks with different lenses that would have worked, but I didn't know about them at the time.
Hope you find what suits you and enjoy.:)
Judy

[Sunshine91]

Do you normally wear contacts? I do & just keep them in when I snorkel. Because the Caribbean water is salty, I'd be keeping my eyes closed underwater w/o a mask or goggles anyhow, so to keep the contacts in is no biggie.

BUT, for a non-contacts wearer, an Rx mask must be wonderful. We've been snorkelling on every cruise we've been on & the sights down there are amazing. Sure wouldn't want to hop in the water & not be able to see what's down there. :)

[Sierrachik]

Thanks all for the help. I talked to a different clerk at my local dive shop who said, "Sure we can do that." I will check the local price against http://www.snorkel-mart.com/ and go from there. I am guessing that snorkel-mart is cheaper ($68 - $78 incl shipping), but I would be assured a good fit locally. Decision, decisions. Thanks again.

Buying local is good :)
(Ok, spoken like a true small business owner! LOL)

[cool change]

I am also getting a prescription snorkel mask, DH found a local store that does this. DH also insists that I will be happier with a mask that fits better because I usually just use the whatever the shore excursion provides when I am there. I dont supposed that they can tell what my script is by looking at my glasses?

[localady]

Whogo-
I got mine online at "scuba dot com". They cost me under $100 dollars and I will use them for the Volendam cruise extensively!:D

[MauiLvrs]

After 15 years ours were tired so we got replacements from http://leisurepro.com .
http://www.leisurepro.com/Prod/TBTM57.html
http://www.leisurepro.com/Prod/TBTML5.html

[broberts]

I don't normally wear contacts but I talked to my optometrist and decided to purchase a quantity of daily wear contacts for use when snorkeling.

She did advise me to remove the contacts soon after diving if I got any sea water in my eyes. Apparently the salt water can be a major irritant if it gets trapped between the eyeball and lens.

I looked into prescription masks, but the dive stores in my area all wanted around $200 CAD, which seemed extreme to me. I was hesitant to order on-line because of worries about the fit.

[sk8teacher]

My distance vision isn't too bad and I can make do without my glasses. But I do need correct for close-up, especially as I plan on taking some underwater pictures during our swim with the sting rays. As I really don't think I will be snorkeling again any time soon, the cost of prescription masks was not worth it.

So, I went to stickonbifocals.com and bought a set of stick-ons to compensate for my near vision. Less than $20 and they are reusable. All you do is wet the inside of the mask, stick them on, wipe them down and go swimming.

Just another thought!

Cheers,

[xpcdoojk]

A leaky mask is a very frustrating thing to deal with. No matter the quality of the mask some will fit your face and some will not. Getting your prescription in a mask is an easy thing for all dive shops. I strongly recommend real world use. A lot of dive shops have pool access in the shop. This is the best way to verify that the mask fits. Next best is to put the mask on you face without the strap and breath in and make sure the resulting vacuum will hold the mask on your face without the strap. My real world experience is that masks in the dive shop pass the second test only about 1/2 the time. Which to me means that unless you are lucky you may have a crappy fitting mask if you buy it without trying it on.

jc

[whogo]

Thanks for all your advice. I received a fine mask from snorkle-mart, ordered 11/28/06, shipped 11/29/06, $67.45 including shipping.

I tried to support my local dive shop "at pawn shop, back in 10 minutes". I could not get a price quote there, the clerk (owner?) said he wouldn't know until it arrived. It sounded like it would be at least $160 if he would have let me buy the cheaper mask I wanted. He did not seem willing to sell the cheaper mask. I could not get any information on a shipping date. I don't remember a creepier clerk. I will not grieve when the joint goes out of business.

[xpcdoojk]

Wow. We have a couple of first rate local dive shops here in the middle of the country and they can get them in a couple of days with the script added and I think I paid about $60 for my wife. Of course she had lasix a couple of years ago, and I forgot and didn't get her a new one, and she wasn't happy when we hit the beach in Coz last February! :D :o

[Sunshine91]

Of course she had lasix a couple of years ago, and I forgot and didn't get her a new one, and she wasn't happy when we hit the beach in Coz last February! :D :o


Bad boy! http://www.booktalkauthors.com/forum/images/smiles/nono.gif (http://javascript<b></b>:emoticon(':nono:'))

John & I bought masks & snorkels about a month ago. The guy who owns the shop has dived all over the world. He took his time fitting us - we chose very different masks & snorkels, based on our individual styles out in the water. We are SO looking forward to at least 2 opportunities to use the gear on our cruise next month.

I asked the owner about prescription masks. He sells them & says that having the Rx with you isn't really necessary. If you don't know it you can just try different corrective lenses in the pouch on the mask until you find the right ones. Like another poster wrote, it won't be exact but you aren't reading the menu at dinner, either. http://www.booktalkauthors.com/forum/images/smiles/icon_mrgreen.gif (http://javascript<b></b>:emoticon(':mrgreen:'))

[4748]

I attached an old pair of lenses removed from a pair of glasses to the front of the goggles using 3 or 4 small dabs of clear silicone. Works well if your correction is not too strong, old lenses are fairly large and the mask has a split front lens.

[whogo]

The prescription dive mask worked admirably. Had great snorkeling in Belize and Roatan.