Cold diving and good training

[Melicertes]

What do you all think? Was I right in my diagnosis of what was going on? Accident or near miss?

I think you dealt with the situation pretty well overall, you recognized where your limit was and didn't push past that point - that's a good thing. Calling the dive because you've encountered something that obviously was affecting your ability to think clearly is the wisest thing anyone could do.

Leaving the hood behind was perhaps not the best idea though. I'm used to diving waters right down to the 52ºF mark with my semi-dry suit, but never without my hoodie; heck I dive with my hoodie even in 80ºF+ waters. I've seen divers not heed the advice and diving colder than usual waters than they are used to only to get slapped with a good case of "brain freeze" halfway through the dive. Your head is one of the areas where you lose most of your body heat so keeping that covered helps a lot to stay warm. I'd say you might want to consider using a better fitting hoodie since your reference to bubble noise leads me to think that it might not have fitted properly. Also keep in mind that if you are not used to diving with a hoodie it might take some time for you to get comfortable with it, getting it to stretch properly if its new, making sure it's not too tight around the neck that kind of thing.

Accident or near miss? Well, I guess it depends on what you define as an accident, but since you didn't get hurt and kept your wits about you despite the difficulties you experienced, this might fall in the near miss category for me but only because I don't know how you dive and how well you would have dealt with a more serious emergency under those circumstances.

 

[ShallowDiverDave]

A couple of weeks ago I dove the only dive park in Georgia, Dive Haven. Water temp was 58 F, and all I had was a 3mm wetsuit. I could tell that everybody at the park was anticipating my reaction once I hit the water and they laughed, a lot. I only lasted 38 mins. It took a solid hour for my feet to come back to life.

 

[CBulla]

you could ahve been narced, dont know how deep you were but it does effect everyone differently. I would definetly suggest a dry suit, I'm used to the 72 degree water and have a drysuit for that. I have had both a shell suit and a neoprene suit, and i like the neoprene better, if it does flood it acts as a wetsuit.

Depth - roughly 15' off of Venice Beach, FL.

What your describing is basicly you let yourself get to cold, and you did the right thing, by calling the dive. Farmer Johns are very constrive style of wetsuits and most people feel uncomfortable wearing them. But they are extremly warm, its a trade off. also there are alot of difrent types of hoods out there and honestly you get what you payfor. I use 5mm drysuit hood that cost close to hundred bucks and I've dove water temps of 42 degrees in it and my hands went numb before my head got cold so there you go. Proably your best bet would be to invest in a 7mm semi-dry wetsuit for your 60's and 50 degree water dives, with a good dry suit hood and you'll be very comfortable and warm with your tired shoulder. and you won't be overly floaty as you would with a farmer john.

Making notes here. I definitely didn't feel cold with the hood on before. Oddly, I didn't feel it here, but I did notice I was cold when I was at the car getting unwrapped from neoprene.

Hey -- I want to thank everyone who has responded thus far! I'm not one who dives in water much below 80º mostly because thats just about as cool as it gets most of the year unless Gulf diving during the late fall/winter months.

Soooo.. what are the differences and prices/pay offs for a shell vs. semidry. The little tight neoprene beasts are kind of out of the question for me as my shoulder has undergone 4 rebuilds and has no cartilige in the armpit area.. the right angle with pressure creates a dislocation.

 

[SDAnderson]

From someone who only dares to hope for bottom temps in the 60F+ range for a few weeks each year, experience indicates that you may have had a slight case of hypothermia but that the dizziness most likely came from cold water in your ear canal. Bad business - short term cold water in the ear disrupts the vestibular system and leads to vertigo, long term it has been reported to cause bony growth inside the canal and partial deafness. Additionally, your brain requires a nice warm temperature to function properly, a drop of even a couple of degrees produces substantial (though usually temporary) confusion and loss of mental function. Nobody likes wearing hoods but in cold water they aren't optional.

As to drysuits, for your purposes a shell is probably best, since they will allow you to vary the amount of insulation and thus work in a wider range of conditions. A crushed neoprene suit is a little more flexible and allows for a closer cut, however. I'd suggest seeing if you can find one of each to rent before you buy but I'm a big fan of trilaminates.

Unless you plan on using a drysuit a lot, I think you should take a look at a semi-dry. A good semi-dry suit is a lot cheaper than a good dry suit and most people are comfortable in them in water down to about 50F. I'm familiar with the ScubaPro Nova Scotia and the Mares Isotherm, both have a fair amount of extra material in the shoulders (for the zipper) that translates into a pretty much unrestricted range of movement. The SP suit, in particular, has been getting raves for being very dry and comfortable.

At least you had the good sense to thumb the dive, though your timing was off by a half-hour or so...

 

[dbulmer]

Cbulla,
One other thing which I hope TSandM could add input to as well. Because of the cold and chest constriction you mentioned, do you think your breathing patterns changed subsconciously? I was just wondering if the effort due to the cold etc was leading to a CO2 buildup?

 

[Tagerisatroll]

Soooo.. what are the differences and prices/pay offs for a shell vs. semidry..

A semi-dry genrally will run about 50-100 bucks more than a standard wetsuit of the same thickness and is genrally hundreds of dollars less than a dry suit shell.

The little tight neoprene beasts are kind of out of the question for me as my shoulder has undergone 4 rebuilds and has no cartilige in the armpit area.. the right angle with pressure creates a dislocation.

I'm not sure what your describing about your shoulder But most semi-dry wetsuits are the skintight jump suit style so it proably wouldn't work although they tend to be made out of the newer superstretch neoprene that has alot more give than the the older type that the farmer johns was made out of. But if they are to restrictive still your best bet is a drysuit shell they would put no presure on your shoulder at all its like wearing a loose fitting coveralls. And you can add insulation to suit your needs, they are very versital, they can be used in water temps from 85-32 degrees depending on the insulation package you use. Its the more expensive option but it might be best suited to your needs.

 

[MikeFerrara]

If the water is cold you need exposure protection. If you wear exposure protection (especially a wet suit) it needs to fit correctly.

Of course, I'm sure that you know all that but...LOL...you did something different anyway.

I wouldn't call it an accident or a near miss. As reefraff pointed out, we dive cold water up here and divers sometimes get cold even all decked out in dry suites. You know...a long day of ice diving...a bunch of deco before getting up to where the water WARMS UP TO 60. Anyway, I'd call it cutting a dive short on account of discomfort with no near miss about it.

What's really fun is that we can dive 40 degree water when it's 95 deg outside. That means that between suiting up in 95 deg weather for a 40 deg dive we have the unique oportunity to be at risk of hypothermia and hyperthermia all inside a few minutes time. Maybe you Florida folks are just soft? LOL

 

[Firediver]

Hendersen Gold core hoods and their wet suits are great for the water your are diving in. Drysuit does seem a little extreme. I dive in water temperatures between 31.2-56F I wear the drysuit in the temps belore 40F and the wetsuit for above. Weather on the surface also dictates what I wear for a suit. You may also want to look into a custom fit suit. would help with warmth and comfort.

 

[uspap]

I once swam in 38 degree water in Yosemite. I was in it for about 2 minutes and felt high for about an hour afterward. All I had was swim trunks. Normal dive temp here is 49-56. Get a good fitting suit. I agree it sound like cold water in the inner ear. I've had Hypothermia before and I don't recall vertigo. I was just very cold and shaking uncontrolably. 60 is pretty cold and with no hood you could have gotten water in the inner ear.

 

[Tigerman]

I left the hood off because it felt as if I was getting as much of the exhale in the hood as went around it, though that wasn't the case.
...
I did choose to wear the upper part, which was a thicker neoprene, recognizing that i needed to have coverage on the largest areas of my body that would lose heat.

Those two statements are largely contradictive as you lose most of the body heat through your head.
Wearing a thick jacket, but no hood is of no use as far as staying warm goes..
If you had put the hood on, you might not have been as cold as you where.

Good job on thinking clearly enough to thumb the dive and get back ashore tho. If you do more cold (I actually think PADI would referr to it as "moderate) temperature dives, I would suggest bringing some nice warm headwear that you can put on when you get out of the water.

A neoprene drysuit is not as tight fit as it might seem, or atleast it shouldnt be. I can easilly wear 3 layers of clothing in my BARE CD4 ProDry, Or I can wear close to nothing.. Probably a pretty bad idea wearing nothing under it now tho, given the fact that its like 40F in the water here The visibility however is kick ***..