Cool tropical diving

[bigsnowdog]

Last November we went to Bonaire where the water was 82. My 3mm was fine, but I could certainly tell I was cooling after long and cumulative dives, as we did four dives a day, and one day also a night dive.

We just spent a week at Grand Cayman from March 16 to 23. The water temperature was 78 degrees F. We each had 3mm suits, as did many on the boats, and some had 5mm suits. It was windy and overcast. Some days shore diving was closed due to rough water.

Given the cumulative dives effect on comfort and cold, a majority of divers were getting cold, with many cold even on the first dive. The scene after many dives revealed many very cold people. Many women were shivering violently with chattering teeth.

Certainly there were exceptions with some sturdy individuals not getting cold, and one of the divemasters dove on a sleeveless, hooded vest and swimming trunks. I don't see how he did it, but he seemed fine.

I have always felt I could wear more suit than conventional wisdom suggested, and after this experience I am not sure I see a point in owning a 3mm [which is 3mm in all places], and am not sure a 5mm would have been enough.

I would keep my 3mm since I also own it, but want to buy something else. I think I could have worn a 7mm and really done well. I also consider a 7/5, if there is such a thing, with a 7 torso and 5 legs and arms. Good seals would be a plus.

Some people were wearing hooded vests over their 3mm suits. Many of them were cold also. One fellow had such an over suit, but it was so loose I don't see how it could have had any effect.

Getting to my real question, how heavy of a suit have you worn in tropical waters such as I describe, and found it useful and enjoyable? The only time I have ever been too warm in a wetsuit was when I was standing on land in the sun. I have never been too warm in the water.

PS, I don't care if a heavier suit takes more weight.

 

[vladimir]

I am fine with a 3mm, even doing 4 dives a day (but I am "sturdy"--unless by "sturdy" you mean "fat"). I often opt for just a lycra skin. A lot of people use 5mm suits in the tropics, and I see temperate divers sporting drysuits in the tropics occasionally. I used to wear a Polartec fleece suit, which was warmer than a 3mm and neutrally buoyant; you may want to check someting like that out. One of the things I like about tropical diving is not having to deal with the thick wetsuit--not the added lead so much as the hassle of doffing and donning it and the relative discomfort of wearing it.

 

[RJP]

The water doesn't need to be COLD in order to dive DRY!

I've worn my DUI 30/30 Tropical Drysuit while diving Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, Cayman Brac, Bonaire, Curacao (x2), Truk, Florida (x2), Hawaii(x3), the Red Sea and elsewhere. I typically do 4-5 dives a day for a week or two when traveling. I've never ended a single one thinking "Would have been better if I was cold."

Do you get laughed at? Plenty of good-natured ribbing is thrown your way, for sure. When my buddy and I did the Town Pier in Bonaire we spend 90min in the water...while everyone else was done after 30min. On the Cayman Aggressor we exited the water after night dives and walked up to the bar for a beer, while everyone else huddled under blankets slurping hot cocoa, earning us both the coveted "Sissy Diver" award at the end of the week. Did 57 dives in 17 days in Truk; wreck penetration dives where you need full-body exposure protection down to 180' or so. 3mm not enough, 5mm sufficient, drysuit...perfect.



Also, it is far more comfortable on the surface than a wetsuit. It's been literally years since I've experienced the "thrill" of donning a cold, clammy, wetsuit. And the Gore-tex like material that DUI uses on the 30/30 is far cooler than a wetsuit of any thickness on a hot day, even in the midday sun at the Hilma Hooker...

 

[bigsnowdog]

I am fine with a 3mm, even doing 4 dives a day (but I am "sturdy"--unless by "sturdy" you mean "fat"). I often opt for just a lycra skin. A lot of people use 5mm suits in the tropics, and I see temperate divers sporting drysuits in the tropics occasionally. I used to wear a Polartec fleece suit, which was warmer than a 3mm and neutrally buoyant; you may want to check someting like that out. One of the things I like about tropical diving is not having to deal with the thick wetsuit--not the added lead so much as the hassle of doffing and donning it and the relative discomfort of wearing it.

No, I did not mean fat. I meant tough, or cold tolerant. There really were no people on the boats who were overweight to any meaningful degree.

The divemaster who dove in trunks and a sleeveless vest was quite fit.

 

[dkktsunami]

In 78 degree water, doing 4 dives a day for a week, I would be wearing a 7mm and possibly the hood too. Bear in mind that I am 66 years old, slender, and live in S.E. Georgia which is one of the hotter, more humid places in the U.S. Cold is cumulative and wears you down after a few days and it's a lot easier to cool down (let water in wet suit) than it is to recapture body heat.

 

[bigsnowdog]

In 78 degree water, doing 4 dives a day for a week, I would be wearing a 7mm and possibly the hood too. Bear in mind that I am 66 years old, slender, and live in S.E. Georgia which is one of the hotter, more humid places in the U.S. Cold is cumulative and wears you down after a few days and it's a lot easier to cool down (let water in wet suit) than it is to recapture body heat.

That is a very useful point.

 

[diver 85]

I guess to each his own, --here--.....With over a thousand 'tropical dives'(in -mostly-Roatan, Cozumel, the Bahamas, Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, Dominica, Belize, and the Flower Gardens) I have yet to wear anything more than my skins, 2 mm shortie, and a 2 mm hooded vest--notice a trend of layering?.....'coldest' water temps so far probably 76 degrees.....

Been cool from time to time 'down there' but nothing warranting bringing my full 3/2 OR my full 3 mm wetsuit that I use only for 'local' Louisiana river diving(& yes, I'll 'layer' them over each other when necessary)........

 

[Rhone Man]

Yes, believe it or not, some people do complain about the cold and dive dry in the Caribbean. An instructor friend of mine does exactly this.

But you can wear as much neoprene as you like in the Caribbean (you will see plenty of 7mm suits if you dive long enough out here). The real bugbear is not the extra weight, but sweating like a who re in church all geared up waiting to get into the water.

 

[bigsnowdog]

Yes, believe it or not, some people do complain about the cold and dive dry in the Caribbean. An instructor friend of mine does exactly this.

But you can wear as much neoprene as you like in the Caribbean (you will see plenty of 7mm suits if you dive long enough out here). The real bugbear is not the extra weight, but sweating like a who re in church all geared up waiting to get into the water.

Last week I had my suit on and zipped virtually the entire time out, and never got hot. I had a number of people ask, aren't you hot?

The more I read here the more I think a 7mm would have been just fine. That was my feeling. I understand your readying in the sun concept from diving in August in quarries in the midwest, wearing an 8/7mm semi dry. But, it is happily do-able to remain warm.

I am curious; what is the warmest water encountered in ocean diving? I am excluding any sort of hot-spring fed setting, if there is such. Just ocean.

 

[vladimir]

I am curious; what is the warmest water encountered in ocean diving? I am excluding any sort of hot-spring fed setting, if there is such. Just ocean.

The Bismarck Sea north of Papua New Guinea gets to 31° C. (~88° F)