Diving the Madeira Wreck - Exposure Protection?

[Russoft]

I've been to the Madeira site four times over the course of the last 10 years, & I would always wait until after Labor Day. Looking @ my logs, the September water temp was around 50 degrees F until 60 to 65 ft, when the thermocline dropped the temp just a couple degrees. I wear an O'Neill "J suit" which has an integrated 5 mil vest in the 7 mil one piece suit, along with an integrated 5 mi hood. I am JUST comfortable for a half hour dive, wearing snug 5 mil gloves & booties. You may consider looking @ the DUI dry suit website & checking out the next time they come through with their nearly free demo-days every summer. I've taken advantage of this twice, once @ Crosby & the other @ Lake Wazee - which BTW you should definitely check out for Midwest diving. I do a couple trips a year in WARM waters, so local diving is hit or miss for me - I just can't justify a dry suit, but I totally understand the benefits.

As this dive season wraps up, Madeira stands out as a disappointment. Not because it wasn't an awesome experience, but because it was so cold! My wife and I have enjoyed diving the Crosby mine pits and have stayed in the 20-30 ft range where all the fish and weeds are abundant. We've loved it. It's been warm and relaxed. But I'd very much love to dive Madeira again. Not only was it an amazing dive, but it was a picturesque location! But to fork out thousands for a drysuit and then another couple hundred to learn how to use it just isn't in the budget, especially when you consider the cost for BOTH of us. For now, I guess we'll keep deeper diving to the tropics. At least until we can justify the cost of drysuits.

 

[Jared0425]

Well Lake Superior isn't known for being warm, but what's left of the best preserved shipwrecks lie there and most people around the world respect the mettle it takes to dive the lakes. Drysuits are not all THAT expensive. There are great deals and second hands that are excellent. I got a second hand drysuit that has lasted 10 years on me and still keeps going. Also you don't have to take the drysuit course either, it's easier to learn by yourself than paying someone ton teach you a simple skill. The pits in MN should be a great area to try them out.

 

[Russoft]

Drysuits are not all THAT expensive. There are great deals and second hands that are excellent.

It's true, I have seen excellent deals on second hand drysuits, but haven't actively tried to buy one. Now that I know I quite enjoy local diving, I will keep a closer eye on what becomes available. I wasn't going to buy a drysuit until I was sure I'd enjoy cold water diving.

As for buying new, the price ranges I've seen are $1000 and up. Expensive in my world

 

[claymore]

Russoft Have you considered renting dry suits or looking for used ones? Many shops rent them. If you do dive dry it opens up a lot of other opportunities for diving other than Superior. Lake Michigan has some great wreck diving, there are many along the west coast in recreational depths and the Straights of Mackinaw have some excellent wrecks. The only drawback is that all or almost all the Michigan wrecks are boat dives.

 

[rhwestfall]

If your body could take it, but it was your hands and feet that couldn't, look into better gloves (like XS Scuba Dry-5 - semi-dry), and neoprene socks for inside your boots... my wife won't get a DS, but loved Tobermory with the exception of her hands & feet going numb on the safety stops...

incremental cost for those upgrades are quite reasonable....

 

[Russoft]

If your body could take it, but it was your hands and feet that couldn't, look into better gloves (like XS Scuba Dry-5 - semi-dry), and neoprene socks for inside your boots... my wife won't get a DS, but loved Tobermory with the exception of her hands & feet going numb on the safety stops...

incremental cost for those upgrades are quite reasonable....

Yes, hands and feet went numb. Thanks for this, it may at least prove a stop gap before diving dry.

---------- Post added September 25th, 2015 at 06:25 AM ----------

Russoft Have you considered renting dry suits or looking for used ones? Many shops rent them. If you do dive dry it opens up a lot of other opportunities for diving other than Superior. Lake Michigan has some great wreck diving, there are many along the west coast in recreational depths and the Straights of Mackinaw have some excellent wrecks. The only drawback is that all or almost all the Michigan wrecks are boat dives.

I did consider renting dry suits. If we went that route, it'd have to be a once in a while sort of event. Rental rates are pretty steep on them! Buying used off CL makes more sense right now, but the wife has put a stop to gear purchases for now. She'd rather save the money for a tropical vacation in the winter, so perhaps next year.