Drysuit in Key West around New Years

[Jorgy]

My vote is still wetsuit with thick jacket for the boat......as was mentioned earlier deep dives without experience is not good with a drysuit.......

As you said yourself water was nice in your 5 mil with hooded vest.......

Just my thoughts.......M

 

[Thiad]

Noooo!! I was hoping for something a bit warmer! I'll be in Key Largo around the New Year and was debating between my 5mm and my 3mm (and very glad I caught this thread). Guess it's going to be a toss up between the 5mm and the 7 now! It was a lovely 54 here yesterday so I guess I should just be happy, eh?

 

[Katch]

Noooo!! I was hoping for something a bit warmer! I'll be in Key Largo around the New Year and was debating between my 5mm and my 3mm (and very glad I caught this thread). Guess it's going to be a toss up between the 5mm and the 7 now! It was a lovely 54 here yesterday so I guess I should just be happy, eh?

Stick with the 5mil or even the 3. You can pick up a 2mil hooded vest at Divers Direct (in Key largo) for under $30. When I went last year, it was unusually cold right after Christmas (as in record cold temps outside of the water). It warmed up by the end of the week. I was comfortable in my 3mil diving Marathon on Jan 2nd.

I'm driving down from Washington DC...so overpacking is not an issue for me. I'm even stuffing a kayak in the back of my jeep (it's inflatable)

 

[solensdotter]

Add my "bring it" vote to the list. You may get some snide comments - but only until the first surface interval, during which you will be toasty warm and dry... I always took some pre-dive ribbing, but especially on windy days that tended to stop ... quickly!
However, also have to second the comments that this advice only goes if you are familiar - and comfortable - with dry suit diving. A ripping current on a ~120'+ wreck is most definitely not the time to find out that a few more familiarization dives would have been a good idea.

 

[ddmattos]

I have a Santi E-lite Trilaminate drysuit. I wear this suit for all my diving whether it's 80 deg or 32 deg water. Trilaminate suit’s have no insulating properties so just bring the correct undergarments. I use the fourth element undergarment system. Drybase for warm water. Zerotherm or/and Artic for colder water.

I was in Greece this past summer and wore the drysuit with the Drybase and loved it. This combination of Drybase and undergarment is comparable the flexibility of a 3mm wetsuit. Most of the other divers were wearing 5mm's. Everyone thought I would be too hot. Not a problem. I don't like getting dressed on moving boats so I get dressed just before we leave dock. I kept it unzipped and top down just as I would be during service intervals. When you reach the dive site your ready to go in less than a minute. You will really appreciate your drysuit on multiple dives or trying to get into that not dry yet wetsuit. As always, wetsuit or drysuit, stay hydrated. Think about getting a p-valve installed. Hopefully you have the thigh pockets installed.

I know you said you were driving but as for the airplane, I pack my drysuit, undergarments, regs, computer, can light, drynotes, spool, two backup lights, dive alert and reel with my carry-on. I used my drysuit bag which is a little large, but compressible.

Backplate, detached STA, wing, SMB, lift bag, masks, fins, knife was with checked baggage. All that was needed was tanks when I get to my destination. I dive the same equipment for all my dives, except for the reel and can light which depends on the planned dive. But I will have them with me if needed. This sounds like a lot, but my checked bag weighs in at 50 and the carry-on doesn’t usually get weighed.

Enjoy your new suit! The odds of you diving more throughout the year has greatly increased.

 

[Tom Winters]

Once again my hat, if I wore one, is tipped to those people who live in the coldest places on earth like Mount Erebus in Antarctica or Syracuse, NY and dive in wetsuits in cold weather. Tough, tough people. No wait, tough is not the right word. Maybe toughplus. Yes, toughplus AND no more having to pay taxes.
I live in southern Florida, pretty much dive only down here anymore, and I own more drysuits than wetsuits.
I have done dives where the ice floes had to be slid aside to get in, but after arguing with thick wetsuits, if I need more than my one-and-only 1mil wetsuit, it's drysuit time.
The relief process is a PITA, and the weighting process can be a little heavy, but watching everyone else during the surface interval in their wet wetsuits huddling like abject refugees praying for liquidation as relief from their collective frozen miseries - well that's just PRICELESS.