Transitioning to cold/poor viz diving from Caribbean clear & warm water

[DivemasterDennis]

ZombieZombie, you gave me a new theme for our cold water reservoir low viz training weekends: "Man up and embrace the suck." Or I might use "Man up and embraces the muck." Colod water low vis diving is not for everyone. My wife Debbie has a strict 50 feet of viz and 75 degrees rule. I do a lot of diving in local lakes and reservoirs, and they can be as cold as 50 degrees in early spring., 60's through the suimmer, a lot like Catalina, but with worse viz. If there is a reason for the dive, I enjoy it more- whether training, hunting big catfish, retrieving dropped gear, or some other task. I think you will find that true as well. But the fact is, 100 feet of vioz in 80 degree plus water with pretty fish and coral beats the quarry and reservoir diving by a mile. The point is, sometimes we can only div if we "man up and embrace the muck, or the suck."
DivemasterDZennis

 

[boulderjohn]

One of the problems of diving with a thick wet suit is weighting. You need to have enough lead to sink, but once the suit compresses with really not all that much depth, it will be more than you need. With dry suits, the buoyancy is constant, so if you go decide to commit to local diving, a dry suit is definitely worth the investment.

But for now you have to get used to it enough to decide whether or not to commit to it. Here are some tips that may help.

1. Getting the right amount of weight so that you can barely descend at the beginning of the dive and thus be as little overweighted as possible during the deep part of the dive and still be able to hold a safety stop when your tank is nearly empty will take some practice, but it can be done. Start with a weight check, as you were taught to do in your OW class.

2. When you are suiting up on warm days, keep an eye on the rest of your dive team, whether it is only your wife or other people as well. See how they are progressing with their own setups and make sure you are not in your wet suit waiting for them for too long.

3. If the site is appropriate, if you get into your wet suits too soon, wade in the water for a while to cool off and then come out to put on the rest of your gear. I have done that sort of thing with some frequency while dry suit diving, too.

4. There is no need to "embrace the suck." Learn to enjoy every dive for what it is. Don't be constantly comparing the site you are diving in now to some tropical paradise you have experienced in the past. Each dive has its own unique features, and go into the dive with the attitude that you are going to enjoy the unique features of that dive. For many people, just the feeling of diving is all they need. I was once diving a site that frankly does not have much to offer from an objective point of view, and a non-diver asked me what there was to see there. I compared it to running or jogging--you don't do those activities for the scenery. Learn to enjoy the bliss of floating effortless in the water simply for the sake of that feeling.

 

[ZombieZombie]

Many thanks. Intrigued by the prospect of dry suit diving. It sounds pretty complicated so we would probably take a class.

The physical restrictions of diving in very thick wetsuits is probably the biggest turn off about cold water diving. Hopefully a dry suit would feel much more comfortable.

The cold I can deal with fine. The lack of viz I can learn to love, but the feeling of being strangled by a hood with a 500lb weight on my chest is not fun while dealing with northeastern heat and humidity!

 

[Timmyjoe]

I did all my check out and first dives in Florida and really loved diving in my 3mm shorty. But unfortunately I live just outside Chicago and if I'm gonna dive at all regularly, I have to "Man up and embrace the suck!"

When I first put on a 7mm full wetsuit, and a 7mm hood, I thought, "There is no way I can dive in this." I hated the way the hood felt constricting, even though it was the proper fit and did not cut off circulation, and I hated the feeling of the neck of the 7mm suit, over the wet suit hood, against my neck (I hate wearing ties as well). Anyway, I struggled through the first few dives and slowly but surely it has gotten better. Did five dives this past weekend, hit mid 40ºF water on a couple, and mid 50ºF water on the other three, and I barely noticed. We had a ball. Just shows you that you can get used to pretty much anything if you love what you're doing.

Best,
-Tim

PS: And the green murky pea soup water, you get used to that as well. Helps when your buddy uses a bright fluorescent painted tank too, makes it much more easy to keep each other in sight.

 

[wspalding]

I did all my check out and first dives in Florida and really loved diving in my 3mm shorty. But unfortunately I live just outside Chicago and if I'm gonna dive at all regularly, I have to "Man up and embrace the suck!"

When I first put on a 7mm full wetsuit, and a 7mm hood, I thought, "There is no way I can dive in this." I hated the way the hood felt constricting, even though it was the proper fit and did not cut off circulation, and I hated the feeling of the neck of the 7mm suit, over the wet suit hood, against my neck (I hate wearing ties as well). Anyway, I struggled through the first few dives and slowly but surely it has gotten better. Did five dives this past weekend, hit mid 40ºF water on a couple, and mid 50ºF water on the other three, and I barely noticed. We had a ball. Just shows you that you can get used to pretty much anything if you love what you're doing.

Best,
-Tim

PS: And the green murky pea soup water, you get used to that as well. Helps when your buddy uses a bright fluorescent painted tank too, makes it much more easy to keep each other in sight.

After 10 years of diving only warm clear water I am learning the cold stuff too in New England. I think cold water is tolerable but, crappy viz is awful diving no matter the water temp. I am diving this weekend hoping for 30 ft viz.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[oldschoolto]

Having both hot/ warm water and some cold water in jugs really helps controlling your body temp before and after the dives.... I always put ice cold water in the hood before putting it on in hot weather... A good qt of warm water in the wet suit helps on colder days or to warm up after a dive... I always hate getting out of the wetsuit to warm up and then freeze getting it back on for a second dive... It's not for everyone .. But muck diving has a lot to offer if you take your time...

Jim..