Upper Keys Water Temps 1st week Feb?

[jdorice]

The above posts are pretty accurate for temperatures. The water just dropped to 75 degrees here and the air is cold this week at 60 degrees... brr I know If you were just doing short dives, a 3 or 5 mm would be fine. Since you will be down longer than that, a 5 or 7mm might be ok. Since you do want to try to be in the wetsuit, I would definitely bring it.

 

[mselenaous]

When I worked in KL a few winters ago, I dove in a 3mm suit w/ 3ml shorty. And as the temp dropped, I purchased my 1st hood 3mm. And then my 7 mm jumpsuit, and then a 7mm hood. "They" all laughed at me but at least as the water temp dropped to 72 on the Speigel Grove I wasn't cold at 100+ ft. Then I met the "Yankee invaders" escaping the snow wearing their dive coats and knew I had to have one of these cozy wraps. During my Staff Inst. training, I laughed when my CD dove his drysuit..."pasha, this is FL, a drysuit?" He responded "I'm a WIMP...warm intelligent marine person." I'll never dive a drysuit...never say never, because God will laugh at you. I cursed that day in KL when the water was 72 and the air temp was in the low 60s. God laughed back when he dropped me in SoCal and I have yet to see a warm balmy 72 here. I now own a drysuit, and yes I would now dive it in Key Largo in the winter with thinner polar fleece for longer bottom times and dry surface intervals during the windy winter squalls.

What class are you taking? Sounds like you'll have a great time.