SeaHound
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CANADIANS!!! How thick of a wetsuit would you recommend for a May dive in Tobermory?
Thanks in advance...
S-H
Thanks in advance...
S-H
Wetsuit for Tobermory diving ...
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elan
Contributor
Wet suit .... diving.... hm . you mean freezing ? 
I just checked the log and the temperature in may for the previous year was 37-38 F
I just checked the log and the temperature in may for the previous year was 37-38 F
Stoo
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Hey Seahound....
I live up there much of the year and dive almost every week. In a dry suit!
If you are coming up in May, you will want a good 7mm 2-piece suit... i.e. jacket and farmer John, with good mitts and boots and a hood. This will do nicely (well, after the initial OMG moment...) for most dives that aren't too deep and too long, assuming you are of average build.
If you are planning on diving the Forest City or Arabia, in May, in a wetsuit... plan on being colder than you can imagine.
realistically, in early May, the surface temperature will be 35ish, but slightly warmer down further... although your suit will be squished so it will feel colder.
By the end of May, the entire water column will likely be in the 37 - 40 F range. Baulmy...
This is the ideal time of year for chilling beer in a mesh bag.
If you are a new diver in these temperatures, just remember that regulator freeze-up is an ever present risk, as is BC inflator freeze-up. Your regulator really should be one designed for cold water use, and I will heartily recommend at least a pony with second reg.
In the vast, vast majority of serious accidents over the years up here, the trigger event was often/almost always a frozen regulator. Make sure you know how to deal with such a thing.
I live up there much of the year and dive almost every week. In a dry suit!
If you are coming up in May, you will want a good 7mm 2-piece suit... i.e. jacket and farmer John, with good mitts and boots and a hood. This will do nicely (well, after the initial OMG moment...) for most dives that aren't too deep and too long, assuming you are of average build.
If you are planning on diving the Forest City or Arabia, in May, in a wetsuit... plan on being colder than you can imagine.
realistically, in early May, the surface temperature will be 35ish, but slightly warmer down further... although your suit will be squished so it will feel colder.
By the end of May, the entire water column will likely be in the 37 - 40 F range. Baulmy...
This is the ideal time of year for chilling beer in a mesh bag.
If you are a new diver in these temperatures, just remember that regulator freeze-up is an ever present risk, as is BC inflator freeze-up. Your regulator really should be one designed for cold water use, and I will heartily recommend at least a pony with second reg.
In the vast, vast majority of serious accidents over the years up here, the trigger event was often/almost always a frozen regulator. Make sure you know how to deal with such a thing.
Elevatorguy2
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Thanks so much Stoo. I have given up on diving in a wetsuit and am now looking for drysuit training
Please make sure you're 100% comfortable in the dry suit and have completed numerous dives to various depths before attempting wrecks like the Arabia or the FC. Youre going to have enough on your plate with out having to worry about buoyancy.
Be careful and enjoy some of the best diving Ontario has to offer.
Stoo
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Thanks so much Stoo. I have given up on diving in a wetsuit and am now looking for drysuit training
I started diving in Tobermory in 1974. As I recall, it was the weekend after my checkouts in a quarry, the first weekend in June. I was a scrawny 17 year old in a rental wetsuit. I loved the diving, but wasn't crazy about the temperature. I ordered a custom wetsuit the next week, which consisted of low-waist pants and a jacket. That helped, because at least it fit. I upgraded to Farmer Johns a few weeks later.
About two years later, I did a 200' wall dive off Flowerpot Island... I remember CLEARLY looking at the back of my hand and being able to see the wrinkles in my knuckles through my really compressed 1/4" wetsuit. The following year, I bought a used UniSuit drysuit and haven't done a wet dive up there (or anywhere else up here!) since.
Over 25 years of teaching up in these parts, I always encouraged students to start to plan for a drysuit as soon as they can manage it financially. Personally, I think that a decent drysuit is the key to happy diving up here. Certainly you can dive wet in the summer, but in Tobermory, summer is about 4 weeks long! And summer only reaches down about 70'! I don't think I even know anyone who dives wet up here! ;-)
As mentioned, get some buoyancy skills in the drysuit before you start going too deep, but I think you have made a wise decision... for what it's worth.
By way of disclaimer, I am a wimp when it comes to being cold. I just figure that if my teeth are chattering, it can't be fun! There are many people that dive wet up here and love it. The decision to go "dry" is based on many things: your tolerance for suffering, your personal level of "flaboprene", and perhaps most importantly, your financial resources. If you are only planning on diving up in these parts a couple of times a year, then can also just revise your itinerary to come up a little later in the season...
Let me know when you're coming up and we can grab a wobbly pop!
Dhboner
Contributor
As "Stoo" said it is all about your personal tolerance cold. I have been diving Humber Bay here in Toronto the last few weeks in a 7mm wetsuit in 36 degree water. The dives are around 30 minutes and although my fingers get a little cold I am otherwise pretty comfortable. My son is in a drysuit and plans to stay in a drysuit on any dive above the equator
I'm not sure if and when I will make the jump to a drysuit but for now I can manage "all-seaon" diving in a wetsuit.
I will say that second dives are out of the question...there is no way I am putting a "wet" wetsuit back on in the winter!
Bob
I'm not sure if and when I will make the jump to a drysuit but for now I can manage "all-seaon" diving in a wetsuit.
I will say that second dives are out of the question...there is no way I am putting a "wet" wetsuit back on in the winter!
Bob
Graeme Tolton
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I will never dive in Canada in a wetsuit again. A drysuit is is learning curve that takes a little while.. But once you are comfortable with your drysuit buoyancy skills, it is a great feeling. Last weekend, I did 2 dives at Humber in Toronto, 36f water. After the second dive all that was cold was one of my fingers. Toby in May, you would be lucky to have water as warm as 36. There are some really nice wrecks there, but the best ones lie in deeper water that doesn't really ever warm up.
Tucker_2004
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I dove Tobey the last weekend of August in a 7mil full body and a 7 mil hooded shorty over that. I guess I had 14 Mil on the core and it was totally doable. I was cold by the end of the dive but it wasn't stupid cold. Plus, you can spend a lot of time above the thermal-cline on the shallower dives that time of year.
Scott
Scott
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