What wetsuit choices for diving Cenotes Mexico.

[L13]

I assume you are planning cavern dives and not cave dives. Cavern dives are much shorter, and you may well be fine in the 3mm suit--but not by much. For 2 hour cave dives, I have been fine with my 5mm suit. It is getting old, though, and I may use my 7mm suit on the ext trip.

I recently did 3 cenote cavern dives in one day using a 3mm. By the end of the 3rd dive I was getting cold enough I wished I had a 5mm.

 

[rick00001967]

everyone is different of course but i have done them in a 3mm with no hood and i was very cold.
i have done them in a well fitted 3mm henderson thermaxx with a hood and been perfectly fine.
for longer exposure i have brought my 5mm with a cold water hood and had no issues at all.
i even used a hollis semi dry once. it was over kill but i certainly was warm.
many times the fit is more important than the thickness. a loose 5mm will not do you any good.
bringing a 7mm would be over kill for sure. my suggestion is that unless you have a hard time finding a suit that fits, choose a shop that has good quality rental suits and bring a hood.
tankha is out go to shop. he has always had good gear in good shape whenever we have been there. you can contact matt with any questions.

 

[Ontwreckdiver]

I use a Bare 5mm Reactive.

 

[MRadke]

Somewhat depends on the weather your coming from. When I go down from Wisconsin in February, I dive the cenotes in a lavacore shirt and board shorts. Everyone is different.

 

[Tracy]

I spend about 6 weeks per year in the Yucatan cenotes and caves. I am in the water 2-4 hours at a time. I switch back and forth from a drysuit to a wetsuit on different trips. I am currently using a 6-7-8mm semi dry with an integrated hood down here. It is great. We did three hours on the trigger today and I was the perfect temperature all day.

 

[Ben_3]

Are you diving cenotes the whole time, or just a portion? I usually dive a 3mm in Cozumel, but when we did a day of cenote diving I only brought my 5mm down for the week, and was glad to have it -- though some folks dive 3mm there (and some just swimsuits).

If you're diving in cenotes every day you may either want the 7mm (though it might be easy to overheat gearing up and walking to the water entrance) or maybe good just to get a cheap 5mm (my $100 Neosport 5mm has been fine).

At this time I have not seen many deals for cheap 5mm.. the ones I have seen are well over 300-400$ cad new.

 

[Ben_3]

Thanks for the answers. From the comments above I seem to understand a 5mm or even a 7mm would be ok with a hood. Those going with a 3 + a seconde layer.. that seems to add up close to a 7mm ish.. Do you guys bring gloves?

I didn't want to seem a bit crazy having my 7mm in the tropics.. The shops I have dove with usually rent out 3mm long or short. I'v seen a lot of instructors dive with 5mm for the ocean dives.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Do you guys bring gloves?

No. Absolutely not needed. Never seen anyone with gloves.

Sounds like you have your solution figured out. Enjoy the trip!

 

[Wibble]

How do you stop wrist-mounted stuff from sliding off of wetsuit wrists? Is there something you can use to hold your computers, compasses, etc. in place?

Also pockets; thoughts on pockets on wetsuits? Or just use tech shorts (and look like a dork).

Oh, and pee valves? Yes, everyone pisses in their wetsuit, but is there anything to be done to let the flavour flood out?

 

[Marie13]

How do you stop wrist-mounted stuff from sliding off of wetsuit wrists? Is there something you can use to hold your computers, compasses, etc. in place?

My wetsuit arms were a bit too long so I had to fold the cuff back a bit anyway, which helped my computers stay on. Both Perdix are on my forearms.