What's the coldest WET SUIT dive ?

[deepbluegirlca]

o.k. - now you've peaked my curiosity!! You prefer diving wet in cold temps!! Ususally I hear the complete opposite! LOL I would love to hear your comments........ the why's.......

Cheryl

I did the Munson last fall in my 7mm wetsuit and would happily do it again. Wet, the initial entry is the hard part. When I can drop over the side and it's mid 60's and up, there's no 'shock factor' and dropping through the thermocline is noticable, but not a problem. I do have a drysuit and will wear it early spring when surface temps are cold, but much prefer diving wet.

 

[Groundhog246]

It's not that I prefer cold temps, I prefer diving wet. Maybe when I've got more dry dives in, my preference might change (logged about 25 in the drysuit and finally feel I've got my buoyancy under control).
The major why, I like being wet. Grew up swimming and hanging around the water although diving came much later in life. Oddly, I don't like being out in the rain. Diving wet is also simpler, I only have deal with adding or dumping air from my BC (and yes, I only add enough air to my DS to conter squeeze, use my BC for buoyancy control, which reduces the DS dumping a bit, but does not eliminate it). I can dress and be in the water more quickly in my wetsuit. And as mentioned, for an average duration dive, as long as the initial temps are in the 60's (that would be the first rush of water into the suit, boots, gloves), hitting lower temps at depth has not been a problem. When surface temps are lower, the initial rush of cold water and accompanying chill, make it difficult to warm up again. And if air temps are low, the chill between dives makes a second dive difficult. So for those periods, I will dive dry. I know quite a few divers who, once they switched to dry, never want to dive wet (except maybe when tropical with water in the 80's). To each their own. I also figure if I do half my annual dives wet, it will extend the life of the zipper, etc on my drysuit.

 

[deepbluegirlca]

Got'cha!
Funny, I don't like being in the rain either!! LOL
But love diving! Go figure!!
Thanks for the "low-down"!!

It's not that I prefer cold temps, I prefer diving wet. Maybe when I've got more dry dives in, my preference might change (logged about 25 in the drysuit and finally feel I've got my buoyancy under control).
The major why, I like being wet. Grew up swimming and hanging around the water although diving came much later in life. Oddly, I don't like being out in the rain. Diving wet is also simpler, I only have deal with adding or dumping air from my BC (and yes, I only add enough air to my DS to conter squeeze, use my BC for buoyancy control, which reduces the DS dumping a bit, but does not eliminate it). I can dress and be in the water more quickly in my wetsuit. And as mentioned, for an average duration dive, as long as the initial temps are in the 60's (that would be the first rush of water into the suit, boots, gloves), hitting lower temps at depth has not been a problem. When surface temps are lower, the initial rush of cold water and accompanying chill, make it difficult to warm up again. And if air temps are low, the chill between dives makes a second dive difficult. So for those periods, I will dive dry. I know quite a few divers who, once they switched to dry, never want to dive wet (except maybe when tropical with water in the 80's). To each their own. I also figure if I do half my annual dives wet, it will extend the life of the zipper, etc on my drysuit.

 

[dennisgrimm]

My coldest wet dive was a 37 min dive to 155ft (15min bottom time) in 5C salt water in a 7mil Bare hooded fullsuit with a 3mil shorty underneath. During deco I shivered uncontrollably every time I breathed out. It wasn't until a full 9 hours after the dive that I was feeling normal again. Until that dive I told myself that I didn't really NEED a drysuit and it was just a luxury. After that I think that I need a drysuit to go deep and am now saving my pennies to get one.

Last year I did a couple of 60 minute cavern dives (40ft bottom) in Playa del Carmen in Mexico in a 3 mil shorty and was toasty warm in 65F water. Many locals / regulars were in 7mil suits and I couldn't imagine sweating through that.

 

[Stoo]

I was certified in 1974, and bought a 1/4" wetsuit shortly after. I was made by Mrs. Dobson in her basement in Hamilton. The pants were low-waisted, the hood had no bib. At the time, I was skinny as a rake.

In July of 1975, I did my first 200' dive off Flowerpot Island in Tobermory in that suit. (Twin 72s, air, USD Calypso reg., about 30 dives (!)) One of the few things I remember about that dive was looking at my depth gauge on my wrist and noticing that I could see the wrinkles on my knuckles because the suit was so compressed... I suspect it was about as thick as a dive-skin! Within minutes, I was shivering uncontrollably, and since there is very little thermocline at that time of year, I really didn't hit "warm" water until I was climbing up the rocks onto the shore. I guess the temp at depth would have been about 2-3 C and perhaps reached 5C near the surface.

30 years of diving later, I appreciate how stupid that dive was, but I decided that June to buy a dry suit, which I did within a year while I worked a summer job in Tobermory. That decision to go dry, probably resulted in my addiction to the sport that has lasted all of these years. I still do 200' dives, but I do it from the comfort of my Viking Pro (currently on my 6th drysuit, if I recall correcty). Every once in a while I get the urge to buy a wetsuit again for norther diving, but then I go for a swim and the feeling passes!

Does anyone remember the old days in Tobermory when G+S used to offer "unlimited" diving on the May 24 weekend? I signed up for a trip on the Lark back then, figuring I'd do maybe 6 dives that day. At the end of the second dive, I was hugging the exhaust manifold that runs up through the cabin trying to de-frost. That was it for me! Damn I miss those days... NOT!

 

[mike_s]

I did a quarry dive several years ago in 50 degree water and about 40-45 on the bottom. I thought that was cold.

Did it in a 5mm farmer john top/bottom (10mm on body) with hook and gloves.

We dropped own in a hole "around the corner" from the main part of the quarry to an area where the sunlight didn't reach the waters surface even because of the high quarry walls. We were down there only for about 5 to 10 minutes when for some reason my lips started to hurt. It felt like they were being poked with pins or needles. One of the other guys pointed to his gauges and pointed up, so we all surfaced, which was fine by me since my lips were really hurting...

The first thing I said on the surface was "ouch, my lips hurt. what would have caused that?". He then pointed to his gauge again and said, that was why he wanted to surface. His computer said the temp down there was 34f. Ouch. Luckily I wasn't down long enough to notice on my gauges the temp. Otherwise I would have wanted to come up also.

Since then, I've had no reason to go into water that cold. I guess I'm turning into a "warm water wimp"

 

[subaquaman]

My coldest was a 6C fresh water dive to 30m in a two-piece 7mm. The biggest mistake I made was getting out of my suit, having lunch, warming up and then changing back into the wetsuit for a second dive in same conds to 18m!

 

[Bob3]

My first ice dive was in a 3/16" plain old beavertail 2-piece; booties consisted of alternating layers of socks & bread bags. Thin rubber dishwashing gloves over brown jersey gloves.
I promptly ordered a 3/8" 1-piece as soon as I could move my fingers again, & made a hooded vest for underneath.
I was around 14 - 15 years old at the time & cold didn't bother me much (no brain - no pain)

 

[Firediver]

My Coldest Dive in a Wetsuit.. 14F Degrees on the surface and 28F in the water.. This was In January 2003 diving the Bell Island Wrecks in Newfoundland. I was the only one crazy enough to dive wet, I did two dives that day. Everyone else on the charter were wearing drysuits and shivering.... I had a lot of fun even though it took a little while to get my core body temperature back up on the cold boat ride back to shore

 

[Baymen]

I have made a dive on the 20 of december in newfoundland,temp was 30 degrees c,using 7 mm dacor flyt wetsuit,a little cold on the hands, but when i got out of the water,sat in my pick-up,drove home and took off my wetsuit in my house.