Coz wetsuit

[wader]

Having a bit of a dilemma. First trip to Coz, need a new wetsuit. Trying to decide between a 3mm shorty and a jumpsuit. I think I would be ok warm wise with a shorty, but have heard of nasty encounters with jellys and sea lice.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. We are diving March 22-28 and staying at Coral Reef Inn. Anyone stay there before? If so, what's it like?

[firstdive2005]

Having a bit of a dilemma. First trip to Coz, need a new wetsuit. Trying to decide between a 3mm shorty and a jumpsuit. I think I would be ok warm wise with a shorty, but have heard of nasty encounters with jellys and sea lice.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. We are diving March 22-28 and staying at Coral Reef Inn. Anyone stay there before? If so, what's it like?
Hi Wader, welcome to the board and welcome to the Coz forum.
I started out diving with a full 3mil. I think I wore it a couple hundred dives. then I started diving with less. Now I usually wear shorts with a core warmer on the second dive. Now I always manage to go home with hydroid tattoos because I am not fully covered. Nasty little creatures, they tell me I got to close to something. Usually when taking a picture. As far as lice, never happened for me. Jellys, depends on the time there. You should miss them. Mostly not an issue.
Look up hydroid on line so you know what these very innocent looking and feather like thing waving in the current looks like. I personally think these are responsible for more rashes than anything else on the island. At least on my careless body.
I know you'll be blown away. kevin

[cfield66]

I just got back and used a 3MM shorty all week. Did about 20 dives and I was warm the whole week. My buddy started with the same shorty but then switched to a 5/4 full. Didn't see any jellys or anything else in January. Not sure what they have in March.

We stayed at Blue Angel and it was the best!

[billindenver]

I dive a .5mm full suit and couldn't be happier. That is in October, March and the summer months when we are there. Never done the middle of winter trip....but it looks like we'll be going again in a couple weeks (last minute planning at the moment) and I'm taking the .5 and leaving the 3/2 in the closet at home. I am always too warm in the 3/2....but my girl dives a 5mil with a 5mil hood and is cold all the time...so it really depends on the person.

[5615mike]

for the last 10 years in May and Oct we make two dives a day for 8 days. I dive a Henderson Microprene as does my wife. Neither of us ever have issues with getting cold.

[Mayor]

I would bring a 3mm full suit and the 3mm shorty. :D

[stortecky]

I would go with the 3mm full. I was fine in shorty but the hydroid are bad on some dives. I was stung a few times by them on 10 days of diving. Even if you are not close to the reef they can still cause rashes even floating through the water. I have never been to warm in my full 3mm.

[RubberDucky]

Use the full - hydroids itch long time. I've rolled off the boat into a swarm of (thimble?) jellies around March/April in Coz. They were smallish, perhaps the size of a quarter or 2, and I vaguely remember them having a blue dot in the middle. Not sure how I didn't manage to get stung, wearing just a shorty. They were everywhere. Happened twice in one day as a matter of fact. Glad I'd been diving regularly at the time and was able to descend fairly rapidly and easily. Have fun!

[leadweight]

The more I dive, the more I crave thicker suits. I used to dive a really worn out (500+ dives) 3mm with 6 pounds. Now I have a 5/4 with about 40 dives on it and usually wear 12 pounds of lead blocks. Warm is good, cold is bad.

[Diver Kat]

Well it does depend on whether you chill easily or not. Mostly the hubby dives with just a hooded vest or on occasion his .5 mil full. I tend towards a 3 mil shorty, but due to the jellies liking me a whole lot, I wear a skin under the shorty. (Not real attractive but at least I don't get the crap bit out of me!! :) ) In March though, I will often take my 3 mil full depending on the water temps.

[DeltaWardog]

Well it does depend on whether you chill easily or not.

Ain't that the truth. I usually wear just a dive skin for the first half of a trip to Coz (7-10 days normally), then switch to a 3mm as I start to get colder after dives. My wife is in a 3mm from day one and pretty soon into the trip also starts wearing her hooded vest underneath that. So it's really up to the person. But I don't dive in anything less than a full dive skin, and I haven't come back from a dive with any strange looking welts yet.

[carrielsal]

+1 on a full wetsuit for protection. I hate it when I can't wear my gloves.

[wader]

I appreciate all of the feedback. I think I am leaning towards the full suit. When I was a tad younger, I was hot blooded, but since age is creeping up on me (almost 42!) I do tend to chill more. Not to mention getting stung, bitten, whatever does not really appeal to my sense of adventure...
Over Thanksgiving we dove the Channel Islands with Truth Aquatics. I had a 7mm and hood, but was warm throughout the time we dived. Great diving BTW. My wife and I decided to try something warmer this time, thus Cozumel.
We are getting hooked up with Dive Paradise through Coral Reef Inn. Anyone have experience with either? We tried to get into Blue Angels, but they were already booked.:(

[scubadoooba]

Dove with DP the first week of Nov, excellent dive op. Our dive club took a group of 23 divers we stayed at Hotel Cozumel. I have to say the boat we had was not the fastest but all the DM were great. We had 4 DM with us for the week, they really go to know everyone and capabilities of the divers . I can't wait to get back to Coz to dive agian and would definitely use DP again. BTW most of the group wore 3mm full wetsuit.