Grenadines & St. Vincent : Wetsuit needed in November?

[zgari]

My wife and I will be diving in St. Vincent and the Grenadines from a sail charter this November and they do not supply wetsuits.
From my research online it seems as thought the water temperature might just be too cool to dive without a shorty or even a full-suit (3mm). Probably won't be going deeper than 90 feet.
My wife tends to get cold easily, so I was hoping to get some first hand information from those of you that have spent time underwater around November.

Thanks for any information that comes my way.

 

[gustele]

Although I didn't dive in St. Vincent I think I can provide you with an answer. I live in Curaçao; that is considerably farther to the South than St. Vincent. In Curaçao the temperature drops during the 'winter months' from about 30 celsius (86 F) to 27 / 26 Celsius (81 / 79 F). A small difference but it makes the experience quite a bit colder. I dove whole year through without a wetsuit but during the winter months it feels quite a bit colder. St. Vincent is probably a few degrees colder. If your wife tends to get cold easily I would strongly advise to bring a full wetsuit (minimal 3 better 5 mm). A friend of mine (dive instructor) uses a full suit with an extra vest underneath during the cold period in Curaçao.

 

[Damselfish]

All my diving there has been Jan-May, and I've always dove in a lycra or 1mm skin. I'd expect at least 80ish. (What that means for your wife of course I have no idea.) The water may have started cooling a little in Nov from the highest but probably not too much yet. It's far enough south, I don't think it cools that much.

Note that folks that live in these places will consider their water to be much colder than those of us visiting from the great white north.

 

[1erCRU]

I agree with Damselfish, I've never worn a wetsuit in November in any of the Windwards or Leewards, and I like to be warm. Lycra has been the suit of choice when diving off charter boats, especially since we don't seem to do many multi-tank dive days there. I did break down and buy a .5mm full neoprene a few years ago. It has the intended benefit out outlasting the instantly torn lycra suits I used to wear, while providing some protection without adding additional lead. Many dives in Oct & Nov I never even took it out of my bag, wearing a tee or rash guard. YMMV

Just to be clear "point Five" mm suit (Scuba Pro steamer) not 5mm. I wouldn't travel to or pay for a trip where I needed more than a 3mm; I can walk off here anything I want to be F-in cold in full 7mm fj, beaver tail and cheater hood.
Only place I like cold is my palm. :grinjester:

 

[mikeycanuk]

I'll thrown my 2c's in. While we have not dived this far south yet...we will this dec/jan. I made the mistake 2 Christmas holidays ago by taking a thermocline explorer suit, 2.5mm equivalent. As soon as I hit the water I knew I was in trouble. I used the suit under a rental 3mm and still was cold, all the time. This was in Salt Cay/Provo. Next year Grand Turk was in our 7mm's. No problems at all. Never even close to being too hot. We do get cold easy, not much in the way of personal insulation!!

We will be in Carriacou this time, 7mm's it will be. From a quick google I see it's 27C-26C in Dec, very close to Turks and Caicos. You can always throw a cold bottle of water down the wetsuit if you get too hot. Burning air and short dive times are how to solve freezing ones a** off.

Lead wasn't really an issue. My wife tends to be more boyant and is in the 12-14lb range. In Grand Turk we had neutrally buoyant AL80's so a little less and Cozumel HP steel 120's -even less. I love a good steel tank.

We don't have 5mm's as local dives here require the 7mm's plus hoods.

 

[chillyinCanada]

I was in Bequia in late April. We all, including dm's wore our full 3mm. Everyone has a different tolerance. If you are going to dive dive dive, my guess is you'll be happy to have the full 3mm.

I have a chillguard too, that I'll wear under my suit when particularly chilly and always have my beanie hood along too. The combo of 3mm chillguard and beanie have served me through cold tropical dives but wouldn't work where one needs a full 5mm or more e.g. Galapagos.

 

[Gary_Ward]

I run one of the dive centres in Carriacou and dive here all year round. I tend to wear rash vest and shorts until the end of November and then switch to an old 5mm shorty (probably 3mm now). The girls in the shop will be in 5mm shorties from the end of October. Temperature wise it will probably still be approx 27-28c (80-82f), but how cold one gets is also driven by how much you move under water too. My advice, if your wife suffers with the cold, take along a 3mm shorty as there is nothing worse than having someone dreading going back in the water.

If you're heading down as far as Carriacou, come check us out and say 'Hi'. Many boats only come down as far as the Tobago Cays, but if you're diving its worth the extra stop

Gary @ Deefer Diving