wetsuit v dive skin

[freewillie]

I'm on the fence as to which exposure gear to bring to Cancun this August. I understand that the experience of temperature and cold is subjective but thought I'd get an idea of what most divers would wear diving. We are only going to dive about 1 or 2 days at the most with a morning 2 tank dives and possibly one night dive so we won't be doing multiple dives or repetive dives over several days. I am under the impression that the water is about 80 degrees give or take and the last time I dove in the Caribbean I was in just a rash guard and board shorts. I felt just a little chill on the second dive of the day but not intolerabable.

I have a 3 mm I was planning on bringing, but wasn't sure if I could get away with a 3 mm vest under my rash guard. My daughter has a 1 mm long sleeve rash guard and was wondering if that was enough for her. Worst case scenario we rent a wetsuit for $5. I don't mind paying the extra for luggage, just don't want to bring unnecessary gear.

 

[Gunrock]

Cold is very subjective...in 80 degree water I prefer a 3mm, and if I'm doing a second dive I'll probably wear a hood. I've done a lot of cold water diving but I seem to get chilled more easily than most people. But then again my body fat is around 10%. Here in Hawaii the water's around 80 right now and 3mm seems to be the standard. If I had to, I'd guess that only 2% or fewer of the divers here are using a skin or rash guard instead of a wetsuit.
I used to use a polypro dive skin in Okinawa. That was the only place warm enough for me to do so. Water at the surface was close to 90 degrees in the summer.

 

[Reidkon]

I usually dive in a 3 mil shorty in August but this trip to Akumal in 3 weeks I am trying a lycra skin. We do two dives a day and I have never been cold in the shorty, but my wife who gets cold easier wears a 3 mil full suit. I actually jsut bought the lycra for snorkeling but plan to try it out diving too.

 

[BradMM]

I have more body fat, I guess, but I'm always FINE. I did just buy my wife a 5 mm suit because she's stayed out of the water the past couple of years so I'm trying to get her back in. I've never had a problem with just a swim suit in about 20 years worth always July or August.

 

[rongoodman]

3mm should be fine unless you're planning on diving in the cenotes, which run about 75-76 year around.

 

[cbm32]

I have dove Fiji, St. Thomas, Kauai, and Coz with nothing but board shorts and a rash guard or a skin suit. Never have been cold in waters down to about 76.

 

[PatW]

I dive a skin down to 78 degrees. I did Cozumel this April in a skin. My wife dove a 5 mil. Of you are too cold, it is not any fun. If you have a little too much you can unzip some. Also, a skin does not weigh much or take much space, so you could take both.

 

[freewillie]

Thank you all for your time and your replies. I was lurking for past few days checking the responses. I think the real test will be how everything packs. If I'm running low on space it'll be the vest only. If we have plenty of space the 3mm goes.

 

[bigbluemarble]

In the last month, the water temperature in Playa del Carmen has been around 83F/29C. Most visitors are fine diving with a 3mm, some are diving with just a skin/rashguard. Those of us who do have a tendency to get cold or who dive daily are using thicker suits and some are using hoods. As others have said, everybody's tolerance for cold is different. If you have very little body fat, a full suit will probably be more comfortable especially if you are doing two dives a day.

Have a great holiday in Cancun!

 

[freewillie]

Thanks for the update. At 83F that's about what we had for Turks & Caicos. Water felt great at that temp, but did feel like could have used my vest at that time. A towel would have helped too since cooled off a little during surface interval trying to air dry in between dives.