What to wear immediately after a dive?

[potato cod]

I throw on a quick-dry skirt and then remove my bikini bottom--and either slip into dry undies or skip them if I can't get them on in a discreet way. I don't like to sit around in wet bottoms. On top, I often throw on a quick-dry shirt over my bikini top, usually a UPF hiking-type shirt with a collar to keep the sun off. These look reasonable unbuttoned in casual, beach-type places until your bikini top is a little more dry and mostly avoids the wet chest blobs. You could button up at the last minute when if needed at a restaurant too.

I agree with outofofficebrb on the Sea2Stream leave-in conditioner. I love that stuff and use it all the time when I'm not diving too. Lets me comb out my long hair with ease and then twist it up into a bun or braid.

 

[DBPacific]

Addendum: if I'm in the tropics where it's common to see divers around and I'm on a surface interval, I'll just stay in my wetsuit and go to an open air restaurant.

 

[scubadada]

Change into dry clothes

 

[Kimela]

Thank you all! I found a cute wraparound dress at Target that looks nice - print, so won't show water too much. Got some 'athleisure' tops and shorts too - quick drying. If I think we're doing something I need to look presentable I'll bring dry clothes and slip into a bathroom and change. All packed and time to stop thinking and start relaxing. Aloha and Mahalo!

(edited for typos - ugh)

 

[chillyinCanada]

Okay, I'm a guy but I'll show you what my wife and I have. Saw these in our LDS, marked down during their annual BBQ and sale.

Products – Chammyz

They aren't necessarily super stylish (see the colors and different sizing descriptions) but are very functional. The pieces we have sport an embroidered dive flag and on some the dive shops name. Made of 100% all natural fabric (utilizes wood fiber waste, but is somehow soft) it absorbs water from body/suit but dries pretty quick. To your point, it is hard to see any moisture in the material. I have a couple of vests, shorts, and shirt jac. My wife has a couple of shirt jacs. No longer scuba diving, she wears hers on boat tours and takes it when we go out in case she gets cold. I wear mine to the dive boat over my suit and slip it on after the last dive - sometimes put the vest on during the surface interval.

Me at a stop on my way to Cabo Pulmo for a couple of dives in the vest and shorts and on a catamaran in Bahamas. Guess I like the black color best! Don't have any pants but thought my wife might like them. My dive shop got them in recently.

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I love my Chammyz but they'd be too warm for me to be sitting at a restaurant in Hawaii.

I'm a sarong person but last winter started using a travel towel. Still love my sarong but wow, those towels are something special. Maybe one of those would help OP to get more dry before throwing on the over clothes for eating or shopping adventure. My plan for beach restaurant after diving is quite different than for shopping. I would have to have a change of clothes. T'would be so uncomfortable moving around damp and salt sticky.

 

[morecowbells]

I feel your pain! I loath the wet butt post diving situation. I will try at all costs to run to my room to rinse my hair with fresh water and change into dry clothes, it is not always possible. One time in Roatan we planned on grabbing a meal and hanging out in the West Bay area after driving. I had the master plan of doing a quick Houdini change on the boat while my husband held up a beach towel. I ended up slipping off the bench, flailing bad-naked onto the hull, much to the agony of everybody on the boat. Several years ago at TJ Maxx, I found a terry cloth, velcro wrap. While it lacks fashion (fugly), it is the best thing ever! You can go commando or pack a dry pair of underwear. Here is a picture of something similar.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DA1401G/ref=twister_B01EFCOXAG?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

 

[chillyinCanada]

Thanks for the laugh morecowbells

 

[oceanbound]

love the leave in conditioner! I also hate being in wet swim suit so I have dry undies and a sun dress that I can get into and get the wet stuff off with it on.

 

[Kimela]

OMG @morecowbells ! Thanks for the laugh - I’m sure it was painful and embarrassing, but you sound like someone I’d like to dive with!!

I’ve been changing most days - it’s just more comfy. But both my husband and I think the ocean water in Hawai’i is less salty/sticky? Can that be true? Does the salinity change from one ocean to another?

 

[chillyinCanada]

OMG @morecowbells ! Thanks for the laugh - I’m sure it was painful and embarrassing, but you sound like someone I’d like to dive with!!

I’ve been changing most days - it’s just more comfy. But both my husband and I think the ocean water in Hawai’i is less salty/sticky? Can that be true? Does the salinity change from one ocean to another?

I've often thought it does