If you plan to do a lot of diving you'll need a variety of suits for a variety of conditions, so a 5mm and a 7mm is a good start.
Stick around long enough and you'll end up with a drysuit
Wetsuit thickness for Egypt Nov-Mar
- Thread starter Fahad Alabhoul
- Start date
-
- Tags
- egypt live aboard wetsuit winter
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
Stick around long enough and you'll end up with a drysuit
I'm not sure why the advice given here is so different from my own experiences in Sharm but even the local guides (who are far from being cold tolerant) dive in 5mm ( usually well worn out suits).
Sure, if doing 4 dives a day from a boat, including night dives and so on it is better to be cautious. But even in this scenario I'd say the tricky bit may be to stay warm between dives (wind and so on) not to stay warm during the dives.
Perhaps a 5mm with a shorty-type overvest would give peace of mind even to those who are less cold-tolerant?
Now, if someone already owns a drysuit but doesn't have a good 5mm and doesn't want to rely on a rented suit - that's an entirely different matter.
Sure, if doing 4 dives a day from a boat, including night dives and so on it is better to be cautious. But even in this scenario I'd say the tricky bit may be to stay warm between dives (wind and so on) not to stay warm during the dives.
Perhaps a 5mm with a shorty-type overvest would give peace of mind even to those who are less cold-tolerant?
Now, if someone already owns a drysuit but doesn't have a good 5mm and doesn't want to rely on a rented suit - that's an entirely different matter.
- Messages
- 539
- Reaction score
- 399
- # of dives
- 1000 - 2499
Nope. Both of our guides where diving dry as well
OP
Fahad Alabhoul
Registered
People get confused about this all the time. The reason is that temperature vary a lot in Egypt. November is usually still pretty balmy and air is nice. Get into December and things change. By February water around Sinai can drop down to 20 degrees and air plus wind can be chilly. In April/May it turns and by July it is 27-28 degrees in the water and the air is hot, sometimes too hot. Then if you go to the Southern parts of Egypt (still Northern Red Sea) , Rocky Island, Zabargad, St Johns, you can add a couple of degrees at any certain point of time compared to the Gulf of Aquba.
Then a BIG factor, is how many dives/day and for how many consecutive days do you intend to dive? There is a big difference if you do 3-4 dives/day for a week on a liveaboard or go resort diving/day boats doing two dives a day for 4-5 days. I'd say it is the difference between a shorty or a full, snug fitting 3-5 mm suit in high summer.
It is not unusual to see professionals diving dry in the winter months. You can see tourists in shortys in winter too (not common though).
Personally I dive Egypt in the summer months and sometimes in fall for longinamus encounters. I always do 3-4 dives/day and for at least a week. So I spend 3.5-4ish hours a day in the water for a week or more. I dive in a full, snug fitting 5 mm suit and sometimes gets a little chilly at the end of the last dive. But mostly ok.
Then a BIG factor, is how many dives/day and for how many consecutive days do you intend to dive? There is a big difference if you do 3-4 dives/day for a week on a liveaboard or go resort diving/day boats doing two dives a day for 4-5 days. I'd say it is the difference between a shorty or a full, snug fitting 3-5 mm suit in high summer.
It is not unusual to see professionals diving dry in the winter months. You can see tourists in shortys in winter too (not common though).
Personally I dive Egypt in the summer months and sometimes in fall for longinamus encounters. I always do 3-4 dives/day and for at least a week. So I spend 3.5-4ish hours a day in the water for a week or more. I dive in a full, snug fitting 5 mm suit and sometimes gets a little chilly at the end of the last dive. But mostly ok.
Water temp in Sharm this August was slightly above 30 degrees Celsius down to 37 meters. Lowest I've seen during the last 2 years during the summer months was 28 degrees Celsius in the Marsa area in July 2019. (I have a total of 6 trips to Egypt since Dec2018-Jan2019, 5 of them 2 weeks or more).
If we're talking July-August I must confess I'm puzzled about being cold while wearing a tightly fit 5mm. I'm fairly sure I can stay (not swim, just move slightly to stay afloat) for a couple of hours in 30 degrees Celsius water with no suit whatsoever and not be cold.
I agree however there's a vast difference between resort based or day boat trips and doing 4 dives/day every day during an entire week. But I suspect the perceived cold is simply caused by being really tired. I highly doubt there are many people who do 4 dives/day every day for most of the year, so going suddenly into such schedule (and after long intercontinental flights plus transfers) is definitely going to take it's toll on the body...
If we're talking July-August I must confess I'm puzzled about being cold while wearing a tightly fit 5mm. I'm fairly sure I can stay (not swim, just move slightly to stay afloat) for a couple of hours in 30 degrees Celsius water with no suit whatsoever and not be cold.
I agree however there's a vast difference between resort based or day boat trips and doing 4 dives/day every day during an entire week. But I suspect the perceived cold is simply caused by being really tired. I highly doubt there are many people who do 4 dives/day every day for most of the year, so going suddenly into such schedule (and after long intercontinental flights plus transfers) is definitely going to take it's toll on the body...
Similar threads
