Afraid of being cold

[pediatron]

I am about to start my PADI course in 2 weeks. I live in Reno and have elected to do the open water portion in Monterey. Strange as it seems, my biggest fear about the course is being too cold to actually complete the open water dives. I will be in a 7mm wetsuit, hood, gloves, boots. I am a petite female without a lot of body fat and get cold pretty easily. Is this a valid fear? Have there been people who couldn't complete the course because of getting cold? (After I am certified, I plan on sticking to warm water dives while on vacations!)

thanks for any advice.

Sheryl

 

[MNScuba]

Not sure what the water temp will be, but when I did my OW dives the temp was 42 and I had a 6.5 mil semi-dry. Wasn't bad, but then again I am from Minnesota and plan on ice diving this winter, haha.

 

[jbd]

the west coast but it seems that the water temps are in the 50's & 60's there. It sounds like you will have adequate exposure protection. Usually the certifications dives don't require you to be underwater for long periods of time which will be good for you. Make sure the wetsuit and hood fits you properly and you should be OK.

Who knows you may well like what you see in the Monterey area and take up diving there as well as the warm water locations.

Hope you have a lot of fun!!

 

[SubMariner]

Pedia, you are expressing a very valid concern. Smaller people, esp women, are especially prone to hypothermia when diving in temperate climes. That's why I wound up diving dry: my max bottom time diving wet in the Great Lakes (etc) was only 25 minutes. Conversely, my max downtime diving dry has been over an hour.

Basically, I trained from Open Water to Rescue Diver wet and switched to dry after that (DM, Instructor, etc.).

If you are doing the PADI O/W course you can do a max of 3 training dives per day. The total number of O/W dives is four.

The first dive is a tour; subsequent dives incorporate skills (you do the same ones you did in confined water) and touring. There is no specific alloted times for these dives; it all depends on the conditions and exactly what must be accomplished on each dive.

If you are concerned about whether or not you'd be able to do all 4 dives, talk with your Instructor to see if there is a contingency plan in place for you to do additional dives if you cannot complete the skill requirements in 4 dives. You should be able to arrange that if necessary.

Take care, eh?!

~SubMariner~

 

[rcohn]

My wife (5' 4", 108 lb) barely made it through her open water checkout. The water was 55 degrees on a cloudy rainy Fall day and she was in a rented wetsuit. She was almost too cold to get into the water for her second dive each day and the instructor kept them very short. Surface conditions matter too, on a warn sunny day you would recover some heat during the surface interval. She now uses a drysuit and does fine in 55 degree water.

Make sure your suit fits well. You shold be ok on the first dive. Have warm water to pour into the suit between dives and something to wrap around yourself to prevent evaporative cooling between dives.

Ralph

 

[Arduous]

Hi pediatron:

Sub Mariner has given you good advice. Talk with your instructor about your concerns. I dive in the cold waters off Massachusetts and in the New England area. Early in my diving I used wet suits. The water temps here, even in summer are only in the 50’s. In your OW class, the instructor will keeps depths shallow. At shallow depths your 7mm suit will keep you fairly well protected, providing the suit fits you properly. ( Fit is paramount). However during the dive you will loose some body heat, this is inevitable.
If this heat loss is not adequately made up during your surface interval, you will feel much colder on subsequent dives. On your first dive you are putting on a nice dry wet suit and for every dive after that your putting on a wet wet suit. ( Not always pleasant ).
For this reason many that dive the more temperate waters of the earth us a dry suit for comfort on repeated dives.

Dive Safe…………………..Arduous

 

[Zept]

I also get cold easily. I've found I stay warm for longer if I'm properly 'fuelled up', so make sure you've had enough to eat beforehand, and try to have a snack between dives. High carbohydrate snacks such as muesli bars work best for me.

Also, as Ralph said, make sure you've got something warm to put on between dives.

Hope that helps,

Zept

 

[art.chick]

don't take off the suit between dives. Unless u r hot in the suit, taking it off & putting it back on can make u colder. (My expereince.)

But this may surprise you: you are going to be on the deck of the boat or beach in the darn thing in the blazing sun. You are in greater danger of hyperthermia this time of year than hypothermia! By the time your sweating body hits the water, you will be so grateful for the cool refreshing water that all fears of the cold depths will be behind you. I'd have a high-power water cannon nearby for the AI to squirt you with while you swelter thru the last-minute briefings.

 

[Spectre]

When I did my first three AOW dives, it was pretty cold [41 degrees, 39 for the night dive]. Everyone in the class was dry except my buddy and I, so the instructor has us do everything first, so we could get out of the water instead of waiting for the others to complete their skills.

 

[DennisW]

I'm not afraid of getting cold, I just don't like it. That is why I am considered a CAD on this board. I like the diving in Florida during the summer months when wet suits are an option. When the water is 85 degrees F, you don't even need a wet suit. Maybe a vacation to the keys for your cert dives?