After the dive and getting ready for the next day question

[Lorenzoid]

I guess it depends on where you are staying AND who you are diving with. We stay at Casa Mexicana and dive with Aldora. Aldora takes care of all gear except wetsuits. We strip out of our wetsuits on the boat and put on our street clothes on the way back in. once back to the hotel, wetsuits get rinsed and hung on the balcony to dry.

The wetsuits are usually mostly drip free by the time we get to the hotel. Dive skins are usually almost dry. A good wring out on the pier takes care of most of the water. We walk through the lobby as usual. I don't remember dripping really being an issue.

Ditto for us. We took a mesh gear bag, and wetsuits, etc., get stuffed in the bag to carry back to our hotel. No dripping issue.

 

[nodakdive]

While I've never been anywhere that offers this service, I think I share your hesitation. Though I'm not sure why.

Surely they wouldn't do anything that would harm the wetsuits (right?) - but what exactly is their drying method?

I don't know that I'd call it hesitation, it's that I want my gear and handling the neoprene is a breeze. Between the dock and my room, there are 3 separate places I can rinse gear. I have a balcony with pegs for hanging stuff.

I can see why there are those that want the service. It makes great sense due to their desires and logistics. As to the methods the shops use, that would be shop specific, but I suspect they do a fine enough job of it or you'd hear people complaining. I think a dividing line is whether they'll take neoprene or not.

 

[blue steal]

I have a mesh bag and carry it back to our hotel in town with the following: mask, computer, regulator, and SMB. these get a soak in the tub then laid out to dry on a towel. Our dive shop takes care of the wetsuit, fins, and booties. I have a small dry bag for shorts, sunglasses, and tee-shirt. This works great for me.

 

[deepsea21]

We also also at the Casa Mexicana in town and dive with Tres Pelicanos. The day we land on the island we check into the Casa and then drop all gear off with 3P's that afternoon. After that they take care of getting it to the boat, rinsing and hauling everything including all neoprene. 3P's does a better job of rinsing and hanging neoprene than I ever did as after 2 weeks of rinsing it myself it sure smelled better at the end of a trip performed by them than if I had been doing it myself daily. We do perform the final rise of everything with "sink-the-stink" in our bathtub and hang it to dry ourselves after our last dive day and before our final departure from the island as the Casa probably wouldn't appreciate me sinking it all in their chlorinated pool. Other than that, all is set up on the boat and waiting for you every day. Easy Peasy and more time to do what we want to do on vaca in the afternoons (which doesn't include rinsing, hanging and hauling gear). You do break your gear down and put it all in your gear bag with your name tag on it (or the gear bag they provide you if you don't have one) but then you just walk away from it and take 3P's courtesy transportation back to town. The only things we take back to our accommodations after dives is camera gear for re-charging/downloading and our towels but you can take as little or as much back as care to rinse and lug around yourself. Who wants to do that if ya don't have to? The one comment I will make when letting any dive op take care of your rinsing is to clip all of your small items together in a large mass to keep it together (think UW lights, masks, beanies, SMB's, etc.) and keep any removable weight pouches IN your BC. I have a clear silicone mask and on the bottom of a rinse tub it literally becomes invisible from above. It has been missed before because of that and since then clipping it to any dark colored item has remedied that issue.

 

[EireDiver606]

Some shops will take your wetsuit, rinse it and dry it. That's a service I don't want.

Neither do I.

I think you should probably not walk through the hotel just saturated and dripping water everywhere..... or is that just me.

Lay your wetsuit out in the sun for 10 minutes on each side and if it is thin, it will be drier depending on the weather. Also the UV rays will kill the salt corroding your wetsuit.

 

[mediumone]

Neither do I.

I think you should probably not walk through the hotel just saturated and dripping water everywhere..... or is that just me.

Lay your wetsuit out in the sun for 10 minutes on each side and if it is thin, it will be drier depending on the weather. Also the UV rays will kill the salt corroding your wetsuit.

That's the craziest thing that I've heard since 2011 -- and I have rental property.

 

[EireDiver606]

That's the craziest thing that I've heard since 2011 -- and I have rental property.

UV rays kill bacteria and micro organisms that corrode your neoprene and make it stinky

 

[ReefHound]

UV rays tend to destroy anything they touch after awhile.

 

[EireDiver606]

UV rays tend to destroy anything they touch after awhile.

Obviously but if not left too long, it’s a very useful thing to know

 

[Jonny Wishbone]

You may be thinking of "ozone" that kills bacteria as in an ozone-ator. Some hot tubs have them to reduce bacteria. If UV light killed bacteria effectively the ground we walk on outside would be clean enough to finish that hot dog that was dropped on the sidewalk...lol