AfterDark
Contributor
Benefits? Who said benefits? Oh you did northen diver. What benefits?
Cold water diving advice
- Thread starter Rhone Man
- Start date
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
northen diver
Contributor
My 2cents. Before you start your dive remove your mask, get the sensation of the cold water rushing into your mask and hitting your face. Also make sure your teeth are in good shape, if they are cold sensitive you'll know it real quick!
Okay, I'll rephrase it. Why would you want to remove your mask to have the cold water hit your face?
AfterDark
Contributor
The OP is a warm water diver. The sudden loss of ones mask in cold water to someone not used to the sensation might be unnerving. Just a little something to do one time so he'll know what it feels like. People that dive in cold water all the time take it for granted, my sister in law from FL was shocked by the water on her face the first time it happened to her and that was in the summer here! It always stuck in my mind as something to keep in mind when diving cold water with warm water divers. That's all.
I did this exact transition. After about 100 warm water tropical vacation dives I became intrigued with our local water, and after about 200 warm water vacation dives really started regular local cold water diving/exploring.
It was like starting over again, a total shock to drop down into the low vis, dark, surgery, chilly water. Everything felt new, my confidence evaporated, my SAC rate spiked, the water hurt my face & hands, my bouyancy in the new drysuit was a disaster and I was demoted to complete beginner. On top of that the gear was ridiculously heavy, expensive, bulky, misbehaved, unfamiliar, and took an absurd amount effort to carry, clean and prep.
In the tropics I was use to dropping off of boats into very inviting water and now faced exhausting surface swims often through kelp/swell. The whole new environment was quite frightening, there was no suntan or bikini after party, and there were no dive masters to lead the dives, or crews to fill the tanks.
One important consideration is whether or not the diver has done independent diving. Many resort divers never leave the care of a DM, so it’s best to see what they know about dive gear & maintenance/tanks/shops & details like navigation, dive planning and self rescue. It may take a little while to truly orientate to independent diving, if they are accustom to being guided. A local mentor is very valuable. Don’t expect that experience diving on vacations is similar to independent local diving. For me, with 200 dives, it was in many ways it was like starting over; very humbling.
Diving in the tropics is enjoyable, and there no reason to make the local cold water experience freezing and miserable. I definitely agree with going immediately to the drysuit & thick UG (But have patience with them, the jump from a 3mm to drysuit in the new unfamiliar environment can be shocking). A 21W HID really made the cold, dark environment more beautiful and feel safer. Otter Bay Wetsuits offers a custom 12mm hood that really helped with the warmth Wetsuits. But again if they've never worn a hood it's a restrictive PITA at first, as are thick gloves. Let them know this before they put them on. Praticing basic skills like mask on/off, fins & gear on off with thick bulky gloves in a pool before going into the OW is very useful, it's really challenging when you are use to doing it all with bare hands.
Go out with them and show them why you love your local diving. If they are use to diving 80ft vis and 85F water at some of the best spots in the world, it will probably take some help to find reasons to appreciate 7-20ft vis, and chilly water.
It was like starting over again, a total shock to drop down into the low vis, dark, surgery, chilly water. Everything felt new, my confidence evaporated, my SAC rate spiked, the water hurt my face & hands, my bouyancy in the new drysuit was a disaster and I was demoted to complete beginner. On top of that the gear was ridiculously heavy, expensive, bulky, misbehaved, unfamiliar, and took an absurd amount effort to carry, clean and prep.
In the tropics I was use to dropping off of boats into very inviting water and now faced exhausting surface swims often through kelp/swell. The whole new environment was quite frightening, there was no suntan or bikini after party, and there were no dive masters to lead the dives, or crews to fill the tanks.
One important consideration is whether or not the diver has done independent diving. Many resort divers never leave the care of a DM, so it’s best to see what they know about dive gear & maintenance/tanks/shops & details like navigation, dive planning and self rescue. It may take a little while to truly orientate to independent diving, if they are accustom to being guided. A local mentor is very valuable. Don’t expect that experience diving on vacations is similar to independent local diving. For me, with 200 dives, it was in many ways it was like starting over; very humbling.
Diving in the tropics is enjoyable, and there no reason to make the local cold water experience freezing and miserable. I definitely agree with going immediately to the drysuit & thick UG (But have patience with them, the jump from a 3mm to drysuit in the new unfamiliar environment can be shocking). A 21W HID really made the cold, dark environment more beautiful and feel safer. Otter Bay Wetsuits offers a custom 12mm hood that really helped with the warmth Wetsuits. But again if they've never worn a hood it's a restrictive PITA at first, as are thick gloves. Let them know this before they put them on. Praticing basic skills like mask on/off, fins & gear on off with thick bulky gloves in a pool before going into the OW is very useful, it's really challenging when you are use to doing it all with bare hands.
Go out with them and show them why you love your local diving. If they are use to diving 80ft vis and 85F water at some of the best spots in the world, it will probably take some help to find reasons to appreciate 7-20ft vis, and chilly water.
Last edited:
Scared Silly
Contributor
Advise for warm water divers trying cold water diving for the first time:
Don't worry the shrinkage is only temporary
Don't worry the shrinkage is only temporary
We do this every time in the winter! Good advice. The water also serves to warm up a regulator.
Depending on how cold is "cold" you definitely need to make adjustments. Under the ice even though your SAC shrivels up, the real limiting factor will probably be the cold. For example, we try to limit ice dives to 20 max.
Another problem we have to deal with is that the temps above the ice are colder and if you add a wind chill - look out!
On our last dive I thought that I was going to have to wear my Bp/W and my drysuit home because the sucker froze to me! The BP/W froze to me suit and we couldn't get the straps off. (See above quoted post about the extra warm water). We didn't have anymore warm water to douse the straps to melt the ice.
With a lot of effort and help, the wing finally yielded and like surgically separated Siamese twins, we went our separate ways. More fun was in store as the drysuit was now board stiff. I was walking around like Frankenstein because I couldn't really bend my knees. I ended up laying down on my back in the snow and having it pulled off my legs!
Don't let your mask get too cold before you spit in it as an anti-fog. It'll freeze! I use the Sea-Gold at home and de-fog it very well before going outside and I don't let the mask get wet until I am plunging underwater. I have had the ice build up almost instantly too thick to wipe off easily.
Lastly, some exercises you can do to prepare for the ice-water hitting your forehead (and yes, the post about good teeth is SO right!)
Go to 7-Eleven, buy the biggest Slurpy they have and drink it as fast as you can. When the brain freeze starts, have someone splash ice-water in your face. This is pretty much the sensation you get on your exposed skin (like between the mask and hood if you haven't gotten it fitted just right). Try this daily for about 2 weeks prior to your dive!
Another problem we have to deal with is that the temps above the ice are colder and if you add a wind chill - look out!
On our last dive I thought that I was going to have to wear my Bp/W and my drysuit home because the sucker froze to me! The BP/W froze to me suit and we couldn't get the straps off. (See above quoted post about the extra warm water). We didn't have anymore warm water to douse the straps to melt the ice.
With a lot of effort and help, the wing finally yielded and like surgically separated Siamese twins, we went our separate ways. More fun was in store as the drysuit was now board stiff. I was walking around like Frankenstein because I couldn't really bend my knees. I ended up laying down on my back in the snow and having it pulled off my legs!
Don't let your mask get too cold before you spit in it as an anti-fog. It'll freeze! I use the Sea-Gold at home and de-fog it very well before going outside and I don't let the mask get wet until I am plunging underwater. I have had the ice build up almost instantly too thick to wipe off easily.
Lastly, some exercises you can do to prepare for the ice-water hitting your forehead (and yes, the post about good teeth is SO right!)
Go to 7-Eleven, buy the biggest Slurpy they have and drink it as fast as you can. When the brain freeze starts, have someone splash ice-water in your face. This is pretty much the sensation you get on your exposed skin (like between the mask and hood if you haven't gotten it fitted just right). Try this daily for about 2 weeks prior to your dive! 
Jack Scuba
Contributor
For me the transition was going from cold to warm water. I couldn't get over how easy everything was. I was so used to the cold water dives being an hour of planning and gearing up for a 40 to 1 hour dive. Going south was very surreal with only 1/5th weight, a shorty, 15 minute dive plan, and over the side.
So coming into the cold diving I would say expect to be shocked at the amount of time and weight that it takes. View the first dive as a learning experience and stay aware of your surroundings. Sometimes the cold gives you tunnel vision and you start thinking - ok only another 5 minutes and we can turn around.
Oh, and of course have fun! Getting to dive in new environments always reinvigorates me because it brings me outside of my status quo.
So coming into the cold diving I would say expect to be shocked at the amount of time and weight that it takes. View the first dive as a learning experience and stay aware of your surroundings. Sometimes the cold gives you tunnel vision and you start thinking - ok only another 5 minutes and we can turn around.
Oh, and of course have fun! Getting to dive in new environments always reinvigorates me because it brings me outside of my status quo.
Think WARM, and don't look at your on board therometer.
Oh man! Have been there! I am not an instructor, so I don't get any reimbursement to dive with students. On our last 2 ice dives I was the "partner" for a student getting certified with an instructor getting certified for this specialty. That put the student and me together with an instructor to be watching us and an instructor watching him!
Man on that 2nd dive, I was counting the minutes to get out!! Similar threads
