First of all congratulations on diving in Monterey! I hate getting cold too! I did all my Monterey dives wet. I was wearing a hood integrated 8/7/6 full wetsuit with a 5 mil vest, 5 mil booties with 3 mil socks (note this can change your fin size) and five mill gloves. If you’ve never worn gloves this thick practice with them, it can be quite different clipping things and handling your computer. Fit is important because leak points are your enemy!
Another way to go is a five mill hooded vest under a seven mil, but make sure that’s not three mill on your head! A thick cold-water hood is key. Some like the farmer John and Jane set up, I never did like that because it was too bulky for me. But that’s even more neoprene on your core.
Dive skins really come into their own with seven mill wetsuits not so much for warmth as for slipping things on and off. Slippery spandex-like long underwear bottoms can substitute for a dive skin, then it’s a lot easier to go to the bathroom. Some people wear pantyhose, others prefer to go bare, some use creame rinse to make skin slippery. No shame in getting buddy assistance with your wetsuit especially that final arm! Or the hood and zipper in an integrated one. For donning the legs turn the suit inside out, get it over your ankles and roll it up your calves, you can’t just put it on like pants. Be seated doing this and those slippery socks help. Getting into the wetsuit is a work out!
When you’re done you’ll feel like the Stay Puff marshmallow Man and you’ll probably be really uncomfortable on the surface, but when you descend wetsuit compression provides immediate relief and flexibility and suddenly you’re glad you wore all that neoprene! If you’ve only done tropical diving your buoyancy is going to swing a LOT with your position in the water column to be prepared for that... basically you just have to really work your BC.
