How to not overheat on surface swims

[KelpKid]

Hi everyone!

So i'm a recently certified diver out of San Diego. I'm truly lucky to have La Jolla to go diving in but I have a question about surviving the surface swim. In order to not freeze during the dive I'm I'm wearing a ton of neoprene, however to get to the dive sites we like (my gf and I that is) it requires pretty good surface swims. By the time we get to were we think we want to go, I'm melting (hood/gloves off, letting water into my wetsuit as best as I can). Obviously the problem gets worse the later in the day it goes (first morning dive usually isn't that bad honestly) but after the dive and a surface interval the second dive sucks, or if we started late. We have just started descending early and staying relatively close to the surface, which kinda sucks since we are using air that could have been used for the main part of the dive. We stay close to the surface since we use landmarks from the surface to figure out our dive site (from here Divebums - A San Diego Dive Website), so we don't want to just descend and guess. Also our instructor said doing lots of ups and downs were bad and increased our chances of getting bent. We have tried kicking out on our backs/stomachs, while we prefer to be face down in the water I think we are better quicker/more efficient on our backs kicking.

Any tips or tricks for a better/easier surface swim that don't involve spending tons of cash?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Drop a few feet to cool off and then continue your surface swim.

 

[tep]

I'm with ya. That long surface swim out from LJS is... not fun. I swear that they keep moving the 40'/60' wall farther and farther out every year.

I've always told my buddies that I'm a) not the fastest swimmer and b) I'm going to take a few minutes once we get to the line up before I descend. Everyone I've buddied with has been good with that.

I also had an instructor tell me a long time ago that he thought too many divers were in a hurry to swim out and "just get diving". He suggested that if you can't talk to your buddy on the swim out (review dive plan, talk about weather, anything) that you're swimming too fast.

I find that on my back with my wetsuit unzipped just a bit seems to work. I also wait until the last minute to put on my hood and zip up just before getting into the water.

I was thinking about that swim yesterday, and decided that I'm going to do some boat dives down at Point Loma to treat myself, just because I deserve a break from the swim!

 

[KeithG]

Start your dive as soon as you hit 10 feet of water? A dive site is not one specific spot, it is an area. You can do the deeper part or the shallow part. Over to the left, or over to the right.

I have no experience with your specific dive site or area, but can relate to surface divers I have observed in Bonaire. We dock dive. I jump off the dock and immediately start my dive on the shallows. 10 minutes later I have noticed someone descending (on top of me) at 25 feet. They did a surface swim and are just starting their dive. I am 10 minutes in, and have used a negligible amount of air.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

At La Jolla Shores it's nearly 300 yards to the edge of the canyon. There is not a whole lot to see in the shallows except sand, so most divers kick out on the surface and then after exploring the canyon swim back as close to the beach as possible underwater.

 

[azstinger11]

At La Jolla Shores it's nearly 300 yards to the edge of the canyon. There is not a whole lot to see in the shallows except sand, so most divers kick out on the surface and then after exploring the canyon swim back as close to the beach as possible underwater.

Yeah the sand dollars are only cool a few times through, though I have found more than a few pairs of sunglasses/Go Pros/fins/and masks hanging out in sandy area of La Jolla Shores.

 

[Landau]

Come dive in BC, problem solved!

 

[bowlofpetunias]

That is the only site I ever dived that I got a sunburn on the surface swimming The sand dollars were kewl for a little while until the surge and flowing sand made me seasick
Lovely dive but the surface swim really is necessary.

What we do is get wet first. Pour some water over your heads and get the hair wet before you even go to the edge of the water Once in try flushing some of the water into your suit and repeat as needed.

Diving here in the summer can get pretty unpleasant too so we have to use those tricks regularly.

 

[tep]

At La Jolla Shores it's nearly 300 yards to the edge of the canyon. There is not a whole lot to see in the shallows except sand, so most divers kick out on the surface and then after exploring the canyon swim back as close to the beach as possible underwater.

Here's a relatively typical dive at LJS. Descend to the sandy bottom at 30/40' . Follow that slope down to the 50/60' line which is the top of a set of steps, along the ledge and back, then a slow ascent into 5/10'. Pretty relaxing, except I really do hate the 200+ yard surface swim out.

 

[KeithG]

At La Jolla Shores it's nearly 300 yards to the edge of the canyon. There is not a whole lot to see in the shallows except sand, so most divers kick out on the surface and then after exploring the canyon swim back as close to the beach as possible underwater.

sand? nothing! are you sure? Slow down and Look!

One of our fav dive is in T&C in sand. With a very teeny bit o turtle grass. And several pipe horses. But just several. Our hit ratio is 1 in 3 dive trips. And a few pipe fish. Need to drag out my safety mirror and torment them...