Looking for wet suit advice for Cozumel

[DandyDon]

Interesting how different people populate in mind missing information.

:laughing: I think along those lines every time you post. "Did he leave a word out or something?" I guess we simply talk differently.

Edit: Thanks for your kind PM. I didn't know that English is an adopted language for you. If you put that in your Sig, it might help.

 

[Skittl1321]

I have no idea what to expect in regards to anything. I have heard that dive ops want to do check out dives with newer divers. My wife has about 16 dives and I have 32 so I would think they would want to check us out.

Both of the Cozumel ops I've dove with (including my very first ocean dive ever) dropped us in at 30 feet on the first dive with them, and then continued on to about 75 feet. I assume if we didn't do well at 30 feet, they wouldn't have continued deeper. But there was no formal checkout- just the DM watching to make sure we did okay.

 

[LowDrag]

Both of the Cozumel ops I've dove with (including my very first ocean dive ever) dropped us in at 30 feet on the first dive with them, and then continued on to about 75 feet. I assume if we didn't do well at 30 feet, they wouldn't have continued deeper. But there was no formal checkout- just the DM watching to make sure we did okay.

That's interesting. A lot of what I have read has said that a check out dive would be done with newer divers that have a low dive count. Not necessarily at Coz but in general so that is what we were expecting. Like I said a couple of posts back, I really have no idea what to expect other to have a ton of fun there. That is one of the good things about Scubaboard, I can get a ton of info from helpful folks to get a little bit better prepared before we go.

 

[Fireworkswi]

Seems like we are 2 degrees colder this year from last year this time. Lavacore was fine last year. But this year the wife is wearing her 2/1 shorty underneath this week. Seems to be working. I am good until the 50 minute mark. Dives today were 65 & 78. Burrrr.

Sorry for the confusion. Typing on phone. My dive times were 65 and 78. Water temp 80.

 

[Midge907]

That's interesting. A lot of what I have read has said that a check out dive would be done with newer divers that have a low dive count. Not necessarily at Coz but in general so that is what we were expecting. Like I said a couple of posts back, I really have no idea what to expect other to have a ton of fun there. That is one of the good things about Scubaboard, I can get a ton of info from helpful folks to get a little bit better prepared before we go.

Either way I wouldn't sweat it. When you check out your weighting the day before on your shore dives, you should practice some of your basic skills ( flood mask, regulator recovery, switch from primary to Octo, etc.) This is good practice no matter what, however I have a pretty high doubt that they will ask you to do this, out of all the shops I have been too, the only time I've ever done this post OW is when I was at CoCo View resort in Roatan.

 

[Damselfish]

I think full coverage is almost always a good idea. In 80+ I usually just wear a 1mm skin, sometimes with a 3mm vest, but it can be hard to predict for someone else. But it sounds like neither of you run too cold. While I expect you'd be fine in a 3mm which is a good all around tropical suit for many people, personally in your circumstances I'd get some kind of 1mm skin. It's a useful thing to have in any event, and if it turns out it's not enough you can rent a shorty to go over it. (It's a good idea to check with the op and see what they have instead of guessing, but shorties seem much more common than fullsuits in rentals. And I would want my own suit to go under any rental, not over.)

Some people will say you can always let water in if you're too warm with a thicker suit, which is true, but there's still the additional bulk to pack and a thicker suit to get into. Not to mention missing the delight of diving with as little exposure protection and weight as possible, some of the perks of tropical diving.

 

[LowDrag]

Either way I wouldn't sweat it. When you check out your weighting the day before on your shore dives, you should practice some of your basic skills ( flood mask, regulator recovery, switch from primary to Octo, etc.) This is good practice no matter what, however I have a pretty high doubt that they will ask you to do this, out of all the shops I have been too, the only time I've ever done this post OW is when I was at CoCo View resort in Roatan.

No sweat here just want to be prepared for it just in case and if we don't have to do one then all the better. As for the skills we practice them on almost every dive we do.

I think full coverage is almost always a good idea. In 80+ I usually just wear a 1mm skin, sometimes with a 3mm vest, but it can be hard to predict for someone else. But it sounds like neither of you run too cold. While I expect you'd be fine in a 3mm which is a good all around tropical suit for many people, personally in your circumstances I'd get some kind of 1mm skin. It's a useful thing to have in any event, and if it turns out it's not enough you can rent a shorty to go over it. (It's a good idea to check with the op and see what they have instead of guessing, but shorties seem much more common than fullsuits in rentals. And I would want my own suit to go under any rental, not over.)

Some people will say you can always let water in if you're too warm with a thicker suit, which is true, but there's still the additional bulk to pack and a thicker suit to get into. Not to mention missing the delight of diving with as little exposure protection and weight as possible, some of the perks of tropical diving.

I guess our dive shop that we are going with has a line on a good deal for some 3 mm suits so I think that is the way we are going to go. We can always "add" water...Lol I like the idea of the 3 mm suits so that the next time wee go to Hawaii we are covered there too.

 

[ronski101]

Amount of body fat, age, physical condition, metabolism, when and what you last ate, recent alcohol consumption, activity level, hydration, length of dive, number of dives per day, air temp prior to dive, even air consumption, all can affect how your body tolerates the water temp. As a rule, better to be too warm than too cold cuz you can always take off the beany or unzip the suit.

 

[cvchief]

If you dive shorties only, you'll be more exposed to the floating hydroids. A mix of benadryl & hydrocortisone creams seems to work well.

The hydroids I get without a wetsuit were all attached and on the bottom near a picture I was taking. Not that it doesn't happen, I guess but it is seems rare to find them floating.

Ok, I take that back. I actually saw and entire hydroid structure pass by me on a dive. Base to top. weird....

---------- Post added December 18th, 2014 at 09:03 AM ----------

And you know the water has been weird again this week. I can only remember one other trip where I experienced the 'cool breeze.' Couple of dives you could see the shimmering of the water mixing feel the cool bits of water blowing though. It almost made me think about a wetsuit. Almost....

 

[Dave Dillehay]

Chief, that cold water is from a halocline (that is a fresh water spring mixing with salt) and coming out of springs from the interior of the island. They are more common after heavy rains, but happen all year long. When the water is very warm I look for them to cool off!

Dave Dillehay
Aldora Divers

PS I have frequently been "stung" by invisible floating hydroids at the safety stop, indeed, that is the most common place.

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