I am a 60 yr old woman with more weight and body fat % than I should have. We are in the middle of our 3 week pool class, and I have to wear lot of weight. My 3mm shorty of course means I must add more, and I realize in salt water I will need even more.
We do our open water dives in Cozumel May 1, then we have a week there to (hopefully) dive. Even in warm water, I know I will need something to keep me warm. I sure don't want to add any more buoyancy!! I'm considering Lavacore because my understanding is it can be used alone or under my neoprene shorty.
Lavacore is close to buoyancy neutral, correct? How about Sharkskin? Advice on either product?
Any feedback on whether to get the jumpsuit or a pants/shirt? I read they run small. How small?
Suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks!
The cold hard truth is:
#1 Insulation equals trapped gas and trapped gas equals buoyancy
#2 Diving is a tremendous draw on your thermal reserves. Making a dive is one thing, doing so enough to make a tropical vacation worthwhile means at least several dives per day for most divers. With repetitive diving over a week your body will not recover from day to day unless you dress to conserve energy. Silent hypothermia will set in, you will be lethargic and miss all of the fun. That means a wetsuit.
#3 How much you find adequate is a combination of your metabolism, how good your suit is and how well it fits and how sedentary your dive style is. It's safe to say that a good 3mm suit is a common solution. Some make do or even do fine with less. For some diving dry is the only refuge. More on suits here.
#4 If a 3mm full suit is not the deal a nice upgrade is a 3mm hooded vest. this will cover the head, add to your core and seal off neckline flushing with a minimum increase in buoyancy.
#5 Conventional jacket BCs have some inherent buoyancy from the padding, sometimes 3 pounds or more. The mentioned BP&W BC's are webbing based and end up being negative overall in bupyancy. Keep in mind that some of that negative buoyancy stems from the fact that they are usually heavier, never the less the net result is a more efficient configuration weight wise. They may look barbaric but they are entirely comfortable.
#6 Once you make good choices on exposure protection and gear you will need to wear what you need to wear in order to never become positively buoyant while diving. Many instructors chronically over weight divers and under teach the topic of setting your weights. More on weights here. I will not speculate that your present weighting is inappropriate and I suggest that you ignore any that do, it is that variable.
#7 Frankly, if you are fit enough to dive to begin with the weight & gear required for tropical diving should not pose a challenge. I will say that while it may seem prohibitive at first managing a complement of dive gear is something of a dance that will be come easier with experience.
#8 As anovice Cozumel diver much of your activity is apt to be on boats where you will stand up, walk to the platform and splash. Handing gear up before re-boarding is an option if climbing is the problem. Boat crews are adept at accommodating.
Welcome to diving, the effort will be worthwhile,
Pete