What is a cold water dive?

[OH-JJ]

As a personal clasification of dive type I would say that if you wear a hood and gloves it is a cold water dive. The rationale being that you are diving with the impairments of those items.

Umm, The only time I am not wearing a hood and gloves is in 80+ deg. water. And even then I wear reef gloves to protect my hands, and some times a beanie.

Personally from a free flow/ equipment freeze standpoint, I would say anything under 40 degrees is cold water i.e. times when you have to worry about freeze up.

 

[do it easy]

I think a cold water dive is any dive that you're not wearing appropriate exposure protection. I've noticed that people acclimate to their regular dive conditions, regardless if it's usually 85f or 45f. I've heard some divers say that 60f is too cold, but they are probably diving wet and are used to 75f water. Where I dive, the water is always brisk and refreshing- I wear the same drysuit/undergarments year round.

You can get hypothermia, regardless if the water is 85f or 45f.

 

[Tim Greaves]

I consider anything below 50F to be cold water diving.. I regularly dive in water that is 35F and thats cold.. Make sure your reg is able to handle the cold water if your diving in those conditions..

Man I love my Apeks XTX-200, no worries there at all..

 

[emcbride81]

With the Mares Proton metal, I am not sure what it is rated to temp wise, but since it is metal you should not have to worry as much about free flow. I havce a Mares Rebel which is plastic and it is rated to 40 degrees F. I have gone diving in our local quarry and been at 41 F and had no problems whatsoever with my reg. Mares makes a reliable reg, you should be fine.

 

[spectrum]

Umm, The only time I am not wearing a hood and gloves is in 80+ deg. water. And even then I wear reef gloves to protect my hands, and some times a beanie.

Personally from a free flow/ equipment freeze standpoint, I would say anything under 40 degrees is cold water i.e. times when you have to worry about freeze up.

Fair enough, exclude gloves worn for non thermal protection.

As for the regualtors I agree that the low 40's is where you need to be paying attention to regulator selection though you can have problems above that temp. That aspect of cold water diving just seemed beyond the scope of the OP to me.

Pete

 

[OH-JJ]

With the Mares Proton metal, I am not sure what it is rated to temp wise, but since it is metal you should not have to worry as much about free flow. I havce a Mares Rebel which is plastic and it is rated to 40 degrees F. I have gone diving in our local quarry and been at 41 F and had no problems whatsoever with my reg. Mares makes a reliable reg, you should be fine.

You do realize that it is your 1st stage not your second stage that you need to worry about freezing up. If you using a Piston first stage, then you most likely are not ready for cold water... After recent local events I am in the process of changing my gear over just in case. Also a lot of us are installing the Free-flow cutoffs just before our 2nd stage.

 

[OH-JJ]

As for the regualtors I agree that the low 40's is where you need to be paying attention to regulator selection though you can have problems above that temp. That aspect of cold water diving just seemed beyond the scope of the OP to me.

Pete

I use to think that the Regs did not matter because I don't dive through the ice. Well recent events and discussions with other divers opened my eyes to the facts that around here, it can be cold enough to free-flow throughout the summer, below the thermocline.

 

[Walter]

wouldnt hyperthermia be a concern and increase the dificulty of a dive?

Hypothermia should always be a concern, but it shouldn't make dives more difficult because all dives should be finished before it becomes an issue.

 

[Scuba.com]

Like air temperature, water temperatures through out the world are different in winter than they are in summer, varying as much as 20 degrees. In Caribbean the water temperature can be in the 80’s in the summer, six months later the water temperature can be in the low 70’s.

Women tend to get colder easier than men. This is because women tend to have more surface area (curves) then men do. If a couple are traveling together it will almost always make more sense for the woman to have a warmer suit than a man would to the same destination at the same time of year.

If in doubt, always buy a wetsuit slightly warmer than your needs. If your wetsuit is keeping you too warm you can always let water in to cool you down, but if you are cold during a dive there is not much you can do except stop diving.

One-piece wetsuits VS two-piece wetsuits – As a general rule two-piece wetsuits will keep you warmer than one-piece wetsuits since a two-piece wetsuit has the advantage of double the insulation around your chest and groin area. Of course when a wetsuit has double the insulation the suit is more restricting and will be more buoyant (which means that you will need to carry more lead) than a one-piece wetsuit of equal thickness.

Warm Water 75°- 85°1/2mm to 3mm (1/8 inch)
FOR SCUBA DIVING OR SNORKLING IN SUCH AREAS AS: Florida, Texas, Cozumel, Bonaire, Cayman, Belize, Hawaii, Sea of Cortez, Northern Great Barrier Reef, Fiji, Sipidan, Papua New Guinea, Tahiti, Seychelles, the Mediterranean and warm waters throughout the world.
For cooler times of the year, deeper diving or extended dive vacations:
Add a beanie, 3mm hood or even a 3mm hooded vest
Add a 3mm Shorty over a polyolefin, Trilam, polar fleece or Lycra jumpsuit
Use a 3mm two-piece wetsuit
Add a 3mm tunic over a 1/2mm to 3mm jumpsuit

Temperate Water 60°- 75° 4mm to 6mm (3/16 inch)
FOR SCUBA DIVING OR SNORKLING IN SUCH AREAS AS: Red Sea, Mexico –Pacific side, Southern Great Barrier Reef and temperate waters throughout the world.
For cooler times of the year, deeper diving or extended dive vacations:
Add a 3 to 5mm hood or even a 3 to 5mm hooded vest
Add a 3mm or 5mm two-piece wetsuit
Add a 3mm tunic over a 5mm jumpsuit

Cold Water 45°-6° 6.5mm to 7mm (1/4 inch)
FOR SCUBA DIVING OR SNORKLING IN SUCH AREAS AS: California, Oregon, Washington, New York, the Great Lakes, New England states, Northern Europe and colder waters throughout the world.
For cooler times of the year, deeper diving or extended dive vacations:
Add a 5 to 7mm hood or even a 5 to 7mm hooded vest
Use a 5mm, 6.5mm or even 7mm two-piece wetsuit
Add a 3mm tunic over a 7mm jumpsuit

50° and lower... Drysuit time

 

[RoyN]

Nope, never had a problem with cold water dive in a 7mm wetsuit.