Where do you dive during the winter months?

[DORSETBOY]

The warm and clear waters of bonny scotland's lochs all year round!

 

[Diver0001]

.

Oh my god. That's a wetsuit.

R..

 

[holdingmybreath]

Oh my god. That's a wetsuit.

R..

And only a 5mil at that.. but still good, especially on a sunny day like that. BTW - ice was only 1' thick (30cm) that day. Compared to 4' (1.2 meter) today .

 

[Rick Inman]

And only a 5mil at that.. but still good, especially on a sunny day like that. BTW - ice was only 1' thick (30cm) that day. Compared to 4' (1.2 meter) today .

Luxury!!

 

[Ron Brandt]

Under the ice of course.
Teach in the pool.
Head to coz for 1 week.
I have been in the Fl springs in Feb. 3mm wetsuit. Fantastic diving!

Ron

 

[adder70]

I wear boots, jeans, armored jacket, helmet and gloves year round on my motorcycle here in florida...even summer.

Smart move. The roads don't suddenly get smooth, and the other vehicles and obstacles don't suddenly get soft in the Florida summer. It only takes once (or having a roommate go down once) to encourage jacket, etc, even in 90F weather. Of course, by the time it's that hot, you'll be hot even in a T-shirt at speed. I learned that about 2 months before my roommate wrecked, and I haven't ridden sans jacket since.

Jeez I want a motorcycle again! Anyway, back to scuba...

 

[CBulla]

I am surprised at the number of Florida divers whom do not activily dive during the winter months. They feel that the waters of the Gulf of Mexico are to cold and they don't like the temperature in the springs. Where do you dive in the winter months? Do you travel or look at other ways to satisfy your diving hunger? Inquiring minds would like to know????????

Your answer my friend is blowing in the wind...... and an answer from a SW Florida native.
Winter answer:
Diving in the Gulf during the winter, is made much less enjoyable by several things: 1-the gulf temp drops considerably thus forcing the use of a wetsuit, 2-the visibility seems to have gone away on shore dives and if you dont have a boat to get a few miles or more off shore...well, its just no fun to me, 3-the general population on the beach are slowly burning older snowbirds that hang around and ask 20 questions and pretend to know things they dont.

Diving the East Cost in Winter, not so bad, the water temp is warmer and around the right locations, the out of water scenery is kind of nice (except that one senile septagenerian in a G-string that wandered by and required a bleaching of my eyes to remove the vision).

Keys Diving - nice, but lots of tourists right now.

Other activities - not worth fighting the traffic (car or boat), putting my family at risk because our state insists on trying to make more of the all mighty dollar through tourism.

Summer answer:
The Gulf is very warm, just get your dives in before 10-11am or the sun is to intense and you'll burn like bacon! East Coast and Keys are the same.

Other Activities - Its not that hot, c'mon. 95 degrees is good and up there temp wise, but at least its humid so you don't just dehydrate into a dried up wafer like you would in the desert. Put on your deet, carry plenty of water, a variety of snacks (make sure at last one thing is salty it helps) wear a full brimmed floppy bill hat and watch the skies (thunderstorms arent fun to be caught in the open in). Also, with less people on trails and less boats on the water there is considerably more wild life present and its QUIET, mosquitos buzzing around not included. Shelter yourself from the sun in some way from 11am-2pm roughly and you should have no problems.

 

[simbrooks]

a variety of snacks (make sure at last one thing is salty it helps) ..... Also, with less people on trails and less boats on the water.

Colin,

i am very much in agreement with you about Gulf diving around this time! I am not that up on nutrition, please enlighten me on why salt is good for not dehydrating in the summer? Surely it uses up/absorbs water?

With regard to boats and people on the water, i thought they increased in the summer? It seemed that they did during spring and fall, not so much over the "winter" here in the intercoastal waterway over by Melbourne when i was sailing last year and the year before. Just an observation, i thought that was the way it was, people got out on boats in the summer, in fact any time outside of winter.

Will have to see how my GF and i cope with the summer diving as it comes, we really scale down our outdoors stuff in the summer, like Adder said, you die if you are out for long in the summer heat doing something active - love that AC!!

See you in Ginnie hopefully at the end of april for the bbq.

 

[GDI]

You know if you are really into diving then you will not care what the water temp or the air temp is. You would travel to your favorite spot and make the dip. You will have the correct equipment to make the dive you want to do. You will experience all that diving has to offer. Some of the most austere dives may become your most memorable hated or otherwise. I always get a kick out of those people who state they would love to dive with the whales and sea lions but they don't want to dive in cold water. Until they are willing they will continue to miss out. Warm water cold water just get out and go diving. Plan a trip, take a class try something different and you might just be surprized!

 

[Scubakevdm]

I am surprised at the number of Florida divers whom do not activily dive during the winter months. They feel that the waters of the Gulf of Mexico are to cold and they don't like the temperature in the springs. Where do you dive in the winter months? Do you travel or look at other ways to satisfy your diving hunger? Inquiring minds would like to know????????

Well, the water is down to 75 degrees over here in Boynton Beach, but us dedicated folks throw on a 7mm or a drysuit and suffer through it. There's alot of cool stuff out in the winter, well worth braving the risks involved when diving waters this cold. Like shrinkage...