high/baric
Contributor
Water is thermonetral at 35 C, so below this most people lose body heat without adequate exposure protection. Physical activity is a factor as well, although usually not a huge one during recreational diving as you are not supposed to exert yourself much. But if you spend the entire dive coasting along a current doing pretty much nothing you will get cold sooner. Personally, I have never dived in water that was too warm for a 5mm suit. I don't think the reason why most people use thin and short wetsuits in tropics is because they get too warm in the water, but because a thicker suit has a higher impact on buoyancy, is more expensive (usually), is more laborious to don and doff, dries more slowly and makes you uncomfortably hot on the surface before the dive (a shorty will do this too, but not as quickly). So if you don't need a thick suit why contend with all the downsides. Even in 28 C water in a 5mm wetsuit I do get cold in the end. It's just a matter of time and depth...
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