What to wear diving in the Caribbean?

[mi000ke]

As others have said, everyone is different. I do almost all my diving in the Caymans. Water temps usually between 80 and 86 year round. I have seen people dive wearing anything from bathing suits to dry suits (!). I use a 5mm year round. Usually a few folks on the boat will be in 3mm and the rest in skins or rash guards. Why not see if the dive op provides 3mm suits and try it on the first dive. Btw, very often other divers will good naturedly give me guff about my 5mm, but will often say they wish they had one after the 2nd dive.

 

[Dirty-Dog]

Totally depends on the individual. I wear a Lycra dive skin, and rarely a 3/2 wetsuit.
Sue and Kim, on the other hand, wear 7-8ml suits, including hoods, in 84F water.

 

[diversteve]

contact the shop you're using,. they probably rent a shortie wetsuit - most do.

If you do want to buy something for the day, Lycra Skins roll up small. Leisurepro.com sells some.

 

[TMHeimer]

You will get every answer under the sun because it is such an individual thing--we all tolerate temperatures a little differently. At one end of the spectrum, some people dive in rashguards and boardshorts. (Think Canadians.) At the other end of the spectrum, there are people who would use nothing less than a 5 mm full wetsuit in 82F water. A 3 mm full suit is probably the most common for the warmer months in the Caribbean. In winter months, you may see more people with a 5 mm, or with a combination of a 3 mm plus a vest. I don't care for shorties because they leave skin exposed to possible stings and abrasions.

Yeah, I should have said that. Of course the only way to know what wetsuit to wear is to find some water of the same temperature as where you're going to dive and test things out. I know that my extreme tolerance of cold has decreased significantly in the last 13 years since moving from Northern Manitoba to balmy Nova Scotia. The body adjusts to the climate eventually.

 

[kablooey]

I used to go on tropical trips and dive in only board shorts. Not even a t-shirt shirt.
Coming from Southern California, where water temps are in the mid-50s a lot of the time, any water over 75f felt very warm to me.
And I really loved the feeling of diving with almost nothing on.

Then I noticed that on multi-day multi-dive trips, I started getting sick about half way through the week. Nothing serious, just typical things… stuffed up nose, sore throat, mild headache, just minor stuff.
It didn’t stop me from diving, but it was annoying.
It happened on several trips in a row.

I mentioned it to a diving friend with a little medical knowledge, and she told me something very wise, “Your body temperature is 98 degrees, and you're spending several hours a day in an 82 degree environment. So, the cold is putting stress on your immune system, which weakens it’s ability to fight off illness. Added to that you’re flying on planes, living in hotels, eating in restaurants… all great places to pick up new germs.”

So, since that moment of revelation I’ve always worn some kind of protection. Now I wear at least a 2.5mm shorty for shallow reef diving, or a full 3mm if I’m diving deeper wrecks (warmer and better abrasion protection).

And since making the switch to a wetsuit I've never gotten sick on a dive trip.

I know there are people who will read this and say they don't wear a wetsuit and never get sick.
Good for you. I guess we're all different, and this is just what works for me.

So just perhaps... it's not about how warm you feel in the water that should determine what you wear.

 

[dmaziuk]

I know there are people who will read this and say they don't wear a wetsuit and never get sick.
Good for you. I guess we're all different, and this is just what works for me.

So just perhaps... it's not about how warm you feel in the water that should determine what you wear.

But he's doing only one day of two tanks.

I don't get sick but I start sleeping under all available blankets w/ a/c off by about day 3. And I wear merino undies or a rashguard top on 2nd & 3rd dives of the day, under my 2/1 shorty. So yes, core temperature loss is a factor.

 

[Mr. Manfrenjensenden]

I'm Canadian and I wear a 5mm in 80F water. In Belize this past April, I got cold on some dives. Brrrrr. Maybe I'm not a true Canadian.

I always thought my wife was the wimpiest Canadian around, and even she will wear a 3mm in 80F water!

 

[ibj40]

I used to go on tropical trips and dive in only board shorts. Not even a t-shirt shirt.
Coming from Southern California, where water temps are in the mid-50s a lot of the time, any water over 75f felt very warm to me.
And I really loved the feeling of diving with almost nothing on.

Then I noticed that on multi-day multi-dive trips, I started getting sick about half way through the week. Nothing serious, just typical things… stuffed up nose, sore throat, mild headache, just minor stuff.
It didn’t stop me from diving, but it was annoying.
It happened on several trips in a row.

I mentioned it to a diving friend with a little medical knowledge, and she told me something very wise, “Your body temperature is 98 degrees, and you're spending several hours a day in an 82 degree environment. So, the cold is putting stress on your immune system, which weakens it’s ability to fight off illness. Added to that you’re flying on planes, living in hotels, eating in restaurants… all great places to pick up new germs.”

So, since that moment of revelation I’ve always worn some kind of protection. Now I wear at least a 2.5mm shorty for shallow reef diving, or a full 3mm if I’m diving deeper wrecks (warmer and better abrasion protection).

And since making the switch to a wetsuit I've never gotten sick on a dive trip.

I know there are people who will read this and say they don't wear a wetsuit and never get sick.
Good for you. I guess we're all different, and this is just what works for me.

So just perhaps... it's not about how warm you feel in the water that should determine what you wear.

The majority of my 30+ years of diving has been tropical, with some dives on Maui, the GBR, and most recently the Pacific (Costa Rica and Cabo San Lucas).

I started out like many here have commented, migrating from lycra dive skin, to 3mm shorty, to 2mm/3mm two piece, to a full 3mm and now a 5mm/4mm full.

My changes have been driven by a number of factors, including better appreciation of what exposure protection actually does for a diver (maintenance of core body temperature being the principle driver for me) and changing body condition (a residual lower back issue complicated by a sciatica-impacted leg).

My one perspective on the global topic is that, regardless of water temperature, I can control my own through flushing water through my neck and wrist openings; my higher priority is consistency in weighting. I own all my gear, and other than the tank (always aluminum 80's), the only thing I have to get from the dive op is weights, and it's always the same (or ratio thereof when we dive the Yucatan cenotes).

 

[KristenK]

I have a 2.5mm shorty I always use and never get cold. But that's always in summer months. My family uses rash guards...my son said he did get a little chilly with repetitive dives this summer in Roatan. I'm ALWAYS cold. He's always hot (I'd give my big toe for his metabolism.)

I'll be in Bali next month, so looking to buy my first full wetsuit.

We're doing Curacao with the Surge in January and I'm wondering what to wear then. Have fun and stay safe!

 

[Lorenzoid]

. . .
I'll be in Bali next month, so looking to buy my first full wetsuit.

We're doing Curacao with the Surge in January and I'm wondering what to wear then.

I'd say whatever works for you in Bali will work in Curacao and much of the rest of the Caribbean. I use the same wetsuit throughout most of the tropical dive world, with only minor adjustments depending on seasonal conditions. Seasonal water temperatures generally don't vary more than a few degrees in the tropics. Air temperature and rainfall/cloud cover can vary, though, and I find I need to add more insulation in the seasons when days can be rainy/cloudy/windy, since it's harder for my core to re-warm during surface intervals. So I might add a vest underneath in those conditions if I start to have difficulty re-warming on surface intervals after a few days of diving.