Cave Diving. Wet, or Dry. Pros/Cons

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Boston Breakwater

"Outlaw." Solo Diver
Messages
522
Reaction score
512
Location
Brunswick, Georgia.
# of dives
None - Not Certified
Hello. Having experience in New England diving 18 winters in a D.U.I. TLS 350 Drysuit, and a 6.5mm Farmer John Wetsuit in the summer. I have a "Basic." understanding of exposure protection, and insulation strategies, core temps, prolonged exposure to cold water, Etc.
For 20 years, I have been adamant about not Cave diving. It is now something, that I am strongly thinking about pursuing.
I'm curious what the Cave divers are using for suits (Specifically, in "Cave Country.") Florida.
and why?
Thanks.
Cheers.
 
It's relevant to where and how long your dives are. I took a 5mil to Mexico the first time I went and was miserable and cold after a couple hours, each dive got worse. Since then I take a drysuit with light undergarments. The majority of people I see in Florida caves are in drysuits.
 
I made it through Full Cave training with 7mm Farmer John and I absolutely love diving Wet compared to diving Dry... I think I just feel more connected to the environment and it absolutely is less complicated. I resisted going Dry as long as I possibly could.

Now after 100+ Dry dives it finally feels normal to me and I couldn't imagine making the dives I'm making in the old Farmer John.

I am diving the Compressed Neoprene suit from Seaskin.
 
I wore a 5mm farmer john suit until I was halfway done with my cave training. Once I started doing deco, I was miserable, but until then, it was survivable, especially in summer.

Back then, the big thing was to get one of the Atlan semi dry suits for sale in the Ginnie store. If you were super fancy, you'd install a P Valve. That would be your summer suit, then in winter you'd dive dry. Getting into a drysuit at noon in August is just not fun at all, and if you aren't planning on deco, you will probably be comfortable in a wetsuit in summer.

In winter, when you get out after a late night dive at Ginnie and it's that rare night that it's a freeze...then you disrobe in the hot showers and then go directly home to soak your suit in bleach to kill anything from the shower.

I've done one wetsuit dive in a cave since I got a drysuit, and that was because I tore a seal. It was colder than I recalled in that moment, but no lasting mental damage :)
 
I dive wet, for the simplicity. 7mm plus a 3/5 hooded vest. None of the caves I dive are deep enough to worry about suit compression.
Hello. My first Florida dive was in
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 20 years ago. The Ocean temp was 86 degrees. Which completely, back then, blew my mind. (Bought my first ever shorty.)
I've been diving Florida Springs, and Caverns for two years now wearing a 3mm top, and regular cargo shorts
(Basically, for the pockets.)
My dives have averaged 72 ft for approximately 68 minutes with only a slight chill. I was leaning towards a 7mm.
Possibility....Waterproof W2 with zippered, gusset wrist, and ankles.
Thanks for your input.
Cheers.
Or, did I mean "Imput."? :):wink:
 
We are all different, of course. I tend to need less thermal protection than a lot of people and a bit more than others. I know of some very experienced Florida cave divers who use wet suits because they feel they are more streamlined and thus improve their breathing capacity. I personally use a drysuit with medium weight undergarments there. In Mexico, I have generally used a 5mm suit without trouble (that is what I am wearing in the avatar), but when I did that dive in the picture, I was with a guide who was freezing in a 7mm suit. She now uses a drysuit there. When I dived in the Bahamas caves, I wore a 7mm suit and was fine, but my guide (Brian Kakuk) was wearing more.

Since I am not allowed to dive in New Mexico now because of Covid and have a van full of unusable helium, there is some talk in our group of taking it all to Missouri and diving the caves there. If we do, I will wear a drysuit with my heavier undergarments.

I think a hood makes a big difference--for better or worse. A number of years ago I was doing a dive in Florida and decided to wear a heavy hood with my customary and normally comfortable drysuit with medium undergarments, and as I got near my turn pressure, I actually called the dive early because I was too damned hot.
 
Dry. Too much suit compression and tanks are too negative with too much suit compression. Besides you get surprisingly cool and that's a big risk factor for DCS
 
In Florida, there is something else to consider. I did a set of late summer dives there one year--I usually only go in the winter. I wore my normal drysuit, of course. The outdoor temperature was just over 100° F, and it was humid. As I finished setup, water was pouring off of my face, and my undergarments were soaked with sweat.
 
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