You obviously missed annlaur's post (#25) - that's exactly how she pees underwater. She must have ruined it for the rest of us!
Sorry for outing you, guys
I feel somewhat silly adding to this thread as I feel it's quite long already, but I have tons of housework to do and posting here suddenly feels like a much higher priority...
So, short story long
When I did my OW class, I used a rental suit and didn't pee in it. It wasn't an issue as the dives were short and I didn't make a prior effort to hydrate. So I just went to the loo right before suiting up and ran back to the loo right after.
When I bought my first wetsuit, I promised myself I would never pee in it (I thought spitting in the mask was gross enough ; besides, I didn't want to "ruin" my USD400 brand new 7mm Cressi with "foul smelling" pee). After one very miserable 1 hour boat ride back to port, where I almost peed myself (no head onboard), and being chastised by more experienced divers when they found out I was not hydrating at all in order to prevent peeing, I let go of my hang-ups and never looked back.
I know some of you reading this will find it gross, but that's the way it is for me. Drinking lots of water prior to a dive, then being in contact with water (not just the pinkie finger but the whole body), as well as being under pressure, naturally stimulate the bladder. In my case, it is impossible (and would probably be unhealthy anyways) to hold it in. So there, I pee while diving. A lot. Several times. And I no longer feel shameful or guilty about it.
I'm considerate of others in the sense that I make sure no one in behind me/upcurrent when peeing, and I make sure to flush my suit and empty my booties as much as possible before being on the deck, but in all honesty, I don't think it's a big deal. I would be more concerned about releasing chemical wastes in the ocean if I were on medication. (Sidenote : I wonder if water treatment plants are efficient at preventing hormones found in contraceptive pills, antibiotics, and the likes to be released in nature).
Regarding smell : I love the smell of neoprene and that's what my suit smells like. Maybe if I ate lots of asparagus and artichoke and didn't hydrate well and didn't rinse and dry my suit afterward it woud stink, but seriously, when you're well hydrated, your pee is almost like water and doesn't smell anything. FYI, if I take care of the suit myslef, I only use detergent at the end of the dive trip.
Regarding who takes care of the suit.
In my short (and, alas, currently on-hold) dive experience, I've used both valet ops (Cozumel) and others (France, Egypt).
The dive ops I tried in Egypt were set up in a way that made it easy to take care of your own gear : rinse tanks were readily available, as well as drying racks. So no big deal, just get of the boat/truck, carry your gear a few yards, soak, rinse, hang while chitchatting with fellow divers, quite an enjoyable task.
However, in France, I went on a weekend trip where the pier was located 2 miles from our hotel. They had rinse tanks but didn't keep the gear overnight. No car (we'd taken the train) and taxi not available when we called
The walk back after diving carrying reg, BCD, fins, booties, hood, 7 mm fullsuit and other personnal belongings was no fun at all. Would gladly pay extra to avoid being in this situation again.
In Cozumel, a few years ago, I dove with Aldora while staying at a downtown hotel (Pepita) and then a local rental. At that time, they already had officially stopped taking care of their clients' wetsuits (because, I was told then, and as Dave posted earlier, wetsuits were too much alike and a pain to keep track of which belonged to whom).
Nonetheless, since my place was a solid 10 min walk from the pier and not very practical for dive equipment (no tub, nothing solid enough to hang up the suit to dry), I asked one of Aldora's staff if they'd let me use the shops tank to rinse my wetsuit. He instantly offered to take care of it himself (and of course got a good tip for it).
I've helped him do it a few times (mainly because I liked hanging out in the shop and was waiting for friends to go for lunch anyways), he'd throw the thing in its own separate bucket filled with soapy water, let it soak while doing other duties, give it a rinse and hang it on a rack.
Considering the time/effort it took him, and the salaries in Mexico, in pure financial terms I grossly overpaid him, but IMO opinion it was totally worth it and money well spent. Saved me from having to walk several blocks carrying a heavy, dripping 7mm full suit to my place, mopping puddles of water left all over the apartment after taking it out of the shower, and spending hours guarding the suit while it dried outside because there was no secure indoor place to hang it (or worse, having to don a wet wetsuit that spent the night on a shower floor the next morning. Yuck !)
Anyways, whether you pee in your wetsuit or not, take care of your gear or pay someone to do it, offer this service to your clientele or don't offer it for any reason, I don't see how it is anyone else's business to tell you whether it's right or wrong. I don't think of myself as a spoilt princess (otherwise I'd hire a cleaning lady and be sitting a a sidewalk café instead of posting here and postponing my chores), but if anyone thinks I am, so be it.
PS: for those grossed out by the idea of finding themselves next to me in a warm current, no worries. I unfortunately have no trip planned to Cozumel. I'll make sure to let SB users know next time I visit the island
