Which training to do first: fundies or drysuit?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Fundies is hard. Doing it with an unfamilar dry suit will make it horrible, nothing will work. So either do it in a wet suit or plan to do a lot of dry suit dives first. Maybe I’m just slow but it took dozens of dives in a DS before I feel now really had it under control. I though different on like the 5th dive...
 
Here’s another angle: Take Fundies in Mexico at Zero Gravity in your familiar wetsuit. Then stay for another day after that and try out a drysuit.
 
Dry first, you’ll end up switching from 50/50 cold to warm to 90/10 because you live in cold water land.
 
Here’s another angle: Take Fundies in Mexico at Zero Gravity in your familiar wetsuit. Then stay for another day after that and try out a drysuit.

Thank you very much for this! Similar to OP I'm interested in GUE and dry suit diving. I've been looking for an excuse to venture beyond the Caribbean and try some new destinations.

Zero Gravity looks perfect.
 
Thanks for all the helpful comments. Seems like there's a pretty even split in opinions, and I'll definitely reach out to my local instructor to see what he thinks.

For those saying I'll be too cold taking fundies in a wetsuit - are you talking about the pool time or ocean time? I would think I would be plenty warm in a heated pool in my cold water gear, but maybe I'm wrong about that. As for the ocean dives, my understanding is that it's 4 dives over two days. I do that all the time in Monterey in a wetsuit. Is there a lot of additional time in the ocean beyond the two dives - i.e. on the surface, not moving? Just trying to understand what the concern is based on.
 
@anchochile , someone who took Fundies on the west coast will have to answer the question of how many days of ocean diving are involved. I took Fundies in the Florida springs, and all dives took place in 72F, confined-water-like conditions. It never even occurred to me that elsewhere some Fundies dives may be done in a pool. Are they?


Thank you very much for this! Similar to OP I'm interested in GUE and dry suit diving. I've been looking for an excuse to venture beyond the Caribbean and try some new destinations.

Zero Gravity looks perfect.

I just returned from a week of guided cave diving with Zero Gravity in Puerto Aventuras, and I would like to recommend a Fundies instructor there. I dived with Laszlo Cseh, a relatively new GUE instructor, and although I did not take a course with him, I could tell from all the great tips I got from him that he is a good teacher. Another well regarded GUE instructor down there (in Tulum) who teaches Fundies is Jon Kieren. Really, I shouldn't say ANY are well regarded because really they ALL are.
 
@anchochile , someone who took Fundies on the west coast will have to answer the question of how many days of ocean diving are involved. I took Fundies in the Florida springs, and all dives took place in 72F, confined-water-like conditions. It never even occurred to me that elsewhere some Fundies dives may be done in a pool. Are they?

I got details on the course format from the local instructor a while back. It is held over two weekends plus two additional evenings:

Saturday - full day, lectures, then pool session
Sunday - full day, morning pool session, then afternoon lectures/debrief
Monday evening - pool dives
Tuesday evening - pool dives
Saturday/Sunday - 3-4 ocean dives in Monterey area
 
I would think I would be plenty warm in a heated pool in my cold water gear, but maybe I'm wrong about that.
There's no need to have a drysuit to keep warm during the course itself if you're in a heated pool. I was uncomfortably warm during my pool sessions because I wore all my cold water undergarments so that webbing adjustments and weight distribution could be performed accurately before the open water dives. Finished each one drenched in sweat.
 
I did fundies first and drysuit after. Would do it the same way again. The skills you attain in fundies will go a long way in acclimating to a drysuit.
 
It never even occurred to me that elsewhere some Fundies dives may be done in a pool. Are they?

In my area it seems fairly common that about half of fundies dives are done in a pool.
In drysuit, full insulation,s the open water dives are in cold water anyway.
On my course we did swim tests in a pool but did all dives in a lake, in 10C water.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

Back
Top Bottom