Biotech Diver
Contributor
5 mm Henderson Talon, no hood but probably should wear it next dive.
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I have a pretty good tolerance for colder water from growing up in the Pacific Northwest so 72 F water doesn’t feel too cold for me, BUT, I still wear my 5 mm for safety reasons. I don’t care how well you can tolerate the cold, it’s a mater of time before you would be hypothermic if you got stuck out there too long.5mm fleece lined wetsuit and 5 mm boots in SE FL. I start getting chilly towards the end of the second dive.
It'll be 7 mm temps for me once it gets below 72.
I have a pretty good tolerance for colder water from growing up in the Pacific Northwest so 72 F water doesn’t feel too cold for me, BUT, I still wear my 5 mm for safety reasons. I don’t care how well you can tolerate the cold, it’s a mater of time before you would be hypothermic if you got stuck out there too long.
Another issue with lowering of your core temperature is diuresis. I was diving my 2mm shorty in 73F water and didn’t feel uncomfortable at all but noticed I had to pee a lot even though I didn’t drink much water before hand. It was my body saying it’s too cold to keep doing this...You're absolutely right! Even if you have a good tolerance for cold, you're still loosing body heat 20-40 times faster in the water than you would in the air. Two more reasons to bundle up even if you don't feel cold:
I can't ever recall myself or anyone else complaining about being too hot underwater because they wore too much rubber. It's usually that divers are too cold because they didn't wear enough.
- Heat loss through respiration is not "sensed" by your body the same way it is through conductive of convective heat loss through the skin. Your core temp can be colder than you realize.
- Also, narcosis has been shown to inhibit the shivering response which is an important warning sign of impending hypothermia. So again, you can be cold without even realizing it.
Another issue with lowering of your core temperature is diuresis. I was diving my 2mm shorty in 73F water and didn’t feel uncomfortable at all but noticed I had to pee a lot even though I didn’t drink much water before hand. It was my body saying it’s too cold to keep doing this...
Temps are awful here in the winter. 72-75F down to 120'-150' or so (thermocline varies greatly) and mid-upper 60s below that.
My guess would be that @grantctobin is answering for the Chicago area. When I lived in the Midwest I would wear that in the winter. Water temps there are in the upper 30s to low 40s F.[/QUOTE/]
I don't use heated but close to what I'm using in NE right now.
OP with those temps either a 3mm or a 5mm will suffice depending on your body.
What kind of temps can I expect in February?
My one and only March trip had temps 66 to 68. I plan to bring MY drysuit but not sure how I will properly hunt bugs.
66? Brrrrr no, no,