Always wear a wetsuit?

[peterak]

Living in the tropics, I still wear one. I don't wear a hood, but will always wear a suit. I had a remora get way too friendly with my bare leg in Belize a few years back. Didn't hurt me, but that's a weird feeling and experience I don't want to repeat.

That's my bare leg in my short john in Bali. I kind of liked it.

 

[edoralive]

Thanks all! I ended up grabbing a lycra chest piece with a 1mm chest patch, and having been diving in shorts. So far, so good. I could see picking up a pair of leggings, or may a free diving suit, but for me it would be a bummer diving in anything more than that. Water temp low was 80 today. I'm sure there are stingers out there, but so far, so good.

 

[Hoyden]

I definitely only wear shorts and a rash guard when diving warm water for fun. I may have scraped my knee once or twice and had a few encounters with loose nematocysts over the years, but those few negatives are far outweighed by the feeling of freedom and comfort. I do have to wear wetsuits at work, but I do not appreciate them. For recreational diving, I wear shorts and a rash guard down to about 72 and then I go straight to a dry suit.

 

[Calmseas]

I am still a fairly new diver but I have never used a wet suit yet while diving. I only dive in warm water Caribbean locals and only when the visibility is at least 50 to 60 feet. I prefer to feel like I am in a big aquarium.

On my last dive I used a swimsuit and a long sleeve rash guard up top for the first dive of our two tank dive. On the second dive, I ditched the rash guard and just went with the boardshort swimsuit bottom and bare skin up top. It felt great and really enjoyed the freeing feeling in the water.

I may at some point use a wet suit but not if its warm and clear.

 

[Lorenzoid]

It would be interesting (though not interesting enough for me to initiate it) to take a poll to see how many of us started out as newbies diving in board shorts only, and many years later now swear by a full wetsuit. I'm thinking @Hoyden you are an outlier. You rebel, you.

 

[LFMarm]

Wet 3.5 mm down to 24 deg C — I have not found a place yet where I am too warm with this one
Wet 5+5 mm down to 18 deg C
Dry anything below 18 deg C or longer than 2h

 

[60plus]

Because it was pretty warm I went in our local dive quarry in just shorts and a T shirt. At a club meeting a few days later the lack of positive buoyancy through not wearing a suit was raised as a potential safety issue. It came to light that there has been cases where rebreather divers have been so negatively buoyant following an inflation air failure that their buddy could not achieve sufficient positive buoyancy to raise both themselves and the airless diver to the surface.

 

[Nemrod]

Because it was pretty warm I went in our local dive quarry in just shorts and a T shirt. At a club meeting a few days later the lack of positive buoyancy through not wearing a suit was raised as a potential safety issue. It came to light that there has been cases where rebreather divers have been so negatively buoyant following an inflation air failure that their buddy could not achieve sufficient positive buoyancy to raise both themselves and the airless diver to the surface.

So, you were on a CCR? That is kind of getting outside the range of a question in Basic SCUBA. An aluminum tank will be barely negative and unless your bones are Pb a diver sans rubber blubber is fine and often needs little or no lead and will be slightly positive at the end of the dive. If you have one of those HP steel ingots on your back and a steel plate and you have to pump your wing near full to get neutral at the start of the dive, yes, you are grossly over weighted and in a dangerous condition.

James

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Wet 3.5 mm down to 24 deg C — I have not found a place yet where I am too warm with this one
Wet 5+5 mm down to 18 deg C
Dry anything below 18 deg C or longer than 2h

Wet 3.5 mm down to 30 deg C
Wet 5+5 mm down to 24 deg C
Dry anything below 24 deg C

And when I dive dry, I have a heated vest almost always.

 

[maj2]

I pretty much always use my drysuit for local diving in the Great Lakes and a 3mm suit for warm water dives when we travel.

That is mainly because I don't feel like buying more suits...

There was a time when I would do dives in 72F water in 1 shorty wetsuit. On one dive (years ago), I was in my shorty and my buddy was in his bathing suit shorts at 72F and 120ft in the St Lawrence River. On that dive boat, there was literally everything from drysuits and full undergarments to just bathing shorts! I no longer have the tolerance for that, so would likely use my 3mm for that now, and drysuit for many repetitive dives.

I will always wear the 3mm in warm salt water just for sting prevention, etc.