any scuba-friendly pools in the area?

[Ishie]

Don't laugh about the hood.

I've done a couple of pool dives in speedos and a hood.
They were in support of a strobe calibration class where I
was flipping numbers on a calibration chart for a dozen
photographers. This required between an hour and
45 minutes and two hours of bottom time. The hood
was just enough to keep me warm. Once was at Wallins
and the other was in my back yard.

Heh heh heh heh. So I've been diving in Monterey with everything EXCEPT the hood. Maybe if I go ONLY with the hood, I'll be warm without all the positive buoyancy!

Ishie

 

[CALI68]

Heh heh heh heh. So I've been diving in Monterey with everything EXCEPT the hood. Maybe if I go ONLY with the hood, I'll be warm without all the positive buoyancy!

Ishie

No, seriously? I have heard tales of your kind but never actually seen one. No hood? Crazy.

 

[Burner]

go talk to dans again and tell them you bought this gear and you want to try it out there. If they won't let you try it out there then return it and go somewhere else. If the store doesn't treat you right then don't shop there. Generally they will let you do it if they have an open water class in the pool and you'll just be in the deep end.
I've found that some of the people there are really helpful, some of them just want the quick sale for the highest margin

 

[melfox26]

Heh heh heh heh. So I've been diving in Monterey with everything EXCEPT the hood. Maybe if I go ONLY with the hood, I'll be warm without all the positive buoyancy!

Ishie

Considering that the water in Monterey averages in the low 50's, and that most of a person's body heat, around 70%, is lost through the top of one's head, I don't believe you ever went diving in Monterey without a hood.

Last Saturday, I jumped in the water at Monastery to pull off someone's weight belt so they can manage to get through the surf line. I had already taken off my gear, hood, gloves, and had unzipped my drysuit. When they asked for help, I zipped up my drysuit and plunged in. That water was numbingly cold on my head and hands.

Now explain how you did it, if it is indeed true.

Mel

 

[Ishie]

Considering that the water in Monterey averages in the low 50's, and that most of a person's body heat, around 70%, is lost through the top of one's head, I don't believe you ever went diving in Monterey without a hood.

Wow...
I went diving without a hood on the same dive I got checked out by the Great White shark. Unfortunately, the dive ended with me getting a jellyfish blown into my wetsuit...

Seriously though, yes, I usually dive in Monterey without a hood, and yes, I'm usually the only one.

Now explain how you did it, if it is indeed true.

Mel[/QUOTE]

Heh heh. Well, I'm at my office computer right now, but I'll upload some crappy pictures if I can figure out how (Jim and I are new to this whole photography thing and are using a low quality camera so there's back scatter), but you can clearly see I'm not wearing a hood. And from the visibility, water color, and associated invertebrates, you can tell it's Monterey. I'll try to get those when I get home.

So far, I've been pretty lucky in Monterey. Temp has been at 62 for some time, though the night dive at Lovers for both Jim and me (Jim ALWAYS wears a hood) this last time was COLD. I can't figure out why either. Not like the water temp of the ocean is going to significantly change over the course of a sunset... I'd been sick though, and my body temp was going haywire that trip anyway, as was my inner ear tolerance for surge .

Coldest dive without a hood was 53-54 degrees. A little chilly, but I was also really active that dive, so didn't get too cold. In May, we went diving at Lover's Cove, I got into the water, put my face down, got out of the water, put my hood on, went back in the water. Computer said it was 48 on the surface.

Few things factor in, I suspect. One, I was an ice skater for 13 years, and have a pretty high tolerance for cold. You don't get to wear a hood in that sport. Another one of my favorite tricks is running around the Sierras in winter in a t-shirt. Two, I hate being sick and choked and prefer being slightly cold vs. wearing a hood and a hood often produces the aforementioned conditions. Three, I'm a newbie diver and expend a lot more energy simply maintaining my position in the water than more experienced divers (like my instructor, who wears a drysuit in Monterey, even when it's 62 degrees, and thinks I'm nuts). Four, my deepest dive so far was 51 or 52 feet. I suspect if I were doing boat dives in Monterey to 90 or 100 feet, I'd be wearing a hood.

When I go in the water, my face is generally a little chilly (though it would be in a hood too). The initial bite goes away very quickly, and I'm usually comfortable for the rest of the dive. Usually, if ANYTHING gets cold, it's my hands, because I wear 3 mm gloves. I need to find some good 7 mm, but the 7s I had were so bulky and awkward that I found it hard to even perform basic functions.

And without a hood, except that weird night dive (might have been fear adding to the cold too; first night dive), I've never started to shiver.

Ishie

 

[CALI68]

If you're a "newbie" diver than perhaps you'll take advise from some experienced cold water divers like Me, Mel, Chuck, Wristshot, or other Monterey regulars. Don't dive without a hood. It's a bad way to start your cold water diving. Hypothermia can set in without you even feeling cold. I know hoods are a pain but really, you have to retain that body heat.

Be safe.

 

[melfox26]

Wow...
I went diving without a hood on the same dive I got checked out by the Great White shark. Unfortunately, the dive ended with me getting a jellyfish blown into my wetsuit...

Seriously though, yes, I usually dive in Monterey without a hood, and yes, I'm usually the only one.

Now explain how you did it, if it is indeed true.

Mel

Heh heh. Well, I'm at my office computer right now, but I'll upload some crappy pictures if I can figure out how (Jim and I are new to this whole photography thing and are using a low quality camera so there's back scatter), but you can clearly see I'm not wearing a hood. And from the visibility, water color, and associated invertebrates, you can tell it's Monterey. I'll try to get those when I get home.

So far, I've been pretty lucky in Monterey. Temp has been at 62 for some time, though the night dive at Lovers for both Jim and me (Jim ALWAYS wears a hood) this last time was COLD. I can't figure out why either. Not like the water temp of the ocean is going to significantly change over the course of a sunset... I'd been sick though, and my body temp was going haywire that trip anyway, as was my inner ear tolerance for surge .

Coldest dive without a hood was 53-54 degrees. A little chilly, but I was also really active that dive, so didn't get too cold. In May, we went diving at Lover's Cove, I got into the water, put my face down, got out of the water, put my hood on, went back in the water. Computer said it was 48 on the surface.

Few things factor in, I suspect. One, I was an ice skater for 13 years, and have a pretty high tolerance for cold. You don't get to wear a hood in that sport. Another one of my favorite tricks is running around the Sierras in winter in a t-shirt. Two, I hate being sick and choked and prefer being slightly cold vs. wearing a hood and a hood often produces the aforementioned conditions. Three, I'm a newbie diver and expend a lot more energy simply maintaining my position in the water than more experienced divers (like my instructor, who wears a drysuit in Monterey, even when it's 62 degrees, and thinks I'm nuts). Four, my deepest dive so far was 51 or 52 feet. I suspect if I were doing boat dives in Monterey to 90 or 100 feet, I'd be wearing a hood.

When I go in the water, my face is generally a little chilly (though it would be in a hood too). The initial bite goes away very quickly, and I'm usually comfortable for the rest of the dive. Usually, if ANYTHING gets cold, it's my hands, because I wear 3 mm gloves. I need to find some good 7 mm, but the 7s I had were so bulky and awkward that I found it hard to even perform basic functions.

And without a hood, except that weird night dive (might have been fear adding to the cold too; first night dive), I've never started to shiver.

Ishie

Thanks for the explanation, I truly am impressed.

I second the last post by Cali68, diving without a hood around here is a bad idea. You'll be thankful you have one when you hit a thermocline for the first time, or when you're able to do a 2nd or 3rd dive of the day because you're not too cold.

Dive safe,

Mel

 

[CALI68]

Well Mel, you know what they say about Monterey, the first Thermocline starts at the surface!

 

[Ishie]

I appreciate the advice, and it's similar to what was echoed by my dive instructor. He didn't say to necessarily WEAR a hood every time I cold-water dive, but he said to BRING a hood, which I always do so that in the case of a dive like that 48 degree one at Lover's, I have it.

I am aware that I can start getting dangerously cold without feeling shivery or anything. When I dive though, MOST of the time, I don't feel cold at all, and the addition of a hood makes me hot and uncomfortable. The only hood I've found that was tolerable (rented it) was very obviously too large for me, thought it kept me plenty comfortable on that Lover's Cove dive (though the dive itself was horrible; we went out in the wrong place in the wrong direction). I'm not sure if it is physiological or psychosomatic, but usually I feel really choked by hoods, which leads to an increase susceptibility to sickness, which I figure will do far worse for me in the water because it dehydrates and exhausts me (which I know from personal experience).

I have Henderson hyperstretch boots, and I'll eventually be getting the 7mm hyperstretch wetsuit with core warmer (I have the trilam). For the boots, I REALLY like the hyperstretch material, and I know Henderson makes a hood. If I can find a local dealer, I'll try one of the Hyperstretch hoods, and that may solve the problem. I don't go hoodless for the sake of going hoodless, but because the problems I've encountered wearing hoods make it more practical (for 'warmer' Monterey dives) to go without.

As for being too tired for dives later, haven't really run into it. My two biggest problems that screw later dives are seasickness and dehydration. On Saturday, we did three dives (though aborted the first one at Coral Street after the surface swim).

I'm going to Tahoe in two weeks (first time), and I've pretty well resigned myself to the fact that I'll need a hood. I've hit thermoclines swimming in lakes before, and I am WELL aware of the need for greater protection below them.

Thank you!
Ishie

 

[Ishie]

Oh, one other thing, though I'm not sure if it's a factor or not...
My limbs almost ALWAYS feel cool to people under pretty much any circumstances and almost never when I feel cold. Jim, on the other hand, gets cold easily, but his limbs almost always feel exceptionally warm. I think due to whatever, I conserve heat pretty well (NOT to mean, I can't get cold and won't get hypothermia, or anything of the kind). I get uncomfortably hot a lot easier than most people I know.

Also, my body temperature is lower than average, which runs in my family. Temperatures of 98.6 are very slightly feverish for me, and I tend to run temps between 97.6 and 98.2, as do my mother and father.

Dunno if it's a factor, but...

Ishie