Buy the drysuit or take the class first?

[arthurmnev]

After 3 months of diving everyday in warm water this past fall, I've decided my days of only diving on vacation or in warm water are over (actually that decision was probably made when I decided to take the DM course, but I digress). I can't deal with the idea of only diving every few months, anymore, so I'm planning to go dry this year and dive locally as often as possible and preferably starting as soon as possible.

Have you actually try diving cold water? I have dry cert and once I've gone through some dives in NJ, I realized that cold diving is simply not for me. My personal discovery was that the amount of prep work, added weight, and expense needed to go dry (as compared to wet / no suit) is more hassle than it is worth. Waiting for the rest of the crew to put their gear on while standing in the sun waiting for my Dry suit to become wet from the inside is / was not the misery I was wiling to put up with. With that said, I would highly, highly recommend trying cold diving before making a decision, and, especially, spending 1500 on a dry suit.

For me, I'll dive none - 5mm wet, but anything above that only if there is a very good reason to , and if there is, I'll rent dry gear.

 

[Storker]

My personal discovery was that the amount of prep work, added weight, and expense needed to go dry (as compared to wet / no suit) is more hassle than it is worth.

I guess it depends on where you live and what kind of vacation budget/family restrictions you have. If I were to dive only in a 5mm (or thinner) wetsuit, I'd easily be able to count the number of dives per year on just one hand.

 

[Tigerman]

I guess it depends on where you live and what kind of vacation budget/family restrictions you have. If I were to dive only in a 5mm (or thinner) wetsuit, I'd easily be able to count the number of dives per year on just one hand.

Unless you went on vacation somewhere warmer, I think you mean NO hands

 

[oreocookie]

Have you actually try diving cold water? I have dry cert and once I've gone through some dives in NJ, I realized that cold diving is simply not for me. My personal discovery was that the amount of prep work, added weight, and expense needed to go dry (as compared to wet / no suit) is more hassle than it is worth. Waiting for the rest of the crew to put their gear on while standing in the sun waiting for my Dry suit to become wet from the inside is / was not the misery I was wiling to put up with. With that said, I would highly, highly recommend trying cold diving before making a decision, and, especially, spending 1500 on a dry suit.

For me, I'll dive none - 5mm wet, but anything above that only if there is a very good reason to , and if there is, I'll rent dry gear.

All my training up to and including Rescue was done in cold water, so yes, I have tried it and I've been itching to dive the wrecks in the St Lawrence in the Brockville/Thousand Islands area for quite awhile. The shop I recently started working at does almost all of their open water training and fun diving in the Brockville area, so if I have any intention of teaching locally, cold water is a reality I can't really avoid. Would I prefer warm water? Absolutely, but until I can get a job in the Caribbean, the budget won't allow me to dive there as often as I'd like.