Cavern and Intro in Mexico: Wet or dry?

[MarkHerm]

I am going to visit Mexico in a couple of weeks to finally start my cave diver training I am wondering if I should go with my dry suit or take a wet suit. I read mixed opinions on that regarding cave diving in Mexico.

What would you recommend and why?

Thank you,
cheers!

 

[BabyDuck]

we were fine on 2 to 2 1/2 hour cave dives in mexico wet. the only thing that gives me pause to say 'wet would be fine' is that that was one dive a day. i don't know if 2 or 3 one hour dives would have felt different. for comparison, we dive dry in florida caves when we do 2 2-3 hour dives a day.

what do you usually do now? because if you dive dry 99% of the time, i'd say dry in your thinnest undies or a wicking layer and tshirt.

 

[TSandM]

I did cavern and Intro wet and I survived, but I was cold by the end of the second dive. I dive Cave 1 wet and thought I was gonna die at the end of the dives and debriefs. A lot depends on your own thermal tolerance and also what the weather is; if it is hot and sunny, you can tolerate a lot more bottom time in a wetsuit, but if your dives end after dark or the weather is windy and rainy, it's not as comfortable.

I've found a dry suit with thin undergarments to be ideal, but I dive a dry suit all the time at home, so I'm very used to it.

 

[tracydr]

I was discussing this was an instructor in Mexico. I came to the conclusion that I will dive dry with a thin undergarment. My husband will probably choose to dive wet but he has less problems staying warm and also has less problems with balancing his rig when wet. I would have a really hard time balancing two tanks if wet. He will have very little problem swimming up two tanks.
This is my biggest deciding factor, having a secondary method of inflation on the surface besides my wing.

 

[Blue Life]

Hi Mark,
Depending on your instructor, you will probably spend 3-4 hour in the water (including surface time).If you are comfortable spending this amount of time in 24*C I will go wet since it is pretty hot and humid on land. If you don't think you can stand that long in a wetsuit dive dry, but make sure you have a P-Valve.

I personally did my full cave training in a 7mm semi dry with a 1/2mm vested hoodie underneath and I survived very well. My boyfriend however,only when he teaches, he likes to go dry.

I really hope this helps! Enjoy your course, you are going to have an amazing time!
Welcome the cave world!

Karla

 

[ucfdiver]

Personally I dive dry in Mexico, and only use underarmor for insulation. If I get cold, I take a hood out of my pocket and put it on.

 

[gurnie]

I did my full cave down there. Was more than comfortable in my waterproof 7mm "combat" semidry..

Sent from my MB886 using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2

 

[tracydr]

75 deg (24) is usually my cut-off here in Phoenix. That's even for shorter dives. I'm a little worried about the hot, humid topside but I figure I can always jump in for a swim to cool off.
A couple of the places I was looking at for training require a secondary method for buoyancy, either a drysuit or a double bladder BC.

 

[LiteHedded]

Personally I dive dry in Mexico, and only use underarmor for insulation. If I get cold, I take a hood out of my pocket and put it on.

i used my old beat up 200gram santi
perfect for mexico and not much else.

 

[rjack321]

i used my old beat up 200gram santi
perfect for mexico and not much else.

Ditto, dry in MX with a old tired 200gm undies is great.

For the record I did cave1 in a 7mm wetsuit + hood and I was cold. Not at the start, but by the end of dive 2 or 3's debrief my attention was compromised and I was damn cold.