Cocos in Nov - 5mm adequate?

[leakydrysuit]

I have a 5mm proteus ii. It's a great suit, but liveaboard is recommending 7mm. Any opinions on this? I have seen several others report using 5mm, but not sure if it depends on the time of year.

I did get a little chilly on a few dives in Galapagos. Can't recall the name of the site. Maybe similar conditions?

Any other recommendations appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[rongoodman]

I'd take a hooded vest along with your 5mm in case you get chilly, but I've been there in August/September, January, and May and never felt the need for a 7mm. It won't be nearly as cold as the southern Galapagos. If you hit a thermocline you're going to feel it, but they aren't that common. Which liveaboard are you looking at? The Aggressor boats recommend 3-5mm on their website.

 

[peeweediver]

Wife and I wore 7 mm, but we're a bit wimpy. However, you do not move around very much. Most of your dives are spent hunkered in the rocks for up to 40 minutes at the cleaning stations watching the shows. so, swimming to stay warm is not frequent.
Watch the currents. A little story: upon back rolling in, one of our group lost one of the attached lights to his camera. He and his buddy swam down to 70 feet to try and catch up to it but gave up. They then realized the current had taken them far from the group and the wall. As they ascended, they realized the current was taking them further away. He deployed his SMB at 25 feet but it went straight sideways. When they got to the surface they activated the GPS that the boat gave each of us. The signal went from the diver to the ranger station, then to the main boat, then to the panga driver. He found them quite far away. The total time it took from signal to pick up was 7 minutes so all we heard for the rest of the trip was how great the system and our boat staff was. It was pretty cool.
anyway, warm underwater is individual, but being cold sucks. It is an awesome trip!!!

 

[Tumblin’ Dice]

I was there last August. Temperatures were 80 - 84 degrees F near the surface, but thermoclines brought that down to as low as 72 degrees F.

I was fine with a semi-dry 5 mm, 5 mm booties and gloves. I brought a hood but never bothered wearing it. Others wore hoods.

Regarding the currents that others mentioned, we encountered what were supposedly 6-knot currents at Manuelita for one dive. That was a wild dive. There were other dives at other sites with strong currents, including one with a ripping current at the surface where a diver missed the line running under the boat and down to the sand right after entry and ended up getting circled by a tiger shark. There were upwellings, downwellings and vortexes. Not a place for beginners.

 

[rongoodman]

Where was the tiger? I didn’t see any on my last two trips.

 

[Tumblin’ Dice]

Where was the tiger? I didn’t see any on my last two trips.

The tiger mentioned above was at the Punta Maria dive site, but there were a number of other sightings. A few sightings at Manuelita of course, but also saw one at the surface from the boat on the way to Dos Amigos, and another from the line at Bajo Alcyone.