Cold water diving - we LOVE it!

[Dan]

I voted for happily diving in both warm & cold water. However, the coldest temperature I have dove is 15C (59F) with 7mm in Channel Islands, Galapagos & Isla Guadalupe.

I would like to try ice diving with drysuit someday.

Here’s a fun dive in Galapagos with Marine Iguana at 17C (62F) with 7mm wetsuit.

 

[Tracy]

I don't enjoy diving in cold water. But I really enjoy seeing the things that are in cold water. So I put on my gear and plunge into the cold.
If I could have 1800s wooden schooners in 90F water, I probably wouldn't be diving in the Great Lakes. Other than Truk Lagoon, you just don't get the concentration of divable shipwrecks outside of the cold Great Lakes.

 

[makalutoo]

Since I live in Alaska that is all we have up here

 

[ofg-1]

Cold water is refreshing, invigorating, stimulating, healthy, highly recommended!

I know people that have tried to tell me the same thing about coffee enemas. The 70's were a strange time.

 

[Chavodel8en]

I dive in cold (really temperate) water because that is what is near me in No. Cali. Enjoy it greatly.

But warm water diving, no hoods, less weight, better vis, is preferable. The absolute best is no wetsuit.

If I could jet out to warm water monthly, or even quarterly, I would happily turn into a www.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

I voted that I'll dive (and have) in both but that I also prefer not to. I am a local diver pretty much exclusively, so I'll dive in what I have available where I live. When I lived in Indiana, that was a lot of quarries and the Great Lakes. Did a lot of cold water diving between 2006 and 2016. Now that I live in Florida (since Spring 2016), I dive warm water exclusively. Again, it's what I have locally. But given the option, I prefer warm water every time!

 

[TMHeimer]

Unless, of course, those local shells are stuffed with lobster.

Can't take lobster in the Maritime Provinces unless you're a commercial lobsterman or Indigenous. Unlike in the U.S.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I thought you weren't a "real" diver unless you dive dry. I've never dived in water colder than mid 50's, but I was comfortable. To get colder, I would have to dive past the 40' thermocline. But it's dark and there's nothing really to see (freshwater reservoir). So I honestly I don't know. I want to get to NoCal or the PNW to find out.

You're not a REAL diver until you dive in 49 degree water in a wetsuit!!
We had a club here that in order to be exalted to highest level of the loyal order of the inner circle you needed to get 4 abalone buck naked, in water in the high 40's low 50's! You can only freedive for abs so it was basically fins w/ booties, a mask, and snorkel, and you were allowed gloves. And before you ask, no I did not partake, that was way before my time. But there are secluded beaches and dive spots here that such a stunt would be possible without getting arrested.
Well, those days are long gone and so is the abalone diving .
You'd be surprised how many people dive wet here and think nothing if it. This doesn't seem to be drysuit country at all, not like Monterey or down south. I don't know why? maybe we're too broke, backwards, and stupid to know better, IDK ‍♂
It might be there still is a big freediving culture here with the spearos that used to be abalone divers? It's easy enough just to throw a scuba rig on with all the same skin diving stuff and scuba dive,
This is kind of back woods/back country especially when you get up into some of the more remote areas up north, so if you start hearing banjo music I would turn around and quietly leave.

 

[TMHeimer]

You're not a REAL diver until you dive in 49 degree water in a wetsuit!!
We had a club here that in order to be exalted to highest loyal order of the inner circle you needed to get 4 abalone buck naked, in water in the high 40's low 50's! You can only freedive for abs so it was basically fins w/ booties, a mask, and snorkel, and you were allowed gloves. And before you ask, no I did not partake, that was way before my time. But there are secluded beaches and dive spots here that such a stunt would be possible without getting arrested.
Well, those days are long gone and so is the abalone diving .
You'd be surprised how many people dive wet here and think nothing if it. This doesn't seem to be drysuit country at all, not like Monterey or down south. I don't know why? maybe we're too broke, backwards, and stupid to know better, IDK ‍♂
It might be there still is a big freediving culture here with the spearos that used to be abalone divers? It's easy enough just to throw a scuba rig on with all the same skin diving stuff and scuba dive,
This is kind of back woods/back country especially when you get up into some of the more remote areas up north, so if you start hearing banjo music I would turn around and quietly leave.

I've done wetsuit dives in the low 30sF water temps. Such as 2 boat dives in late May in 33F during the Deep Diver course (very short dives to 120'-130'). But that was 2007. Since we moved from frigid Northern Manitoba in 2005 (-40F without the wind chill was not uncommon), I gradually lost my impervioussness (a word?) to the cold, especially when diving.

 

[TheBullfrog]

I like any reason to don a drysuit. I'm warm and cozy in the water enjoying undersea adventures, and even more cozy when I get out and don't freeze. It allows me to enjoy this wonderful world of scuba in and out of the water. Plus, the variety of cold water species that one can see in colder temperatures (and intact vessels if your a wreck enthusiast) just makes cold water diving all the more fun and adventurous. Enjoy!