Diving Dry, is it worth it?

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Even if I lived in the Bahamas or in Asia Pacific I would still get drysuit certified because cold water diving gives me access to dive sites that are (in my opinion) SUPERIOR to tropical reefs which people dive more for convenience than Wow factor.
 
As a wetsuit diver who recently bought a drysuit my comments are: The drysuit is great when it's needed. It's a little bit less comfortable in the water, and is one extra task to manage during your dive. It's not extremely difficult but it is not something you don and forget either. I bought mine for extended dive times in caves where the water temp is 72f and the air may be significantly warmer. That means that on the surface I sweat. It's not enough to be uncomfortable but as I discovered at megadive... diving dry and sweating means after a while you STINK!

I just had a conversation with my cave instructor the other day now that I've got about 30 dry dives logged. I said, man I still need work on my drysuit skills. It works fine but I'm just not as comfortable in the water diving dry as I am wet. His response was that he has been diving dry (and wet) for over 30 years and he still prefers to dive wet when he can.

So, I've been diving dry exclusively to build skill. However soon I'm going to go back to diving wet when the conditions allow as I prefer the feel. By all means, get a drysuit and expand your diving season (if you live somewhere that it matters). I'm not of the opinion that drysuit is flatly superior to wetsuit. Different dives call for different gear configurations - that's how I see it.
 
100% worth it if you dive any area that has colder water than 98.6F.

Fixed it for you!

You don't need to be cold to be dry...

Dry in Hawaii...
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Dry in Bonaire...
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Dry in the Caymans...
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Dry in the Bahamas...
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And Turks & Caicos, and Curacao, and Mexico, and Truk Lagoon, and the Red Sea... and anyplace else!
 
I am a wuss and prefer to be comfortable. I don't like to be cold and wet between dives and if I never have to put on a damp cold wetsuit again I will not miss it. Yes, it is worth it!


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I will dive wet for 1 hour in water @>= 28C.

Outside of that context getting me to dive wet would have to involve some kind of believable threat.

R..
 
Personally, it is either boardshorts or drysuit. I REALLY hate that clammy sticky feeling you get in a wetsuit!
 
So with all the drysuit talk, can I expect some blowout prices on big-man sized drysuits for Black Friday?
 
So with all the drysuit talk, can I expect some blowout prices on big-man sized drysuits for Black Friday?

I can not confirm nor deny that we will have any drysuit sales for Black Friday :D

I can say if you call now, we have good deals on the phone.....possibly Black Fridayesque :wink:
 
Dry suits are great and there is a place for them (in some places the only option) but everything nice comes at a cost and in diving equipment the cost of adding and maintaining a dry suit is substantial. The claim that they last longer than wetsuits and may have a warranty does not include seals and other parts that may fail at any time (seals, valves, etc.) and cost a few hundred dollars to fix. The worst is when parts fail in the middle of a boat trip and I have seen several of my friends miss dives because of malfunctioning valves, ripped seals, and leaks while out at sea. They also bring a new point of complexity and failure in your diving and therefore I do not think these are good for new or infrequent divers.

Yes they are top notch equipment and so are rebreathers which cost a fortune. But they are not for everyone ...
 

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