Diving in fall and winter

[idratherbedivin]

I am starting a dive club at my high school and need some places where I can plan trips. I talked to my local dive shop and he said in order to get some warm water during the winter months I have to go all the way down to florida. Now this is where I need help. I'm not sure if he meant it was too cold to dive anywhere north of florida without a wetsuit or it was too cold to dive comfortably north of florida. I just got back from some diving in California where I dove in 55 degrees in 7mm suits. Contrary to many opinions I've heard in California I thought the temperature was fine and I was comfortable. So are there dive sites to go to where I could take divers of all skill levels and dive in 7mm wetsuits?

 

[The Kraken]

Airman,

The question you ask is very, very difficult to answer, at best.

The response of the individual diver's body to reduced temperatures is the only criterion which can be used to determine the answer you seek.

People dive The Great Lakes all year round.

If you want warm water, then, yes, you have to go south.

If you want to stay warm, then all one needs to do is use the exposure protection that provides the amount of thermal insulation the individual diver requires given the temperature of the water in which the dive takes place.

In my poor, humble opinion, I think those divers that learn to dive in cold water have a leg up on those that dive only in warm water for a couple of reasons.

1: They learn how to employ more positively buoyant diving garb.
2: They learn that colder temperatures result in higher SACs
3: They learn many of the other often looked facets of diving, such as becoming hypothermic during surface intervals and other factors.

I'm sure some of my more northerly brothers and sisters will kick in here pretty shortly with some good advice.

May I take this opportunity to offer you a hearty "WELCOME" to the ScubaBoard.

I hope you'll enjoy and learn from the board and become an active and constructive member.

Safe dives . . . . . . .
. . . safer ascents !!!

PS: Best of luck with your dive club!

the Kraken

 

[jwhitlock]

I've made several dives in the Gulf in the Pennsacola / Gulf Shores area since Nov. and the water temp seemed fine . On the surface it ranged from 57 to 62 ( 57 degrees being the latest at Alabama point Orange Beach AL last Monday.)

I guess its what you can withstand I use a 4/3 wetsuit with a hood and gloves and Im very comfortable (sometimes more in the water than out due to the air temp.)

If your debating on planning a trip to an area call the local dive shop in that area ,Im sure that they will be glad to give you a heads up on the water conditions .........

Theres alot of great dive locations in the Pennsacola / Gulf shores area . A good dive shop to contact for trips is Garys Gulf Divers in Orange Beach AL. http//gulfdiver.net .

 

[MSilvia]

So are there dive sites to go to where I could take divers of all skill levels and dive in 7mm wetsuits?

In a word, yes. It depends on the divers though, and more specificly on their tolerance for cold.

There are a number of folks that dive wet year-round in the Boston area, and a number of other people who think those folks are nuts. Generally speaking, the 7mm wetsuit "season" up here, where most folks are comfortable enough to make a couple of dives, runs from late April/early May through November. It's definately possible to dive up here in the winter in 7mm, but you might feel cold enough to abort after a half hour or so. Somewhere between here and Florida, you'll be able to find water in the 50+ degree range, and that's where you'll be comfortable in 7mm.

If you look at this map, you'll see where the water temperature is suitable:
http://image.weather.com/images/maps/boat-n-beach/watertemp_northeast_720x486.jpg

It looks like anywhere south of Virgina should be okay temperature wise right now. Now you just have to find a site down there you're willing to travel to.

 

[idratherbedivin]

Thank you very much. That map is great, I'm very glad that there are places I can dive and I'm curious as to what the LDS considers cold. I guess they just thought of me as a warm water diver who couldn't "rough" anything colder then like 75. Or maybe he just wanted the shop to do all of the diving for our club and they weren't willing to do anything other then warm water. But maybe I'm just imagining the worst, he could have just not known.