Diving without a wetsuit?

[lmurtha1]

I have my first open water dive tomorrow morning. My instructor said he will take me to 60' and I am in S. Florida so the waters are 75-80. Here is my dilemma, I am having a suit custom made for me at this moment, and it will not be done for a few weeks. What in the heck should I wear for the dive???? I have a pretty good body mass and take cooler water ok, but Im not sure about extended exposure at depth.

Any opinions will help, It slipped my mind big time. I told my instructor this during our pool dives and he said its ok, but not sure if he meant for the pool or the ocean. And no, I will not wear a suit and tie.

thanks!

 

[spectrum]

Since you are not in a suit depth is not an issue.

60 feet sounds a little aggressive for a first open water dive but that's besides the point.

You certainly won't be cozy but should survive a busy certification dive especially if you are the only student. If you are going down in a pack and will need to patiently hang around as others do skill then I'd begin to be concerned. It's not something you want to make a habit of.

I'm going to assume that youth and adrenaline are on your side.

BTW, a little meat on your profile would help responders.

Good luck and bring warm decaf beverages for before & after.

Pete

 

[Bubbletrubble]

If I remember correctly, you're a big guy. Normally, I'd recommend that a student rent a 3mm wetsuit for those water temps. I'm not sure the rental shop has a wetsuit that will fit you, though. It wouldn't hurt to ask.

It's possible to be comfortable in that water temp. without wearing a wetsuit at all. When I went diving in Cozumel (water temp. 80°F), there were a couple of divers without wetsuits (just t-shirt and swimtrunks). They were in the minority, however. Most people wore 3mm wetsuits.

During your OW check-out dives, you'll be paying attention to a bunch of other things (doing skills, watching your instructor, seeing fish, etc.). Since you won't be totally relaxed, your gas consumption will be higher...and this will make the dives short. You'll probably be kicking more often than a more experienced diver -- this will also increase gas consumption. All this will contribute to you feeling "warmer" than usual. I would recommend getting warm in-between dives during your surface interval. Bring a towel, a sweatshirt, and possibly another pair of swimtrunks. The goal should be to get warm and dry during your surface interval so that you won't feel chilled when you start Dive #2.

Without a wetsuit and using a BP/W rig, you'll be surprised how little lead you'll require to be properly weighted. In fact, I'd be surprised if you needed any lead at all...especially if your body fat is low, making you a natural "sinker."

Have fun during class!

 

[RJP]

Rental - unless you're going custom because you're 7' tall or 350lbs or something.

75deg is cold.

 

[lmurtha1]

yes, I will have to wear a tight long sleeve we use for football. I cant rent a suit because I'm 6'7 330lbs but not wide, so every big suit is too short or too wide. It will be my instructor and I. During our pool exercises, I used a steel bp, tight lycra shorts and t-shirt and with an Al80. wing deflated and all air expelled from my lungs, I sank pretty quick, not like a rock, but semi quick. My instructor said since we are going to saltwater now, I may need to bring the 6lb insert for the BP. But with no wetsuit, will that be necessary or do you think Ill have no problem descending and staying neutrally buoyant? with just my steel BP. I did notice that towards the end of our pool session with 800 in the tank i started to become tail light. any thoughts?

 

[spectrum]

Given your weight and typical gear I'd expect you to need to add closer to 8 pounds when going from fresh to salt. Getting noticeably lighter at 800 PSI makes you borderline at best s 8 or even 10 may be appropriate. You are far better off being 4 pounds heavy than 2 pounds light.

 

[vladimir]

A buoyancy check will be part of your dive, and extra weight and a weight-belt should be on hand to make adjustments easy. Having a small amount on your waist would address the tail-light issue. I agree with spectrum that the adjustment to saltwater should be more like 10 pounds: ~400 (your weight, including gear) x .025 (average difference between freshwater and seawater specific density), but it sounds like you might already be a little heavy, so your instructor is probably factoring that in.

I am okay in that water temperature in a lycra suit--which is the same as no suit from a thermal perspective--and you could probably find one off-the-rack that fits you, since it's a lot more elastic than neoprene. I like to have some protection against stinging hydroids in the water, or an inadvertent brush against the coral. For repetitive hour-long dives I start to crave a few mm of neoprene.

 

[Savaaha]

I dove in Key largo last summer(only at 25-35ft tho) without a wetsuit. Im not so small a gal either. I was a tiny bit chilled but did ok, worst was the dern fire coral floaters. My thighs stung for several hours after the dive from them.

 

[Web Monkey]

I have my first open water dive tomorrow morning. My instructor said he will take me to 60' and I am in S. Florida so the waters are 75-80. Here is my dilemma, I am having a suit custom made for me at this moment, and it will not be done for a few weeks. What in the heck should I wear for the dive???? I have a pretty good body mass and take cooler water ok, but Im not sure about extended exposure at depth.

Any opinions will help, It slipped my mind big time. I told my instructor this during our pool dives and he said its ok, but not sure if he meant for the pool or the ocean. And no, I will not wear a suit and tie.
thanks!

80 is a little chilly but do-able. 75 is just too cold for no protection (at least too cold for me).

If you can't get a wetsuit, you can try some clingy polypropylene fleece. Fleece isn't perfect, but it's not bad for warm water. In fact, 4th Element sells a "wetsuit" that's more or less made from fleece.

Terry

 

[orm]

Get a hood. Most of your heat will escape from your head.

Also try get a rash vest or something... tight neoprene that will stop the water flushing the heat away so quick. Lycra shorts are a good idea.

If it's 80 a 'normal' person will start to feel cold after about 30 mins, 75, your looking at about 10-15 mins. YMMV.

60 foot on dive one!? You sure?