Do you use a wetsuit in CZML?

[judydivescoz]

I wear a 3mil with a 3mil vest and a beanie. I always bring 2 wetsuits on a 2 tankdive and put a dry one on for the 2nd dive. I get cold quickly and it works for me. I make sure I take my wetsuits off after a dive and put a dive parka on between dives and for the ride back to the dock in the winter months.

 

[306dive306]

I truly believe people who like to skin dive probably never touched fire coral or had encounters with jelly fish.

Since I've had ONE encounter with fire coral (in Cozumel), ONE gash on my shin while wreck diving (in Brazil) wearing a shortie and SEVERAL encounters with jelly fish (mostly on my face) I always wear at least a 3mm but no hoodie. I absolutely hate hoodies.

I also have a 7mm "semi-dry" but I don't feel cold often when in tropical waters.

 

[BRT]

We saw 77 degrees in the Yucatan last January. A 3 mil is about right but a hood helps sometimes. I think if the temp was 82 or warmer I'd be fine without a suit. Big difference

 

[cicopo]

I truly believe people who like to skin dive probably never touched fire coral or had encounters with jelly fish.

Since I've had ONE encounter with fire coral (in Cozumel), ONE gash on my shin while wreck diving (in Brazil) wearing a shortie and SEVERAL encounters with jelly fish (mostly on my face) I always wear at least a 3mm but no hoodie. I absolutely hate hoodies.

I also have a 7mm "semi-dry" but I don't feel cold often when in tropical waters.

I've run into fire coral a few times, and had a "Man of War wrapped around my right shoulder & arm (while snorkeling in Coz) plus another Jelly encounter in Florida
but I heal quickly. Never been cold for more than a few seconds diving in Coz & most of my trips there are in early Feb. As I tell the others on the boat, "my pool never gets much warmer here at home" in our summer than what the water temp is in the winter in Coz. It's all about what you're used to & some of us don't get cold like others BUT I can't take humidity at all.

 

[cvchief]

I truly believe people who like to skin dive probably never touched fire coral

Yep. Done that. Mostly taking close up pics. Suit wouldn't help.

or had encounters with jelly fish.

Yep. Jellies were HORRIBLE last 2 weeks. NEVER saw so many at the surface. And not all those friendly moons, but more than a few with the stringy things. Including the one that managed to get the back up my head and upper neck. Suit wouldn't have helped.

Now Cozumel Hydroids; those a suit will help. I used to get those ALL the time taking pics. Arm, knees, legs, hands. Still though rather than a suit I have gone for NOT touching them. I am getting much better at that. Also, I seemed to have trained my skin. The few I do get go away very quickly and are not nearly as bothersome as they used to be.

 

[306dive306]

... you guys are X-Men healing quickly and training your skins.

I'm originally from Brazil and absolutely despise coming across jelly fish... probably due to bad childhood memories getting stung (yes, stung) all the time by them.

 

[cvchief]

... you guys are X-Men healing quickly and training your skins.

I'm originally from Brazil and absolutely despise coming across jelly fish... probably due to bad childhood memories getting stung (yes, stung) all the time by them.

Lemme tell ya, the first time I came to Coz and got in the water was after a Norte. Took me a while to figure out why the water just felt stingy all over. Someone mentioned the tiny jellies.

Two weeks ago when I jumped of the dive boat, I screamed in my regulator! There were big fist sized and bigger jellies EVERYWHERE. I felt like I jumped in a jellie convention or something in the bar on free drinks night. REALLY freaked when I saw some were trailing strings. And I am not talking a few of those odd shaped nearly transparent ones either. All week I spent safety stops looking for a hole to come up in. I'd jump in and say 'see you one the bottom.' It was ALOT of jellies.

The missus thought one brushed her lip above her reg. No marks though. I on the other hand had a 4x6 stretch on the back of my head and neck..... Grr.....

 

[ggunn]

In May I wear a shorty over a dive skin. My wife says I have no fashion sense, but I am comfortable.

YMMV and DSFDF.

---------- Post added December 22nd, 2015 at 07:46 AM ----------

I've run into fire coral a few times, and had a "Man of War wrapped around my right shoulder & arm (while snorkeling in Coz) ...

Seriously? I have never seen a man o' war close to shore at Cozumel, though I do remember seeing a couple out in the channel once many years ago. I got stung by one a long time ago in the Gulf while fishing (a tiny tentacle fragment came in with some seaweed on a fishhook and I knelt on it) and it felt like my leg was on fire.

 

[divezonescuba]

Its 80 F plus or minus a degree right now. In our party, its running between a full 5 mm without hood and a dive skin. Some of the people with 3mms or dive skins became cold after 2 dives. The ones that only wore skins and did not get cold had their own insulation. After having worn a full 3mm myself in December and January and being slightly uncomfortable, I wore a 5mm on this trip and was able to do 4 dives a day and was quite comfortable.

I think a good compromise is a 3mm full with a 5 mm hood. More travel compact, lighter, and less weight.

We saw jellyfish on maybe one third of the dives. On one dive we had to swim out of them to surface.

 

[PaloPinto]

I always wear at least a 3MM, on some of the deeper dives I may be wishing for my 5MM.