dry suit or not?

[dvas]

I live in Israel and most of my dives are in the red sea in Eilat. Since I am sensitive to cold, I can not dive if the water is below 21°C. Currently I have 2 piece 5mm wet suit. Since I am finishing my ANDI Technical SafeAir Diver Course these days, I have a huge dilemma.
I want to be able to dive during the winter and also I need good suit for the sub 30m tech dives.
After reading a lot of posts on this topic, I realized that the right way to go it - dry suit.
Further to my conversation with my tech teacher, he told me not to use the dry suit, since it is more complicated to dive (since there is a air/argon inside), and that I should go for a semi-dry (like Aqualung Iceland) with waterproof zip - 7mm.
I need the suit for temp 13°C-21°C diving.

What do you think?

thanks,
sasha

 

[jonnythan]

I think a drysuit will keep you much happier than a semi-dry.

If you're really sensitive to cold, you can get drygloves and even a dryhood.. your head is where you lose the most heat. It's a bit more complicated than a wetsuit or semi-dry, but just take the class and you'll be all set.

A trilam drysuit with warm fleece or thinsulate undies will be much more comfortable during the dive, and keep you warmer on the surface than a 7mm thick semi dry.

 

[Bob3]

Using a drysuit becomes second nature with a little practice.
A top of the line "semi-dry" will cost you about the same as some decent drysuits, and you still won't want to pee in a semi-dry anyway...
:mean:

 

[mddolson]

I'm in Canada. I dive dry most of the time.
The water temp varies from 2°C to about 23°C (35°F to about 75°F for you Mericans)

While the surface temp rises above 20°C (70°F) it is usually a constant 10°C (50°F) below the thermocline which can be at 8 - 20 Meters (25 - 60 feet)

Occatioanlly I will dive in a wet suit in the summer, but rarely.

Mike D

:blfish: