Dutch Springs, first week of may!? Am I nuts!?

[GetNarc'd]

Anyone have a prediction of the surface temperature in Dutch Springs in about 3 weeks?? Am I crazy to dive that, wet? 7 on 7mm Farmer John and jacket.

 

[Ber Rabbit]

You should be fine in a 7mm, there are a lot of good cold water wetsuit diving tips here on the board. Never been to Dutch but it can't be much colder than Gilboa (about 43 degrees now) and the Great Lakes Wrecking Crew is having a meet-n-greet there April 28-30 and we have some wet divers. You should come up and join us at Gilboa
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[GetNarc'd]

Good Lord, you guys have a few screws loose! This will be my AOW Padi dives. I hope I make it without wimping out!

PS. Have fun but count me out!! Haha

 

[Ber Rabbit]

I'm taking my AOW class along to the M&G for the first weekend of their dives (we dive 4 weekends) so they will be feeling your pain Definitely check out the cold water diving tips posted around the board, it can be a lot of fun if you are properly prepared. It can be incredibly miserable if you're not.
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[pir8]

Check their website for temps
http://www.dutchsprings.com/
you should be fine in a farmer john.

 

[GetNarc'd]

Awsome, thanks guys. Anyway wanna join!?

 

[pir8]

If you are doing AOW you will be too busy to do a lot of socalizing. But you will still have a lot of fun with it. I would expect your instructor to take up most of your time. Its always possible I will already be there.

 

[Spratman]

I took my Intro to Tech class April 1 & 2. It was raining lightly, then heavier, then sleeting and finally snowing by the time we finished our second dive. Water temp was 43 degrees. I was diving a 6.5 mil FJ. Surface intervals are a killer early in the year. I took my Nitrox course in Jan diving wet.

I have pretty good tolerance for cold, so YMMV. l am usually around, so if you are up, let me know when. We usually have a pretty good group on most weekends. Might die off a bit with the gas prices....

Good luck!

 

[jpcpat]

Surface Temps were mids 40s two weeks ago. Mightr be closing on 50 by now. There are thermoclines where it gets down to the 30s. They should not be an issue except for the deep dive, and that only lasts a few minutes.

7mil FJ with hood and gloves will do the trick. When the water first floods down my back, I want to scream, but it goes away fast. Then I warm up one leg and foot. Keep in mind 2 things: 1)When putting back on a wetsuit, do it in the showers, cold wetsuits suck and 2) They will come back out again in a few hours

On the nav dive a lot of instructors give you a compass heading for the helicopter. Don't get so focused on your heading that you forget your depth. Lots of students swim right under it, and it is a damn big object.

 

[PaulChristenson]

I'm taking my AOW class along to the M&G for the first weekend of their dives (we dive 4 weekends) so they will be feeling your pain Definitely check out the cold water diving tips posted around the board, it can be a lot of fun if you are properly prepared. It can be incredibly miserable if you're not.
Ber :lilbunny:

Oh...so one of your AOW dives will be the Discover Thermoclines Specialty Dive...