Exposure Suits

[RossM]

My wife is about to finish her OW cert this weekend at lake pleasant, AZ and we are looking at a weekend trip to SoCal for some diving. She keeps looking at wetsuits, but I lived and dove in the Pacific Northwest for years and am a fan of drysuits. Any advice on thickness or experiences with wetsuits would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

 

[TeqP]

I would say typical wetsuit thickness for So Cal diving is 7mm suit with a 5mm or 7mm hood and gloves, but it also depends on your tolerance to cold... I dive with a 7mm wetsuit, 5mm hood and 2mm tropical gloves year round. During summer the water can get 'warm' high 60s and i have dove without a hood or gloves.

I dove Lake Pleasant back in 2006 in October with a 2 mm shorty for 2 dives. Hope you have fun when you come out.

 

[geoff w]

It depends on what kind of diving you're doing. One or two beach dives and you should be OK in a decent 7mm suit, hood, gloves, booties, etc. Several boat dives, or go off Casino Point, each day and you get colder. As a new diver, she'll probably go through air faster, so shorter dives. Also as a new diver, a dry suit adds more complexity and skill requirements (not to mention certification requirement for renting a dry suit), so maybe a wetsuit would be a lot simpler and more enjoyable for your wife. I didn't dive in a dry suit until I had well over 150 dives, but dry suits are great for colder water

 

[Teamcasa]

The above guys are right, 7mm full suits are the norm with many adding a hooded vest. Drysuits do make the day much more enjoyable however.

 

[RossM]

Thanks for the info. My wife finished OW today and there is a tent sale next weekend and we might snag a wetsuit or two. I sold my old dry suit and would love to get a new one. Makes cold water much more enjoyable.