Patrick Star
Contributor
Greetings Divers,
As promised, here is my inquiry seeking your advice on acquiring my first diving suit. I live in NH, and our miniature coastline of 18 miles boasts water temps that vary from 35 degrees in February to 62 degrees in August. I wore a drysuit for my OW certification dive in February, off the coast of Cape Ann, MA. It was awesome. Then I went to Belize and dove nonstop for a week, without any suit at all. When I returned, I swore I would keep at it, but life got in the way. Now, seven years later, I am determined to get back into it and progress substantially prior to a planned Roatan trip next year.
Now that my dive computer choice is made (thank you all for the spirited discussion), my next focus is on making the best decision for my first diving suit. I am hoping to purchase both together from my LDS, unless I end up going with a used suit. This suit will be for local diving, both ocean and freshwater, which is not much warmer in these parts.
From what I have read on our forum, the logical first question appears to be whether I start with a 7-8 mil wetsuit, a semi-dry suit, or cut to the chase and look for a drysuit, either new or used. Beyond this, I have few preconceived notions and I would appreciate whatever guidance you wish to offer.
A few things about me: I am not much of an upgrader, so I would rather get a quality suit that will serve me well for a while, not something as just a transition for a brief time. However, my lack of diving experience makes me leery of simply biting the bullet and buying a top-of-the-line new drysuit, the same way I felt uncomfortable getting a very expensive dive computer as my first. It may be a valid exercise of "buy once, cry once," but it will be an ocean of tears. Finally, by nature, I have a pretty good tolerance for the cold, but I am pushing 60 and I don't know how long that is going to last.
I am all ears.
Thank you very much for your input.
As promised, here is my inquiry seeking your advice on acquiring my first diving suit. I live in NH, and our miniature coastline of 18 miles boasts water temps that vary from 35 degrees in February to 62 degrees in August. I wore a drysuit for my OW certification dive in February, off the coast of Cape Ann, MA. It was awesome. Then I went to Belize and dove nonstop for a week, without any suit at all. When I returned, I swore I would keep at it, but life got in the way. Now, seven years later, I am determined to get back into it and progress substantially prior to a planned Roatan trip next year.
Now that my dive computer choice is made (thank you all for the spirited discussion), my next focus is on making the best decision for my first diving suit. I am hoping to purchase both together from my LDS, unless I end up going with a used suit. This suit will be for local diving, both ocean and freshwater, which is not much warmer in these parts.
From what I have read on our forum, the logical first question appears to be whether I start with a 7-8 mil wetsuit, a semi-dry suit, or cut to the chase and look for a drysuit, either new or used. Beyond this, I have few preconceived notions and I would appreciate whatever guidance you wish to offer.
A few things about me: I am not much of an upgrader, so I would rather get a quality suit that will serve me well for a while, not something as just a transition for a brief time. However, my lack of diving experience makes me leery of simply biting the bullet and buying a top-of-the-line new drysuit, the same way I felt uncomfortable getting a very expensive dive computer as my first. It may be a valid exercise of "buy once, cry once," but it will be an ocean of tears. Finally, by nature, I have a pretty good tolerance for the cold, but I am pushing 60 and I don't know how long that is going to last.
I am all ears.
Thank you very much for your input.
