First Diving Suit for Northern New England Diving

[Patrick Star]

Please, folks...

I am new here and feel awkward igniting such a heated discussion. I truly appreciate all of your perspectives and believe it or not, I don't think there is that much difference between them. I realize that for my local conditions, as well as my desire to extend the season (we Northern New Englanders get cheated out of the long summers others enjoy), a drysuit would be the better choice. I guess the issue raised by my initial post was whether it would be the best choice now, as my very first (and only) exposure suit, as well as whether it would have been the best choice against the backdrop of preparing myself to dive with folks out of my LDS who dive wet all year long up here.

As a beginner, I would have felt incredibly cocky telling these experienced people that regardless of how they do it, I wanted a drysuit. Until my horizons expand substantially, these folks will remain my diving peers for the foreseeable future. If they told me they all dive dry and it is the way to go, I would be proudly telling you all about my new drysuit purchase. I just want to blend and copy until I get comfortable enough to form my own opinions, based on the experience I will be acquiring.

Last, I want to thank you all. Nothing is worse that wishy-washy "just do what's right for you" advice. it is meaningless. You are a passionate group, which is wonderful. And the sheer variety of your strong opinions (and the sometimes rancorous debates they ignite) illuminate all sides of an issue. That is incredibly helpful to all of us, but especially to beginners like me.

WAY more unites us (the love of the water) than divides us.

 

[drk5036]

As long as you have the money for it, it’s fine! A 5 mm suit is plenty useful for lots of diving conditions. Honestly, there’s no upper limit in my opinion; you can use it for tropical diving and it’ll be fine. I do agree with the others that you’re going to freeze your tushy off, but you’ll know for yourself soon enough, haha.

 

[BoltSnap]

Please, folks...

I am new here and feel awkward igniting such a heated discussion. I truly appreciate all of your perspectives and believe it or not, I don't think there is that much difference between them. I realize that for my local conditions, as well as my desire to extend the season (we Northern New Englanders get cheated out of the long summers others enjoy), a drysuit would be the better choice. I guess the issue raised by my initial post was whether it would be the best choice now, as my very first (and only) exposure suit, as well as whether it would have been the best choice against the backdrop of preparing myself to dive with folks out of my LDS who dive wet all year long up here.

As a beginner, I would have felt incredibly cocky telling these experienced people that regardless of how they do it, I wanted a drysuit. Until my horizons expand substantially, these folks will remain my diving peers for the foreseeable future. If they told me they all dive dry and it is the way to go, I would be proudly telling you all about my new drysuit purchase. I just want to blend and copy until I get comfortable enough to form my own opinions, based on the experience I will be acquiring.

Last, I want to thank you all. Nothing is worse that wishy-washy "just do what's right for you" advice. it is meaningless. You are a passionate group, which is wonderful. And the sheer variety of your strong opinions (and the sometimes rancorous debates they ignite) illuminate all sides of an issue. That is incredibly helpful to all of us, but especially to beginners like me.

WAY more unites us (the love of the water) than divides us.

Don't worry, this is typical SB, be happy and enjoy your diving. Sooner or later, you will go back to our advice

 

[Marie13]

Please, folks...

I am new here and feel awkward igniting such a heated discussion. I truly appreciate all of your perspectives and believe it or not, I don't think there is that much difference between them. I realize that for my local conditions, as well as my desire to extend the season (we Northern New Englanders get cheated out of the long summers others enjoy), a drysuit would be the better choice. I guess the issue raised by my initial post was whether it would be the best choice now, as my very first (and only) exposure suit, as well as whether it would have been the best choice against the backdrop of preparing myself to dive with folks out of my LDS who dive wet all year long up here.

As a beginner, I would have felt incredibly cocky telling these experienced people that regardless of how they do it, I wanted a drysuit. Until my horizons expand substantially, these folks will remain my diving peers for the foreseeable future. If they told me they all dive dry and it is the way to go, I would be proudly telling you all about my new drysuit purchase. I just want to blend and copy until I get comfortable enough to form my own opinions, based on the experience I will be acquiring.

Last, I want to thank you all. Nothing is worse that wishy-washy "just do what's right for you" advice. it is meaningless. You are a passionate group, which is wonderful. And the sheer variety of your strong opinions (and the sometimes rancorous debates they ignite) illuminate all sides of an issue. That is incredibly helpful to all of us, but especially to beginners like me.

WAY more unites us (the love of the water) than divides us.

Don’t just follow the herd. If you start freezing your butt off, are you STILL going to follow the local herd diving wet?

 

[beester]

Please, folks...

I am new here and feel awkward igniting such a heated discussion. I truly appreciate all of your perspectives and believe it or not, I don't think there is that much difference between them. I realize that for my local conditions, as well as my desire to extend the season (we Northern New Englanders get cheated out of the long summers others enjoy), a drysuit would be the better choice. I guess the issue raised by my initial post was whether it would be the best choice now, as my very first (and only) exposure suit, as well as whether it would have been the best choice against the backdrop of preparing myself to dive with folks out of my LDS who dive wet all year long up here.

As a beginner, I would have felt incredibly cocky telling these experienced people that regardless of how they do it, I wanted a drysuit. Until my horizons expand substantially, these folks will remain my diving peers for the foreseeable future. If they told me they all dive dry and it is the way to go, I would be proudly telling you all about my new drysuit purchase. I just want to blend and copy until I get comfortable enough to form my own opinions, based on the experience I will be acquiring.

Last, I want to thank you all. Nothing is worse that wishy-washy "just do what's right for you" advice. it is meaningless. You are a passionate group, which is wonderful. And the sheer variety of your strong opinions (and the sometimes rancorous debates they ignite) illuminate all sides of an issue. That is incredibly helpful to all of us, but especially to beginners like me.

WAY more unites us (the love of the water) than divides us.

Cheers to you sir! Very well said!

I totally understand what you are saying...I've also grown (from a much younger age but still) into a local small diving community, and any change was most of the time met at least with some question marks or raised eyebrows or at worst with harsh comments. I remember very well being the first using a sort of backplate and wing setup in my community and I got the whole range of emotions from the local group, and I was not a newby in the group, nor a beginning diver ;-) I've moved on, literally and figuratively (living in a different country) but I'm still very welcome in that group... but most are now diving a BP/W setup :-D.

Have fun doing your dives and integrating in the group.. start diving wet, and if you ever have any questions on how to make wet diving work (up to a limit) in cold water, send me a pm and I'll give you some tips. But whenever you feel that wetdiving is limiting your diving (you get cold, your dive times are getting shorter, you would like to extend your dive season, you start to skip that 2nd dive because you don't want to get into that wet wetsuit again) or whenever you are getting into sorts of diving were being reasonably warm is important (like deco/technical diving), just know that there are other solutions... which are easy, and comfortable ;-)

Have fun!

 

[formernuke]

I remember very well being the first using a sort of backplate and wing setup in my community and I got the whole range of emotions from the local group,

I brought a stainless BPW to Roatan in 2010 along with long hose and necklace reg set. Talk about confused people.

@Patrick Star

It might work for you I know people who dive wet up here year around or you might be one who says why the f$_/ did I buy that. We have all been there only time will tell. Or it might be you use the wetsuit in the summer and go dry the rest of year, all that really matters is time in the water...... and shark pictures.