Unknown German diver dies in Florida Keys

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The water temp today at Key Largo is 81° F. I seriously doubt he wore any wetsuit.

Lots of us cold and stinging critter intolerant folks are always in a wetsuit. I am always covered, head to toe. In 80-85 F I'm in a 2.5mm wetsuit with a lycra hood. I'm far more comfortable temperature wise and much better protected from random stinging critters and critter-parts floating around in the ocean. Get a random jelly fish stinging cell up your board shorts and you too will always be in a wetsuit. So wearing a wetsuit in 81 F is not at all unusual here in South Florida.

I've seen plenty of people in CZM wear a wetsuit in 85° water. I don't understand it, but they do.

Exactly. Same for South Florida/Key Largo.
 
So wearing a wetsuit in 81 F is not at all unusual here in South Florida.

It's not me you need to convince. Talk to the person I replied to...
 
Just an FYI side note. Many years ago, while diving somewhere in the Keys, during the summer, I recovered a weight belt that had ~32 pounds of shiny new led. It was almost too much to eaisly carry back to our boat.
 
I recovered a weight belt that had ~32 pounds of shiny new led
Most likely the original owner was not strong enough to get it back on the boat and had to ditch it... That or die on the bottom...
 
Most likely the original owner was not strong enough to get it back on the boat and had to ditch it... That or die on the bottom...
... or it was just being used to easily transport a bunch of weight for use by various divers and fell off the side of the boat. I've seen weight belts used to simply carry a bunch of weight without it intended to be used with all of that weight on it. Just another possibility. I can't imagine anyone needing 32 (let alone 44) lbs of weight in Florida.
 
I've seen plenty of people in CZM wear a wetsuit in 85° water. I don't understand it, but they do.
I lived on Bonaire for four years. I've been diving pretty much all warm water since I sold my drysuit. I always wear a wetsuit. One reason is in case I get tipped over walking in or out of the water. That iron shore stuff is unforgiving. Another is stinging jellies. The last is that we dive with very little effort and unless we're diving with an operator and a boat our average dive is 80-90 minutes. Our focus is to photograph instead of scare the fish. You can still lose a lot of body heat even in 80 plus degree water that way.


I'm guessing the victim may have asked for an inordinate amount of weight, which may lead one to conclude they were not very experienced. I doubt the dive operator would have given them that much lead.
 
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I've seen plenty of people in CZM wear a wetsuit in 85° water. I don't understand it, but they do.
I wear a one mil jumpsuit in Coz as protection from stingers. It may look like a wet suit. I used to know a woman who chilled so easily that she wore a dry suit in Coz. The 20 Kg request was probably just confusion. If I was in a country with weights in Kg, I'd have to convert my usual LBs to Kgs.
 
I wear a one mil jumpsuit in Coz as protection from stingers. It may look like a wet suit. I used to know a woman who chilled so easily that she wore a dry suit in Coz. The 20 Kg request was probably just confusion. If I was in a country with weights in Kg, I'd have to convert my usual LBs to Kgs.

That's the one conversion I have in my head. 2.2# per kg.
 
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