Hi Pidge,
I can't speak for anybody else, but the Pacific is the only place we've ever been, at least salt-water-wise (we've done some freshwater stuff in Idaho where we actually live). Most of ours has been in Puget Sound, the rest around the Monterey area where we are at the moment. We would love to get down to places like Cozumel and various spots in the Caribbean, because as of right now we have no idea what warm water feels like
I can't speak for anybody else, but the Pacific is the only place we've ever been, at least salt-water-wise (we've done some freshwater stuff in Idaho where we actually live). Most of ours has been in Puget Sound, the rest around the Monterey area where we are at the moment. We would love to get down to places like Cozumel and various spots in the Caribbean, because as of right now we have no idea what warm water feels like
A lot of folks around here dive dry. I have a dry suit, but I haven't used it at all this summer in Monterey. I use a 7mm Henderson hyperstretch suit, actually that's what my whole family uses. My youngest daughter used to come away from regular neoprene suits with skinned knuckles because she had such an awful time trying to put one on. We got her the hyperstretch and she lived happily ever after. For wetsuit, I wouldn't use anything else even though I myself never had any trouble with the traditional material. The first time I put my Henderson on, I looked at my shop guy and said "No way it's that easy!" He just smiled. The nice thing about hyperstretch material is, it flexes so you don't have to. As you get to depth, it compresses a little differently than other materials; in particular, mine undergoes a fairly sharp change at around 20 feet. But I've gotten used to that, and making the buoyancy adjustments is second nature now.
