Good Time to Dive in Monterey?

[mikeguerrero]

Talking about cold, I was with Cypress boat on 5/10 at Pescadero Pinnacle near Pebble beach and water temp was 44. Out of 9 divers (none has dry suite), only 2 braved the 2nd dive and it was not me. I was shaking uncontrollably. The hot thermal hose did not help that much after my body core temp was whacked. Viz was 40 to 50 feet and only tiny swell though. Phil (the capt.) said cold water removes those floating particle but I don't know if it was true. Spent around 60 mins, max depth 103 ft with 3000 psi LP95. Awesome 1st dive.

I salute you, for you who are about to dive, in these conditions with a wetsuit,,,, just incredible and I however cannot do it... 48 in a wetsuit sent me back to the surface wanting to get out of the water.... I cannot imagine what 44 degrees would do to me in a wetsuit, maybe turn me to ice....

 

[ccohn2000]

Two dive shops sorta near Berkeley are:

Captain Aqua's Dive Center
250 Jackson Street
Hayward, CA 94544-1907
(510) 728-0225‎

Steele's Discount Scuba
5987 Telegraph Ave
Oakland, CA 94609
(510) 655-4344

I have had good experiences with both. I believe Steele's is closer to you.

 

[eric gundrum]

I salute you, for you who are about to dive, in these conditions with a wetsuit,,,, just incredible and I however cannot do it... 48 in a wetsuit sent me back to the surface wanting to get out of the water.... I cannot imagine what 44 degrees would do to me in a wetsuit, maybe turn me to ice....

Maybe you just need a better wetsuit. Based on my dive log, I haven't had any complaints until the temp was below 48, unless I had gear problems. And my suit is nothing special -- just a Body Glove 7mm farmer john with a hooded vest. Based on the research I've done, I can imagine a custom suit with better neoprene would be much warmer. 44 degrees doens't seem so scary anymore. (I expect to find out next week.) But, at the point of buying custom, maybe it's better to dive dry.

An important issue with wetsuits is how well it fits. I think I'm just lucky that most suits are cut to fit my shape. Probably that is not the case for many people. Probably those people don't really know the difference because they cannot rent a good fitting suit. So, a wetsuit always seems colder to them than it does for others. That's one more reason to rent different brands and keep notes before buying a suit.

 

[dannobee]

I have known quite a few wetsuit people who thought 44 degrees would be no big deal. After two dives and an SI, they stand there, shivering so bad that the hot coffee spills out of the thermos or cup and onto their hand.

4 degrees colder than 48 doesn't seem like a lot, but it's a bigger difference than you'd think. Nearly all won't even go back in the water after the FIRST dive, and the vast majority will call the dive first because of cold (custom wetsuit or not).

I have yet to see anyone come out of the water after a Carmel dive and say, "you know, that dive would have been better if the water was just a little bit colder."


.

Maybe you just need a better wetsuit. Based on my dive log, I haven't had any complaints until the temp was below 48, unless I had gear problems. And my suit is nothing special -- just a Body Glove 7mm farmer john with a hooded vest. Based on the research I've done, I can imagine a custom suit with better neoprene would be much warmer. 44 degrees doens't seem so scary anymore. (I expect to find out next week.) But, at the point of buying custom, maybe it's better to dive dry.

An important issue with wetsuits is how well it fits. I think I'm just lucky that most suits are cut to fit my shape. Probably that is not the case for many people. Probably those people don't really know the difference because they cannot rent a good fitting suit. So, a wetsuit always seems colder to them than it does for others. That's one more reason to rent different brands and keep notes before buying a suit.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

Where are you diving that you got those record readings? For close to two years I've been diving Monterey with my lowest temp at 48 degrees and that was only twice.

I see 44s almost every spring. You do need to wait until you've
been on the bottom at least 15 minutes before noting the temp,
most dive computer thermometers have a long time constant.

You're not going to see 44s on most beach dive sites. Maybe
Monastery and Pt. Lobos.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

And my suit is nothing special -- just a Body Glove 7mm farmer john with a hooded vest. Based on the research I've done, I can imagine a custom suit with better neoprene would be much warmer.

Nothing covering your arms?????

You've actually solved the biggest problem with wetsuits, which is
water intrusion down the neck, with the hooded vest. Now you
are only COLD, rather than REALLY REALLY REALLY cold.

 

[eric gundrum]

Nothing covering your arms?????

My suit is bib pants, then long-sleeved shorty also 7mm all covered by a 5/3 hooded vest. I think my boots and gloves are 5mm. That gives me something like 17mm on my torso. The suit has about a 150 dives on it. (I got it used from my buddy.) I suspect it is low-end neoprene, not something like Rubatex.

You've actually solved the biggest problem with wetsuits, which is
water intrusion down the neck, with the hooded vest. Now you
are only COLD, rather than REALLY REALLY REALLY cold.

Yeah. When I was renting gear, I often had only a hood. It came loose once too often and I bought the vest. Now I still get a shot of cold water when I enter, but once my body warms that up, I'm generally fine for the 40+ minutes of the dive as well as the hour swim out and back. I know my core temp drops a bit, though.

I may try the trick of preheating my suit with warm water before my next dive. I plan to dive Pt. Lobos next week, and everyone says its cold. I need to make certain I prepare well for that. I may have to buy another thermos.

Also, I don't mean to suggest I'd never dive dry. I'm definitely curious about it. So far I'm doing OK with a wetsuit, but I can imagine having longer dives if I had a dry suit. I'm still not sure if I'd invest in a dry suit before buying a custom wetsuit with a drysuit costing about twice as much. I need more experience before I can decide that. I'd rather buy tanks than another suit right now.

 

[cmuljadi]

I salute you, for you who are about to dive, in these conditions with a wetsuit,,,, just incredible and I however cannot do it... 48 in a wetsuit sent me back to the surface wanting to get out of the water.... I cannot imagine what 44 degrees would do to me in a wetsuit, maybe turn me to ice....

Well, when I got off the boat I promised myself IF I win the mega million lottery, I swear the first item I will buy is a good dry suit. Not a yacht, not a plane, but a decent full set of dry suit. I even told my dive buddy as a witness. This morning when I drove to work, I shivered just thinking about that dive. The air temp was upper 50's and that didn't help us. Chuck is right, I didn't read the temp until I feel the chill 20 mins in to the dive.

 

[bc08]

Well, when I got off the boat I promised myself IF I win the mega million lottery, I swear the first item I will buy is a good dry suit. Not a yacht, not a plane, but a decent full set of dry suit. I even told my dive buddy as a witness. This morning when I drove to work, I shivered just thinking about that dive. The air temp was upper 50's and that didn't help us. Chuck is right, I didn't read the temp until I feel the chill 20 mins in to the dive.

Chris, I thought you would buy a drysuit for everyone within earshot.

Last year, I dove Pt. Lobos with an ex-navy guy. All he wore was a
beat-up 3mm he normally uses for surfing. No hood, no vest. Glove and boots
had plenty of holes in it. Now that's cold ... he claims he's survived worse.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

Back in my wetsuit days I used to take two half-gallon insulated plastic
jugs (Rubbermaid?) full of hot water and in a soft cooler bag. They'd stay
nice and toasty until the end of the second dive.

Put your booties OVER your farmer john, and pour warm water slowly
down the front of the john. It will end up filling your booties and it feels
OH SO GOOD.