Hello and a question

[Atti]

I'm about as ignorant as a person can be about diving, but...
I love to play in the water, swim a little, twirl about and act like a fish.
My question is, if I were to get a dry suit, could I do this sort of thing in the very cold water of Indiana in the winter?
Would I need tanks and certification of some sort? What would I need?
Thanks, I can tell I'm going to learn alot here.
Atti

 

[scuba41girl]

Welcome to drysuit diving lol. You need a drysuit course. It's pretty basic. It just gives you a class in a pool to show you how to use it. You then do a couple of open water dives. Drysuits are a bit more restricting than a wetsuit, but they are very warm.

 

[Diver Dennis]

Drysuits are pretty expensive. What's your budget?

 

[alcina]

Welcome to ScubaBoard! I've moved your thread into the Basic Scuba Discussion area as you have several questions and I think more of us can help you if it's here!

Happily, I don't know anything about dry suits really as I dive in warm (ish) waters!

If you want to dive, you'll need to start with an Open Water Course. I believe that many agencies do provide the option to learn in a dry-suit so you would get your training in the dry suit at the same time as the initial training you will need to start scuba diving. There are also specialty courses you can take to learn more about dry suit diving, after you finish the basic course.

Have fun!

 

[DandyDon]

Yeah, you'll need to be certified...

It does help with discussions if you complete your Profile. And it's even more fun when you load an Avatar (personal pic for each post) and a Profile pic. See UserCP to access these if you'd like to...?

If you haven't yet, click Forums above and start going thru the list - looking for those of interest to you, especially your local dive club. Always good to try a Search before starting a new thread, tho and be careful about posting Threads & Replies without reading the Stickies at the tops of most forums. Click the link in my Sig below to PM me if I can help you around here..

don

 

[fisherdvm]

Yeah, you'll need to be certified...

It does help with discussions if you complete your Profile. And it's even more fun when you load an Avatar (personal pic for each post) and a Profile pic. See UserCP to access these if you'd like to...?

If you haven't yet, click Forums above and start going thru the list - looking for those of interest to you, especially your local dive club. Always good to try a Search before starting a new thread, tho and be careful about posting Threads & Replies without reading the Stickies at the tops of most forums. Click the link in my Sig below to PM me if I can help you around here..

don

Danny, you are sort of a nosey guy... Gotta have those profiles... Can't lurk in the scubaboard forum without a profile!!

 

[Atti]

well I'm off to a good start... thanks

 

[Land Locked]

Welcome to ScubaBoard Atti

Indiana? Come join us at these forums and I'm sure we can hook you up with
shops and instructors so you can achieve your goals!

http://www.scubaboard.com/forumdisplay.php?f=58
http://www.scubaboard.com/forumdisplay.php?f=188

 

[Carribeandiver]

I'm about as ignorant as a person can be about diving, but...
I love to play in the water, swim a little, twirl about and act like a fish.
My question is, if I were to get a dry suit, could I do this sort of thing in the very cold water of Indiana in the winter?
Would I need tanks and certification of some sort? What would I need?
Thanks, I can tell I'm going to learn alot here.
Atti

Atti, I believe your question is whether you can swim and dive in a drysuit WITHOUT the need for tanks and other scuba gear. I am not a drysuit expert as I only dive in warm water and have no use for a drysuit but I believe the answer to your question is NO. Drysuits have a valve for air to be injected so the suit does not compress on your body. Because this suit will have air in it, there lies the possibility of having the air move to your feet, when you are upside down, thereby presenting a difficult challenge to right yourself again. This is the reason users of drysuits take a course in how to use it safely. It is not necessary to be a scuba diver to wear a drysuit but you have to have some sort of air supply to inflate the suit sufficiently for use. The deeper you go, the more air is needed.
Drysuit users, please correct me if I am mistaken.

 

[TSandM]

Are you just asking if you can get in the water and horse around in a dry suit? You can, but it's not terribly satisfying. Dry suits (with the required insulating garments underneath them) are very buoyant, and you float pretty high in the water. In addition, they are not very streamlined, so swimming in one (especially without fins) is an exercise in frustration. When you add the $1000+ price tag, you'd have to be desperate to get in the water, IMHO.