TexasMike
Contributor
That's one more c-card taken care of!
I finally got the chance to experience what many of you (especially you northern cold water yankees (said with affection
)) take for granted. I am now a "card-carrying" dry suit diver.
This past Saturday (Dec. 8) was my first time ever in a drysuit, and I have to say that I found the experience both as fun and challenging as the first time I breathed underwater. Much of the basic facts I sorta already knew from reading various articles both on and offline, so I had some idea of what to expect. But as the rest of you have said, getting into the water with a drysuit on is tottally different than just reading about it.
Ron Carlo (Dallas, TX) was the instructor and he did a very good job covering all of the details during the "on-land" class and guiding me through the different required skills while underwater. This was my 3rd class with him (the others were TDI Basic Nitrox, and SDI Rescue Diver). So if any D/FW divers want a referrall to one of the best instructors in the area, contact me and I will be happy to give you his contact info.
I had fun running through the drills and experiencing the sensations of what it feels like to have suit squeeze and the "rolling" air bubble when you change your orientation from head up/head down and side to side. We also did drills where I hung onto the side of the platform and overinflated the suit with my feet up so I would know what it would feel like to have super floaty feet and how to recover from that position without rising too far in the water column. The sensation of that drill was really interesting since there was so much air in my dry suit boots that I thought I was going to blow off a fin!
We also did two "tour" dives where we just swam for 15 minutes and looked at the scenery so I could get used to the new buoyancy characteristics of this type of diving.
Other observations I wanted to share:
I finally got the chance to experience what many of you (especially you northern cold water yankees (said with affection
)) take for granted. I am now a "card-carrying" dry suit diver.This past Saturday (Dec. 8) was my first time ever in a drysuit, and I have to say that I found the experience both as fun and challenging as the first time I breathed underwater. Much of the basic facts I sorta already knew from reading various articles both on and offline, so I had some idea of what to expect. But as the rest of you have said, getting into the water with a drysuit on is tottally different than just reading about it.
Ron Carlo (Dallas, TX) was the instructor and he did a very good job covering all of the details during the "on-land" class and guiding me through the different required skills while underwater. This was my 3rd class with him (the others were TDI Basic Nitrox, and SDI Rescue Diver). So if any D/FW divers want a referrall to one of the best instructors in the area, contact me and I will be happy to give you his contact info.
I had fun running through the drills and experiencing the sensations of what it feels like to have suit squeeze and the "rolling" air bubble when you change your orientation from head up/head down and side to side. We also did drills where I hung onto the side of the platform and overinflated the suit with my feet up so I would know what it would feel like to have super floaty feet and how to recover from that position without rising too far in the water column. The sensation of that drill was really interesting since there was so much air in my dry suit boots that I thought I was going to blow off a fin!
We also did two "tour" dives where we just swam for 15 minutes and looked at the scenery so I could get used to the new buoyancy characteristics of this type of diving.
Other observations I wanted to share:
- I knew in advance that the wrist and neck seals were supposed to be tight. But I didn't know that the neck seal would make my eyes feel like they were bugging out. But I was amazed at how quickly that particular discomfort disappeared once I got in the water and the entire suit was giving me a tight hug.
- A tight "all over body hug" is a fairly accurate description to describe how the water pressure creates a suit squeeze. To provide a visualization, watch the infomercials on the kitchen device that vacuum packs food.
- I was suprised that suit squeeze starts the moment any part of your body is in the water. I took the steps from the dock into the water and as soon as I was in up to my knees, I could feel the sqeeze on my feet/ankles.
- Diving in a dry suit does give you a few more items to manage during a dive. Therefore I strongly recommend that a course in drysuit diving be taken so that you learn how to do it safely. Wetsuiters just have to manage adding/dumping air into/out of their BC's. Dry suiters have that plus managing the air in their suits plus ensuring that the air is spread evenly through out the suit to maintain horizontal trim. Always do what I did. take things just a bit slower so that you don't overload yourself, and you have a greater margin of time to react properly to a situation. I felt a bit task-loaded, but not out of control. But I do recognize that I have some practice to do so that this dry suit task management becomes as second nature as when I'm diving in a wetsuit.
- I acutally found that acheiving neutral buoynacy was much easier in the drysuit (diving with my Ranger BC, the Drysuit, an AL80, and 20lbs of lead). This was the first time that I could remember that I could hang motionless and stay perfectly horizontal, not having to use leg muscles to keep my feet from drooping. And even at the 15 foot mark, I was able to maintain my vertical position in the water column fairly easily. This was one unexpected benefit.
- It was very interesting just how comfortable dry suit diving is. The water temp was in the low 60's at 35-feet. I was wearing 3 layers of polypropelene on my torso and arms and 2 layers on my legs and wool socks. I did feel the chill of the water when I first entered on the surface, but once submerged and adding air to take off the squeeze, I was very comfortable. You can really come to understand just how much heat a wetsuit removes from you due to water transfer.
- Practicing the over-inflated legs high drill on the surface reminded me of someone being held by their ankles and having their change shaken out of their pockets.
- Once back on dry land and out of your gear, the feeling you get when you open the neck seal to let air back in to take the squeeze off is very nice.
- The best saying from Instructor Ron: "Getting a dry suit will more than double your the value of your investment in your other scuba gear." Meaning, you can now dive in any temperature conditions year round. In Texas, many dive only April through October when the waters are warm. So diving dry, you can be in the water every weekend, and anywhere from the Caribean to Canada.
- Finally, I can see why you dry suit divers are fond of saying that once you dive dry, you won't dive wet again. It's very nice to end the day and the only body part your towling off is your head.
