My Dry Suit Diaries

[Diving Dubai]

DAY 1


So today (13th Jan 16) I finally got to use my drysuit. 
Mine is the fourth Element Kevlar, and I have Fourth Element under garments (2 sets of different thickness) My rig is a dive rite Transpac XT with a voyager wing. It arrived in June, but given the air temp was by then well into the 100’s I sensibly waited. Since then its been stored in an Aircon room being admired from time to time
At the weekend I’m off diving with it so I’ll get 6-8 dives over the two days to fully get to grips with it


I thought I’d write these notes of my initial dives with the suit in case anyone was interested. It’s certainly been eye opening for me.
Today was pool day, we were going to do the pool in the morning and 2 dives in the afternoon but the sea state was too rough for the boat.
The first slight confusion was opening my net bag to set up my gear and with a deficiency of coffee having a moment trying to figure out what was missing. Wetsuit and boots of course. The drysuit of course was in a different bag. Needless to say – first thing in the morning a moment of confusion and near panic of what have I forgotten!
So a brief into the functions of the suit as well as the options for controlling buoyancy (just the suit or use the wing for buoyancy and suit for warmth & squeeze). I ‘m pretty sure I’ll be the latter.


So let’s get dressed and get it adjusted. Another moment of confusion. Wearing socks before a dive, indeed wearing socks at all. Feeling warm, maybe too warm on the surface.

Perhaps my Artic undergarment is too thick.


Neck seal too tight So I leant how to trim it. Gently stretching the neck seal over a AL80. Genius. I’d have never thought of that!


The pool is only 2m deep. I’m having to use a AL80 where as I normally dive 15l steels so a ton of weight is being added. We end up with 20lbs basically to make me a little over weighted allowing me to inflate the suit.


So all set into the water and feel the squeeze for the first time. It was more than I imagined it would be at the surface.


Shoulder dump was interesting. Mine is fully open at the moment. I expected it to release air at the same rate as a BCD or course it doesn’t. Pressing it down doesn’t feel as positive as I thought it would. Never mind I can see gas coming out.


Got buoyancy under control (sort of) I felt like a newbie having to use my hands at first. But in only 2m of water things happen fast. Felt the bubble move for the first time – weird but strangely comforting at the same time.


Recovering from feet In the air.. Oh joy. The instructor made this look easy. A forward roll tucking the knees in and dumping when you get the dump to the highest point. I got it first time Beginners luck! It went downhill from there.

As I’m 6’3 (1.86m) part of me was always going the break the surface. Obviously my feet, and a number of times I could see my inflated legs poking through the surface with me upside down. Hmmm


Trying fin pivot was difficult. Even if I started vertical in the pool, dumped everything to a squeeze, I still felt as though I have floaty feet and couldn’t plant them. I have Dive Rite XT fins which are negative but still…


Anyway all was accomplished. It appears that I had done it successfully the first time, it just didn’t feel right to me so I persevered to get it as near to perfect as I could.


The feeling of being disconnected from the water is the weirdest. With a wetsuit you feel everything with this cushion of air (as best as I can describe it) I felt out of touch. Need to calibrate my senses.


After 90 min we’d done enough. Practice rolls required too much effort.


The DM’s asked if we wanted a nice warm drink. Nope we weren’t cold just smug and warm.


Final revelation and weird moment was taking the suit off and, well being dry no towels needed. It’s a strange feeling after diving wet for the last 300 dives.

Post dive I'm sore.. my ABS hurt from all the rolls and exertion


Tomorrow the sea dives with some depth (20m). Also 2 steel tanks. Only 12l (my 15’s are filled and ready to go for the weekend) but they’ll be nearer the weight. I expect to shed quite a few lbs tomorrow.


Wife already hinting, despite refusing to allow me to buy her one before. No doubt after the weekend the hint will have turned into an instruction


Part 2 on Sunday post weekend diving

 

[WarrenZ]

Welcome to the Dry Side.

 

[JBFG]

Good post!
I like that!

 

[Storker]

Another welcome, this time from the subarctic North.

Feeling warm, maybe too warm on the surface.

Perhaps my Artic undergarment is too thick.

Wait before you decide on that. When the air is warm and the sun is shining, you easily get too warm on the surface. Suiting up is the last thing you do before donning the rig and the fins. But when you get below in cool water, you'll appreciate the warmth of a nice, thick undergarment.

And I always make sure to wear a wicking base layer under my undergarment. Avoid cotton like the plague. Due to condensation of sweat, you'll always be somewhat damp.

The DM’s asked if we wanted a nice warm drink. Nope we weren’t cold just smug and warm.

That's the best thing about diving dry. The water has to be really, really cold (like low single digits C) before you're cold to the core when you get out of the water. Hardly ever anything like that chilly-all-the-way-through feeling you get after a wet dive in water that's just a little too much on the cool side. SIs are just SO much more comfortable.

 

[sheeper]

welcome to the dry world! It takes some getting used to. I just got a new DUI Flx-Extreme and am getting used to that suit. it requires some practice and tweaks over what i've used in the past.
You'll get it. have no fear!

 

[Diving Dubai]

Another welcome, this time from the subarctic North.


Wait before you decide on that. When the air is warm and the sun is shining, you easily get too warm on the surface. Suiting up is the last thing you do before donning the rig and the fins. But when you get below in cool water, you'll appreciate the warmth of a nice, thick undergarment.

And I always make sure to wear a wicking base layer under my undergarment. Avoid cotton like the plague. Due to condensation of sweat, you'll always be somewhat damp.

Thanks for the above comments. You were right Storker. My Under suit is great and while I might have been warm on the surface it was perfect underwater and wasn't damp either post dive either

 

[Diving Dubai]

To Continue

Day 2
Open Water practical

So open water segment. I arrive at the dive center at 8:15 bleary eyed and lacking of coffee. I don’t do mornings!

Before I continue, let me make something clear. I know most people dive in colder conditions than I and consider bad vis the norm. I don’t and I chose not to. For me cold is the water at 22C and similar air temps. Just as 30C is nice.

50C the summer highs is hot. The summer lows never drop below 35C with the sea is at 37-38C.

Anything less than 5m is poor vis. Its all relative and I’ve acclimatised. So there.

So today's diving is a 10 min boat ride just off the Dubai Palm island, an old Airbus fuselage sunk on purpose. The plan is for a little dive around and buoyancy skills.

A doddle then.

First dive down to the sea floor at 14m over bits of aircraft devoid of real life, just the occasional fish. Meh!

Following Jason (my instructor) buoyancy and trim feel good. I think I have figured out how much air is enough, this squeeze seems to be all feel and a personal thing. I’m using my wing for fine trim. Vis is about 6m so not bad for the West coast of Dubai

Neck seal feels tight, perhaps it needs further work. I’ll worry about that later.

Fin pivot. Easy this. Buoyancy has been great. Jason signals the start and I’m a mess. Can’t get my feet down, breathing rate increasing, dumping air from wing. Frustrated. I look worse than an OW1 student.

Jason stops me. Signals me to calm and go on my knees for the exercise. Feels like a cop-out but I begin. Now I’m calm my feet are down and I do the exercise properly and for 2m rather than 1. I give myself a good mental telling off!

Off to the buoyancy, a hover for 1 minute. Not worried about this. I get into position then start. But with nothing to focus my mind on I start mentally examining the mechanics which is bad. And start to think about what I’m doing and feel it starting to come apart. I force myself to think of something else and let my body go into auto pilot rather thank me think about what I’m doing. I and relax, we’ve done another 2 mins.

I berate myself mentally again. This is basic stuff. In a wetsuit I do this all day and am proud of my ability to hold station in the water column to within less than 0.5m deviation. I feel and must look like a proper muppet.

A swim around, not very exciting and ascend. On the Safety stop I’m on the rope. I’m a bit heavy and not where I’d normally be i.e. I'm feet first not horizontal. I’m concentrating and not having air in the suit and not on my wing buoyancy.

Back on the boat Jason positive as we debrief, we have one more dive it should be easy. He notes me being heavy on the line (dammit) and hopes to see better. Tells me not to over think the drills. Confirming what I know.

The DMT’s sort out my gear. Not used to this and want to do it myself, Jason asks me to let them set up my gear as my wing configuration is different to what they’re used to. So I find myself supervising and answering questions as to why my gear is configured the way it is (their professional interest).

The DMTs go down for a mapping exercise while Jason and I do our SI chatting about Dubai and diving.

When the DMT’s surface after 45 mins they're a bit chilly (water temp is 22 and they’re in 3mm suits) Ha! Glad I’m in a DS! Feeling smug inside.

Off we go again for the same. Drills, swim around and we’re all done. At 8m the vis goes to crap. I’m concentrating on my buoyancy that I almost hit the bottom. Vis is 18” at best with green water and white plankton like snow. Yuk! Another metal telling off. Concentrate! stop getting task fixation and dive properly you clown.

Jason doesn’t mess around. No swimming in this filth, off to find a spot for the exercises. Good man! Fin Pivot is a breeze no problems this time. On to the hover.

Here’s where it all goes wrong. Rise too high and the sea bed disappears also this plankton is like a white out and while you know your depth the orientations gets all over the place. I’m over correcting. That’s the polite way to say it. In truth there is more flap than a flock of seagulls. Not pretty is an understatement!

There is also a surge which isn’t helping. Abandon that and move to somewhere more protected. The wreck has lots of parts which would be bad to crash into and there are some nasty sea urchins around too so best to avoid them. Don't want to land on one of those.

As we find a better area I spot a black pebble. I take this and when we start again I drop it so I have something of contrast to focus on. This works a dream, focusing on the pebble I can “see through” the plankton so there is no disorientation.

Exercise done, but we’ve only done 13mins. Dammit A PADI dive needs to be a minimum of 20mins.

Off for a swim we go, although Jason knows this wreck finding the line is hard. Your eyes start to see things that aren’t there. More than once I think I can see the line only to find my eyes have deceived me. We slowly circle the area I pass the same bit twice. We’re literally shoulder to shoulder nose almost on the sand.

I’m considering “loosing my buddy” searching for 5 secs and shooting my bag, but we spot the line which leads us to the anchor line.

Unhook the anchor from the wreck and ascend. This time on the SS I’m much more sorted and near horizontal.

Glad to be back on the boat after a 35 min dive. Congrats all round and then get to watch the DMT carry out a rescue exercise while I sip a nice soup warm and cosy in my DS.

All that’s left is my photo, everything signed say good bye and head home. Off to dive during the weekend but before that I have to load 20 tanks 2 scooters and the rest of the kit needed for a 2 day trip for my wife and I into my truck before the 2 hr drive through the traffic.

This DS diving is easy. Not sure what all the fuss is about. Over the next two days I'm about to find out and have my ego bruised more than once.

Stay tuned!

 

[Littlerayray]

Good luck dive safe and don't over think the whole DS thing it's simple I find just putting enough air to get the squeeze off my body and using my bc for buoyancy is easiest