New diver - seeking cold water dives opinions

[CDNScubaMoose]

I know you are dissapointed by the weather - however, it works great for me since now I won't be working on Sunday and can go diving.

I was in the Detroit River on May 3rd and registered a temp of 41 degrees. Although I was in a drysuit there were lots of wetsuit divers and they all seemed to be comfortable.

A few additional points/thoughts/reminders:

1) Stay out of the wind, and try to stay in the sun between dives. Even if you have dried off the wind can still cause you to loose more heat (or slow down your rewarming process).

2) When you get in the water but before you submerge - submerge your face without your mask on (or completely flood it). This will give you a chance to climatize yourself to the water temp and if you do have to do a mask clearing while diving you may prevent some of the extremeness of the ice cream headache. Doing this will also help you slow your breathing rate down some.

Enjoy - the diving in the Great Lakes is awesome ... not as many pesky fish to get in the way of the cool wrecks

 

[pelagic_by_nature]

Went on my first cold water dive on Sunday. Here's the update:
First of all I must say that the visibility was WAY better than I expected - maybe 25 or 30 ft. or more. I rented a 7mm farmer john and jacket, hood and gloves. The water temp at 30 feet was 50 and at 55ft it was 40 degrees. My gloves were POS's and my hands were the only part of me that got cold and even that wasn't too bad until after 30 minutes at which point I turned the dive because of it. The rest of me was comfortable. All in all it was a great experience and I am looking forward to my next cold water dive. Thanks again, everyone, for your advice. :goingdown:

 

[luckydays]

Went on my first cold water dive on Sunday. Here's the update:
First of all I must say that the visibility was WAY better than I expected - maybe 25 or 30 ft. or more. I rented a 7mm farmer john and jacket, hood and gloves. The water temp at 30 feet was 50 and at 55ft it was 40 degrees. My gloves were POS's and my hands were the only part of me that got cold and even that wasn't too bad until after 30 minutes at which point I turned the dive because of it. The rest of me was comfortable. All in all it was a great experience and I am looking forward to my next cold water dive. Thanks again, everyone, for your advice. :goingdown:

Congrats on the fun dive with excellent viz. Get better gloves and go diving again soon and repeat as many times as you can. I have 5 mil gloves that I picked up for about $30 and have no problems diving with them at all on several dives in one day!

Where did you end up getting wet? What did you see?

 

[ligersandtions]

Went on my first cold water dive on Sunday. Here's the update:
First of all I must say that the visibility was WAY better than I expected - maybe 25 or 30 ft. or more. I rented a 7mm farmer john and jacket, hood and gloves. The water temp at 30 feet was 50 and at 55ft it was 40 degrees. My gloves were POS's and my hands were the only part of me that got cold and even that wasn't too bad until after 30 minutes at which point I turned the dive because of it. The rest of me was comfortable. All in all it was a great experience and I am looking forward to my next cold water dive. Thanks again, everyone, for your advice. :goingdown:

Great news! Glad to hear you were able to get out in the cold water....and even happier that it was better than you expected! 40 degrees is pretty freaking cold! I wouldn't be in there with a wetsuit, but if you were okay, you definitely will need to get better gloves. However, if you were cold at all, look into finding a drysuit (you can find good deals in the used market)....and dry gloves will be a thing of beauty!

Keep up the cold water diving....you'll probably find it to be very rewarding, and then warm water diving will become a treat (especially when you don't have to wear 7+mm of neoprene!).

 

[pelagic_by_nature]

Congrats on the fun dive with excellent viz. Get better gloves and go diving again soon and repeat as many times as you can. I have 5 mil gloves that I picked up for about $30 and have no problems diving with them at all on several dives in one day!

Where did you end up getting wet? What did you see?

Thanks, Yeah the gloves looked like something my wife would wear for gardening.

I dove in the Gilboa Quarry in OH. Swam through the Grumman airplane, the Sikorsky helo, the "tubes. Saw a ton of fish. I think I actually became a part of a school of rainbow trout at one point. There were several all swimming in the same direction as me and about 2 feet away from me. They were kind of acting like pilot fish to me.

Great news! Glad to hear you were able to get out in the cold water....and even happier that it was better than you expected! 40 degrees is pretty freaking cold! I wouldn't be in there with a wetsuit, but if you were okay, you definitely will need to get better gloves. However, if you were cold at all, look into finding a drysuit (you can find good deals in the used market)....and dry gloves will be a thing of beauty!

Keep up the cold water diving....you'll probably find it to be very rewarding, and then warm water diving will become a treat (especially when you don't have to wear 7+mm of neoprene!).

Thanks, l 'n t. I've heard many times that all you really need for all water temps are a 3 mm shorty, and when that's not enough, a dry suit. My buddy is trying to talk me into buying one (drysuit, that is. already have the 3mm shorty) by saying "it's cheaper to buy a drysuit now that to buy a 7mm wet suit and then a dry suit down the road, 'cuz you know you will.

 

[ligersandtions]

Thanks, l 'n t. I've heard many times that all you really need for all water temps are a 3 mm shorty, and when that's not enough, a dry suit. My buddy is trying to talk me into buying one (drysuit, that is. already have the 3mm shorty) by saying "it's cheaper to buy a drysuit now that to buy a 7mm wet suit and then a dry suit down the road, 'cuz you know you will.

Sounds like good advice from your friend....it sucks to buy the wrong gear the first time around and then have to fix it later (I know, I did it with many items I now no longer dive with...).

 

[CamG]

Greetings Pelagic and welcome to cold water you will find it to be very awesome!
We might have passed several times at Gilboa this past week end I was diving with friends Sunday and Monday. I dove wet as well and had no issues to 45' where it got colder. Your advice so far really sounds good. I was a wet hold out and dove wet into November and December. Then I got very cold on a December dive at Gilboa and realized I was crazy. I love to dive and seriously plan on diving year around. I research for a week and bought a DS from a LDS in Indy. Never looked back I have tons more dives comfortably and it has allowed for some serious long dives in water temps below 40º. For now enjoy the wet suits all the while researching what DS you would like.
A bit of advice on a DS: do not skimp, GET A PEE VALVE, pockets are good, front / back entery try both "choose the one that fits best!", get boots over socks, use a set of blade fins, dive it every chance you get! I still love to dive wet in cold water but when we did our 120' deep dive I wore my DS. I was very glad for it also 35º will make a believer out of you! I have done it wet but not as comfortable.
Only good things await you my friend, your attitude tells me you are one of the few and proud cold water lovers. Hang in there and learn all you can and make your choices. If you need a dive buddy at Gilboa PM me. We will be training a lot in the coming weeks. Be sure as some have mentioned to be comfortable with free flows they are common place and nothing to fear. They are part of the territory and can be fun to train for but just be ready no big deal. Good luck and let me know if I can help in any way.
CamG Keep diving....keep training....keep learning!