New Divers and Cold Water

[FishDiver]

"WAGs" are Wild Assed Guesses.

Or the politically incorrect "Wives And GirlfriendS".

 

[TSandM]

If you plan a single dive on a warm day (but not hot), keep her moving, and keep the dive short, it won't be too bad. We do a lot of certifications here in Puget Sound with our students in wetsuits, and on the first dive, so long as we can keep them moving, they mostly do okay.

If you want this woman to LIKE diving in the Eastern Pacific, get her into a dry suit. I know this, because I wasn't even going to get INTO Puget Sound, period, when I got certified. Only a dry suit got me to do it, and only a very good dry suit and some heavy duty investment in undergarments has kept me doing it.

 

[FishDiver]

If you plan a single dive on a warm day (but not hot), keep her moving, and keep the dive short, it won't be too bad. We do a lot of certifications here in Puget Sound with our students in wetsuits, and on the first dive, so long as we can keep them moving, they mostly do okay.

If you want this woman to LIKE diving in the Eastern Pacific, get her into a dry suit. I know this, because I wasn't even going to get INTO Puget Sound, period, when I got certified. Only a dry suit got me to do it, and only a very good dry suit and some heavy duty investment in undergarments has kept me doing it.

The Catch 22 is that she doesn't want to invest in gear until she knows she will enjoy it, and She won't enjoy it if she is cold.

 

[3D diver]

That's some catch you've got there...

 

[TSandM]

Then I would say to watch the weather, and pick a nice, warm, sunny day to take her someplace like Lobos, where the entry is easy and it's not a long swim to see a bunch of really cool stuff. Plan a long surface interval, and lay the wetsuit out in the sun so the neoprene warms. Get her completely out of the suit between dives, and dry her off and have plenty of warm clothes available, especially windbreakers.

If she got certified in a Northern California lake, she can't be TOTALLY resistant to getting into cold water!

 

[tracydr]

You were OK in Puget Sound but you get cold in Catalina?

Yeah. I suspect its just that I haven't gotten the right combination of undergarments, since I was diving wet in Puget Sound and now I'm diving dry with a Trilam drysuit.
Or, could be I get colder easier now because I'm not acclimated to cold weather like when I lived in WA state? I grew up in Boulder and lived for years in colder states but have been in AZ ( reluctantly, I might add), for 9 years. So, could be that I've become a wuss.
I mainly think its just that I haven't figured out exactly the right undergarments, hood and gloves ( I've been wearing wet gloves) with the drysuit.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

have plenty of warm clothes available, especially windbreakers.

And a hat. Even a baseball cap helps a lot. I think the best are "dork hats": sort of a warm baseball cap with ear flaps like Elmer Fudd and Floyd R Turbo wore.

 

[zf2nt]

The Catch 22 is that she doesn't want to invest in gear until she knows she will enjoy it, and She won't enjoy it if she is cold.

I suffered through precisely the same conundrum with my wife. She didn't want to invest in a dry suit until she knew she would enjoy Pacific diving, and she knew she wouldn't enjoy it if she were cold. I pushed and pushed on this for about 6 months before I convinced her to just close her eyes and whip out the credit card. When she finally got her dry suit, she found she loved diving CA! Today, she dives mostly in a wetsuit because she likes it better. Go figure.

Bruce