Not yet. Soon. Still too hot to dive dry.
My summer 3 mil O'Neill wetsuit was looking a bit threadbare this summer, so I went ahead and bought a very pretty BARE Reactive 3 mil wetsuit to serve as my summer wetsuit for work.
The first day of diving I really paid dearly for it... The thing is HOT. No, seriously... I almost passed out. I ditched the hood about an hour into the dive (I was working in barnacle-water and needed something to keep the marine life out of my ears), but that didn't help much.
I repeatedly flushed the suit through the neck-hole, but still overheated badly. I don't remember getting out of the water, which is really, really bad. I didn't feel well until the next morning. Heat exhaustion underwater is a very odd thing.
...So for the past couple of months I've been working in my threadbare O'Neill - probably my 100th O'Neill wetsuit since the 1980's. I'm a big fan of O'Neill wetsuits, and they've always served me better than any other suit... Which I always order from Austin's Dive Center in Miami. Can't seem to find them otherwise. O'Neill is a PITA company to deal with... But MAN can they make a nice suit! This BARE Reactive looks to be easily as high quality and as good - if not better - of a fit... But apparently a LOT warmer. A surprise, really, since the O'Neills have always been very warm, cozy wetsuits. I believe BARE's marketing about "cellulant technology" now.
For reference, the water temp was over 90 this summer. That's WAY to warm for a 3 mil BARE Reactive.
I should be able to use the Reactive in a week or two. Meanwhile, I glued a company logo patch on the right shoulder. Kinda a test, really, to see how it'd turn out before I do the same to the XCS2.
...Still a month or two away from being able to dive the XCS2. I may send it out to DUI to have a patch sewn and sealed onto the shoulder, factory-style. I'm not sure how happy I am with the glue job... Or how much confidence I have in it.
