Puget Sound with 5mm Wetsuit?

[TSandM]

People do dive wet here. Generally only in the summer, when the water is warmer and the air temperatures are better, but they do it. But they generally wear a 7 mm Farmer John type setup (IOW, 14 mm on the torso). I think a 5 mm suit will be very inadequate, and mean very short and not very pleasant dives.

 

[ligersandtions]

I'm not surprised that some people dive wet in the PNW. In fact, I'm not even terribly surprised that some people don't have any issue with the temperature.

I am, however, one of those people who dives dry in 85F water

 

[KaizerWilhelm]

I dive wet here and it's no problem for me. It would be better to rent rather than buy for the next 3 weeks. And yes, I do know that our Diver's Fair was last weekend. It't not that bad. Just bring a cooler full of warm water with you and poor it in your suit between dives.

 

[trevorsg]

For the summer I'm living in Bellevue, but my primary place of residence is Austin, TX.

Not spending a thousand dollars on a dry suit when I'm only here for 2 months.

Anyway, I talked to my instructor and a bunch of other people. My instructor said he knows a guy that dives out in Puget Sound with a 5mm wetsuit all the time. I was perfectly comfortable in a 7mm farmer john wetsuit, so I can't imagine being terribly miserable in 5mm. I do like it cold...

I ended up getting the 5mm (sorry guys ). It will be perfect for any time of year down where I live, and it will be acceptable in many parts of the United States. As I'm a new diver, buying all this equipment at once is kind of breaking the bank, but now I officially own everything I need to dive without bothering the rental fairy, and I'm excited about it!

 

[TSandM]

Well, if you get tired of short dives or uncomfortable dives, there is always Lake Washington!

 

[pnw_diver]

I ended up getting the 5mm (sorry guys ). It will be perfect for any time of year down where I live, and it will be acceptable in many parts of the United States. As I'm a new diver, buying all this equipment at once is kind of breaking the bank, but now I officially own everything I need to dive without bothering the rental fairy, and I'm excited about it!

Promise to come back and let us know how it worked out? I'm actually very curious.

...that is, if you don't freeze to death.

 

[VooDooGasMan]

Trev congrats on 5mm suit probably the most all around suit when travel diving. I dive my 5mm suit here in the summer and yes it does just fine, I hunt and when you feel chilled start kicking a little more or even use your arms to heat yourself, and watch your air when excerting yourself.

Down in cabo a dive called sandfalls is a cold dive at 140' but being at the bottom and going up is a great video. I felt like home diving, cold at depth even at 60' there was cold, got shallower and it warmed up.

Now word of caution Trev, if you get the chills and cant warm, get out and have warm water to warm yourself. There is ways to dive, but hypothermia can set in quickly, to finish a tank of air thinking you be fine, can hit you in a split second. Now that said, dive the **** out of the area while your here, and enjoy the small amount of weight you need to go under.



Happy Diving

 

[trevorsg]

Ok, so I did it! Went up to Mukilteo yesterday and did two dives down to about 60' in my 5mm. On the first dive I started getting a bit cold - especially my hands. Between the dives, I poured warm water down my wetsuit. The second dive, however, was awesome. For whatever reason, I wasn't nearly as cold, and I quite enjoyed it. In fact, I'll be making one more dive before I go back to Texas - a night dive at Alki on Wednesday!