Roatan on March 6th

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.... I found the shop I booked with had all the answers that I needed because of my lack of "local knoldge"....

Local knowledge consists of but one thing: the current water temp.

The rest is simply not "local", it is experiential.... available from your historical record of logged dives.

If you are new at this, that's okay- but you should ask the dive shop if they can rent you thermal gear after providing them with your size and weight.

If they told you what thermal protection that you would need, they were just making it up as they went. But they have to- when a question beyond "what will the water temps be?" is asked, you have to understand the situation that drives the question.

No one likes the only real answer: 82°. Based on your experience and the number of dives that you will be doing, you'll have to decide.

Many West End visitors do two or three a day, maybe 1 night dive in a week. Last week, I did 4x a day plus a night dive, that is 5 times in one day, X5 days... all I wore was swim trunks. My wife wore her 5/3 all week long, she did way fewer dives, sometimes she wore a beanie.

Same species, different needs. Go figure.

.... I would find out what shops RTB DIVER and RoatanMan are affiliated with and stay clear of them.

No dive shop would have either of us. Besides, fishingmatty, you did your dive experience on Roatan via a cruise ship. I'm sure the dive-op had every answer for everything that a day-diver might ask. That's what they are best at. I would imagine that you got in two dives. When you stay (anywhere) for a week and do repetitive dives, your log-booked experiences will change dramatically.

What we all learn only over time as life historical experiences might just be perceived as "attitude" when expressed in truthful terms. There are imponderables in life.

.... There are plenty of great dive shops available without the attitude!

If only that were the case. In the subset of retail that is the dive industry, it is worldwide and almost universally, not within that "without that attitude" descriptor. Every one of them is better than the next, and the cruise-ship dive-ops is the bestest of them all.
 
I was at CoCo View (south-side) in December. Did an average of 5 dives/day with a 3/2 shorty. Keep in mind I'm 240# and have a bit of the polar-bear thing working for me. Mind you ...I also took my White's drysuit (just for fun) and dove it 2x without collapsing from heat exhaustion. Many divers on my boat were in full 3mm suits, while the DMs were in t-shirts and board shorts. I think RoatanMan is right on the money....what's the water temperature, and how frequently are you diving? I found that my shorty would be somewhere between dry and slightly damp if I let it hang in the sun/wind in between dives 2 and 3 (over lunch) for about 2 hours, so it's not like putting on a soaking wet exposure suit for each dive. I also found that wearing a dry runner's t-shirt under the shorty added to the comfort if the wetsuit wasn't fully dry for repetitive dives. Enjoy Roatan!!
 
Man it's nuts how a simple question can lead to such bull****.
Not really when it starts with a bulsh!t question. Who with over a hundred dives would ask what to wear rather than what temps are? Don't they already know everyone is different?
 
Man it's nuts how a simple question can lead to such bull****.

Not really when it starts with a bulsh!t question.

Profanity is the refuge of the inarticulate mother ******.
 
I dove the west end 9 days ago, 2 dives and used a bathing suit and rash gaurd. I'm used to bottom temps in the mid 50's though. I had never dove the warm waters of the Carribean. I found the shop I booked with had all the answers that I needed because of my lack of "local knoldge". And as an aside, I would find out what shops RTB DIVER and RoatanMan are affiliated with and stay clear of them. There are plenty of great dive shops available without the attitude!

I have pretty much stayed off of this forum due to the Ahole-I-know-more-than-you comments like the ones make by these guys!
 
Not affiliated with any shop, no need to be. While home in Florida I dive from my boat, while at my home on Roatan I dive off my steps or beach

Wow, you must be so wonderful!
 

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