Ultra Cold Water diving

[BFRedrocks]

Hi there, I just booked a dive liveaboard in Antarctica for December 2021. I am now in the market for a new drysuit for this trip as well as coldwater diving off Vancouver island where I now live. Are there any specific features that would be beneficial for the ultra coldwater diving of Antarctica that I should keep in mind?

Also same question for Regs, I have 2 sets of regs a pair of Sidemount Deep 6 regulators as well as a set of Zeagle Envoy II for my backmount set. They are all environmentally sealed but don't have much for heat sinks. Will those work for Antarctica as well?

I dove in Antarctica this past February right before everything shut down. Water was 31 - 36 degrees F and I was toasty warm in a Santi E.Lite Plus drysuit and a heated BZ400 Santi undergarment and heated gloves. Without going into all the details as it seems other folks have provided most of them, one thing to point out is that yes, you need to have environmentally sealed regs, but they need to be DIN style and not yoke style. We dove with two first stages and two second stages on essentially an h-valved single tank...and both first stages need to be DIN. I dove with Atomic M1 regs and they worked great.

Feel free to PM me if you have more detailed questions.

 

[DK_Scuba]

Awesome thanks everyone, looks like I'l be looking for a heated vest to add to my undergarments at the very least and ill talk to my local dive shops in more details for hoods/gloves once i begin diving regularly of Canada's coast as well.

As for cold tolerance I am generally very good in the cold as I take part in mountaineering objectives in the Canadian rockies throughout the year as well. However I'm not taking any chances as I head to Antarctica haha

 

[DK_Scuba]

I dove in Antarctica this past February right before everything shut down. Water was 31 - 36 degrees F and I was toasty warm in a Santi E.Lite Plus drysuit and a heated BZ400 Santi undergarment and heated gloves. Without going into all the details as it seems other folks have provided most of them, one thing to point out is that yes, you need to have environmentally sealed regs, but they need to be DIN style and not yoke style. We dove with two first stages and two second stages on essentially an h-valved single tank...and both first stages need to be DIN. I dove with Atomic M1 regs and they worked great.

Feel free to PM me if you have more detailed questions.

Great to know! All my regulators are DIN so that at least will help keep the cost of all this a bit lower. I'm sure i'll have more questions coming up so I'll DM you if anything comes up. Thanks!

 

[Bald Wookie]

Hi there, I just booked a dive liveaboard in Antarctica for December 2021. I am now in the market for a new drysuit for this trip as well as coldwater diving off Vancouver island where I now live. Are there any specific features that would be beneficial for the ultra coldwater diving of Antarctica that I should keep in mind?

Also same question for Regs, I have 2 sets of regs a pair of Sidemount Deep 6 regulators as well as a set of Zeagle Envoy II for my backmount set. They are all environmentally sealed but don't have much for heat sinks. Will those work for Antarctica as well?

Hey Buddy

I'm over in Newfoundland, and we get water temps similar to the Arctic/Antarctic throughout the year. In Feb I was diving -1.5*C Sea Surface temp with ice on top. I know a few people that have done training here prior to Antarctic/Arctic diving.

We recommend Apeks and Poseidon regs, they have been extremely successful here with a lower freezing rate than other regulators. DIN is the best, and also environmentally sealed. That being said, most will work, but why take the risk? The regs are designed for the cold water diving. The shop here also works on many of the commercial scuba groups (Salmon, Urchin divers, etc) regs.

As far as drysuit - I know people love their trilams, but in the water here nothing beats Neoprene suits. Almost everyone here is diving 4mm compressed neoprene Abyss suits. If you spring a leak, you can easily fix. They have their own thermal insulation, and you can wear undergarments underneath without the need for heated undergarments. Boots are way better than drysuit socks + drysuit booties. The suit will also be great for Vancouver island - the temps are similar to what we're diving in the NL summer and we still use the neoprene suits. Neoprene seals are great for the neck, the wrists are up to you. Quick cuffs are great if you want latex seals (easy to change in a pinch), otherwise get neoprene seals - a dab of aquaseal and you fix a hole/rip, and they're warmer on your wrist.
For gloves - either pullover dry gloves (all the systems leak - pullovers are easy, cheap, and work just as well) or neoprene mitts (Not the 5-fingers).

Hope this helps buddy! If you have any more cold water Qs send me a DM

 

[tursiops]

typically in 28 degree water

Not likely. It would have to be quite salty to have the freezing point depressed that much, and you won't find that in New England...or anywhere that water is that cold. Unless you are rounding down; seawater would normally freeze at 28.4F. But, I agree, 28 sounds better than 28.4...like Antarctica.

 

[tursiops]

Hi there, I just booked a dive liveaboard in Antarctica for December 2021. I am now in the market for a new drysuit for this trip as well as coldwater diving off Vancouver island where I now live. Are there any specific features that would be beneficial for the ultra coldwater diving of Antarctica that I should keep in mind?

Also same question for Regs, I have 2 sets of regs a pair of Sidemount Deep 6 regulators as well as a set of Zeagle Envoy II for my backmount set. They are all environmentally sealed but don't have much for heat sinks. Will those work for Antarctica as well?

I used DiveRite regs, an Ocean Concepts trilam (neoprene neck seal, integrated hood) with Weezle Extreme Plus underwear, and dry gloves; fine for 45-50 mins, then the cold started to seep in. The lips got numb right away. We were all ice-certified.