Warm water diving - finally!

[Diving Dubai]

I dive in warm waters all year round. I guess things are relative. Because we have high air temps then in the winter when the water is only 23C it feels cold and I wear a 5/7mm full, 4mm shorty and hood. Even now in June when the water is 32C on the surface and 26C at depth I'm in my 5/7 - although it'll soon be time to go to my 3/5 for the summer. Obviously we have the issue of overheating on the boat, so you learn to kit up fast!

I'd certainly expect to wear a 5mm in the Med. The only way I'd be diving in cold waters would be in a submersible keeping dry with the heater on full and a coffee in my hand. You cold water divers are bonkers Brrrrr

 

[Griffo]

I dive in warm waters all year round. I guess things are relative. Because we have high air temps then in the winter when the water is only 23C it feels cold and I wear a 5/7mm full, 4mm shorty and hood. Even now in June when the water is 32C on the surface and 26C at depth I'm in my 5/7 - although it'll soon be time to go to my 3/5 for the summer. Obviously we have the issue of overheating on the boat, so you learn to kit up fast!

I'd certainly expect to wear a 5mm in the Med. The only way I'd be diving in cold waters would be in a submersible keeping dry with the heater on full and a coffee in my hand. You cold water divers are bonkers Brrrrr

It's what you get used to I guess. I saw expat-locals in Thailand wearing full 5mm suits in water that was 30C (86F) and coming up complaining of being cold.

But yeah, i whinge about the water when it hits 15c (60F) locally. But diving in 37F? Only if it was in the artics

 

[Storker]

I would advise you to check with local divers first before making a decision on what exposure suit to wear in the Med.

That's of course very good advice, and I've thought about that. The diving part of the vacation will be in in Ustica, at the local diving center there. I'm quite confident that they'll be able to rent us appropriate exposure suits together with the other gear we'll be renting.

 

[Storker]

diving in 37F? Only if it was in the artics

It is almost in the arctics: 63 degrees North.

But in cold waters, the viz is just so much better in the winter. Summertime, we usually have 2-5m on the surface and 5-15m below the algal layer, so winter diving is the only opportunity to have 20+ meters of viz and somewhat bluish - instead of deep, murky emerald green - water. So there's some very nice diving before the water warms up, provided you use proper exposure protection:

Plumose anemone, underwater photographer

Underwater meadow

Diver in kelp forest

Kelp stipe

Sea urchin

 

[cutbait81]

Living in Sicily for a few years now and haven't made it over to Ustica. That being said, I am setting out for the weekend to go check it out. Have many friends that have been over and they seem to quite enjoy it.

I am hoping that since it is a National Reserve there will actually be some fish to see as opposed to the east side of Sicily...

Not sure who i'll be diving with at the moment, but I know that Mister Jump has received good marks from some of my mates. Anyway, I'll post what I find after I get back. Happy diving everyone!

PS- The water temp COULD be around 20 C. I won't guess because i've only been diving in Malta yet this season. I'll report back what I pull off my computer. Might want to bring a 3-5mm? Since I won't be Tec diving there, i'll probably just stick with my 3/4mm longjohn worst case.

 

[Panama Jones]

Northen Italy (La Spezia) and south of France June last year. Warmest it got was 60F at depth. Definitely was a full 5mm. I hear it's way better in the South of Italy and South of Spain.

 

[Storker]

It's what you get used to I guess. I saw expat-locals in Thailand wearing full 5mm suits in water that was 30C (86F) and coming up complaining of being cold.

:shocked2:
Yeah, I guess it's what you get used to. We had water temps of 23-24C (73-75F) on the surface and 19-20C (66-68F) below the thermocline, and I felt nice and warm in a 5mm one-piece rental with booties, but no gloves. I didn't stay too long below the thermocline, though, so I guess 21-22C would be my personal limit for prolonged immersion in that suit. The front zipper definitely wasn't waterproof...

Diving in the Mediterranean is quite nice. Warm water, more salty than I'm used to - unlike home I didn't like to have a little water in my mask, it actually stinged my eyes a bit - a lot more interesting fish and a lot less interesting bottom life. I guess the fish bit is because the island had been a marine sanctuary for more than ten years, something the locals claimed was the reason there was so much to see there.

And I'm going through my pictures now, culling all the bad shots and developing the few decent ones. BTW, being able to operate my camera without thick gloves was really appreciated

 

[tracydr]

I dive in warm waters all year round. I guess things are relative. Because we have high air temps then in the winter when the water is only 23C it feels cold and I wear a 5/7mm full, 4mm shorty and hood. Even now in June when the water is 32C on the surface and 26C at depth I'm in my 5/7 - although it'll soon be time to go to my 3/5 for the summer. Obviously we have the issue of overheating on the boat, so you learn to kit up fast!

I'd certainly expect to wear a 5mm in the Med. The only way I'd be diving in cold waters would be in a submersible keeping dry with the heater on full and a coffee in my hand. You cold water divers are bonkers Brrrrr

I've been swimming and diving in our pool daily. It's 96-98 degrees right now! Yesterday, the air temp dropped to 88 because of a storm and we went swimming when it cleared up. I was downright chilly!
I love warm/hot water. When diving in Bonaire I often end up using my 5 ml for later dives each day. That's 80-82 degrees!
My husband wears a shorty and rarely gets chilled.
Of course, we do dive dry anytime we go to CA. I really love my drysuit. I would consider traveling to tropical locations with my drysuit assuming air temp isn't too warm. That's the only bad thing, you can get in and flood your suit to cool off while gearing up. Otherwise, I probably would never dive anything else.