Wetsuit for Cozumel in mid-March?

[hilljo88]

-Consider an inexpensive hood. You lose a lot of heat from your head.

- 2nd and 3rd dives in a day you’ll be colder and 5 mil would likely be comfortable in 80 degrees, although people vary. 3 mil with hood might be equivalent and require less lead weight.

- some exposure protection a good idea for jellies but also scrapes against rocks, etc

 

[Streydog]

I have an old 3mm I usually take, but I throw my skin in since it is easy to pack. I just bought a new Deep 6 3mm suit and I suspect it will dive more like a 5 mm warmth wise. If you are in the market they are definately worth looking at. I'll post a full review after our trip in March.

I'm getting old, and I have a different problem with getting cold. After a surface interval spent warming up in the sun, I tend to cramp horribly on the second dive without a full suit. I love a skin and diving with no weight, but once a cramp starts, it never really goes away.

If you tend to get cold, I'd take a full 3mm. You can always flush it to cool down. There is not much you can do to warm up once your dive has started though.

Good luck, safe travels.
Jay

Hey Jay looking forward for your take on that suite. It looks pretty cool. Make sure you include pictures.

 

[deepsea21]

Bring the 5's. No need to buy 3's or a shortie in my opinion. I've never heard of someone overheating under water in a full 5MM in 80 degree water.

 

[Ripple in still water]

Everybody's cold tolerance is different, but FWIW, I just got back from a week diving in Coz in a new 5-4-3 and I felt just barely warm enough in that suit by the end of the week's diving. Sounds like the temps in mid-march won't be materially different than they were this last week.

 

[Tunaman68]

As had been said, bring your 5mm and you won't be sorry. The more you dive, and the longer you stay the colder you get. Since you are suiting up on the boat and rolling in, it's not the same as hauling your shore diving gear and dying in a thick suit you might not need. If you get warm underwater, just grab the collar and give yourself and nice cool water flood. If you choose a thinner option, you'll want to take a nice jacket for the boat between and after dives, and you'll probably end up borrowing a shortie to put on over your 2mm by the 2nd night dive.

 

[Hatul]

I use 3/2 full suit and it does fine. I see lots of people in shortys.

 

[Rob9876]

Thanks for all of the replies. We'll be diving for 5 days of 2-tank dives, plus a couple of night dives too. Seems like opinions run a wide range of personal preference, from swimsuit & rashguard to 5mm or beyond. I think we will take our 5mm suits and see how that works. We can always take them off and do swimsuit & rashguard if we get too warm.

 

[deepsea21]

Thanks for all of the replies. We'll be diving for 5 days of 2-tank dives, plus a couple of night dives too. Seems like opinions run a wide range of personal preference, from swimsuit & rashguard to 5mm or beyond. I think we will take our 5mm suits and see how that works. We can always take them off and do swimsuit & rashguard if we get too warm.

You won't regret it and I can virtually guarantee you will not overheat in 5MM in 80 degree water. If so, being hot UW is easy to deal with via a flush of cool water into the suit... Being chilled because you didn't bring the 5MM's? There is no quick remedy for that that doesn't cost $.

Remember, your body temp is around 98.6 degrees so whenever you submerge it in water that is colder than that your body is burning energy to maintain that internal temp (and it burns a lot even though you don't feel it). What you wear serves to insulate you and reduces the heat you lose that your body needs to generate and replace to maintain that core temp. In 80, even 85 degree water degree water that seems warm or feels like a bathtub... it is just a matter of time before one gets chilled. Neoprene buys one time and reduces the energy burn to maintain 98.6 degrees. Without any insulation/protection and food/energy source people die in 80 to 85 degree water due to hypothermia. If the water ain't 98.6 degrees, your body is burning energy to maintain your natural body temp.

 

[deepsea21]

I'll even go one further and say overdoing it can be a life preserving safety measure. In the rare case one may get separated from the group, lost in high seas and finds themselves floating in the blue with no boats around search and rescue is going to take time and enough time = hypothermia. Neoprene buys time. Furthermore, a 5MM neoprene suit has a lot of buoyancy to it that can keep one afloat after ditching weights in the event one's BC were to get punctured or leak and can't be used for flotation. Laying on one's back in a full rear-zipper suit one can also grab the neck of the suit and kind of gulp air into it that can be trapped inside and forced down adding more buoyancy. A SMB is also a must have for safe surfacing, visibility, and can serve as another source of buoyancy. Most will succumb to exhaustion treading water and drown without a source of buoyancy before hypothermia gets them. What do they say?... The world record for treading water will never truly be known. On that happy thought...

 

[ggunn]

I'll even go one further and say overdoing it can be a life preserving safety measure. In the rare case one may get separated from the group, lost in high seas and finds themselves floating in the blue with no boats around search and rescue is going to take time and enough time = hypothermia. Neoprene buys time. Furthermore, a 5MM neoprene suit has a lot of buoyancy to it that can keep one afloat after ditching weights in the event one's BC were to get punctured or leak and can't be used for flotation. Laying on one's back in a full rear-zipper suit one can also grab the neck of the suit and kind of gulp air into it that can be trapped inside and forced down adding more buoyancy. A SMB is also a must have for safe surfacing, visibility, and can serve as another source of buoyancy. Most will succumb to exhaustion treading water and drown without a source of buoyancy before hypothermia gets them. What do they say?... The world record for treading water will never truly be known. On that happy thought...

Most of us wear a BCD when we dive so buoyancy at the surface is not a problem.