What to wear to the boat

[Fish in a Barrel]

I'm going on my first real excursion in a couple of weeks. I'll be down in Cozumel, and this will be my first time diving from a boat. I'll be on a relatively small boat, diving in a full 3/2 wetsuit.

So what do you wear onto the boat? Obviously I don't want be wearing the wetsuit that early. Should I just wear a pair of swim trunks and put the suit on over that? Or what about wearing my 1mm skin, with a pair of shorts over that so I don't feel completely naked?

I already know that speedos are a no-no.

 

[The Kraken]

First of all, forget the "what looks cool" or "what is stylish" aspect.

If the seas are going to be choppy, don the bottom half of your wet suit before the boat leaves the dock.

Just use your brain and try to think of all of the issues which may plague you when you get close to the dive site.

the K

 

[warmwaterturner]

I usually wear my dive shorts a t-shirt and my hat. Anything else just gets soaked. Oh, and my flip flops

 

[Dirty-Dog]

I wear a pair of swim shorts under whatever suit I'm wearing. In warm water, it's likely to be just a dive skin (because I don't like the BC rubbing on bear skin, and it protects from accidental contact with scratchy things). I'll generally put the skin/wetsuit on and leave it unzipped, or if that's too warm I'll pull it down to my waist. I might wear flip flops if I'm walking far, but otherwise I just pull on my booties.

I scare people by saying I'm wearing a speedo, but mine are swim shorts, not the banana hammock type.

 

[knowone]

What's wrong with a banana hammock under a wetsuit unless you are
free balling?

 

[Fish in a Barrel]

Is it difficult to pull the wetsuit on over shorts? Where I normally dive there's a locker room, so I just go commando under my skin and 7mm wetsuit.

I hadn't even considered that there are specialty dive shorts. In retrospect that should have been obvious.

 

[ringmod65]

Recently returned from Coz and was glad that I wore my 3mm on the boat for the simple reason that every site dived was no more than ten minutes from the dock.

 

[Rythmmaker]

Actually, I think I figured out why Jacques Cousteau always wore a speedo - try getting a pair of the freakin' board shorts they sell these days for swim suits under a dive skin or 1 mm without it looking and feeling ridiculous!

I look for a pair of lined, nylon running shorts to wear under my wetsuit. I don't look as good in the speedo AKA "banana hammock" as those skinny french dudes did on tv. (Jus' sayin')

Get yourself a medium-sized dry bag to use to keep your towel and T-shirt dry for the ride back to the dock.

 

[knowone]

Commando under a skin? Yuk.

Commando under anything = to much testicular movement squeezing pinching.

YUK.

 

[Johnny Mojo]

+1 on the swim shorts and t-shirt. I wear a full 3mm and it's no problem to get on over those. I think the swim suit is Tommy Bahama. The running shorts are a good idea though.

Just returned from St. Thomas where the dive sites were a relatively short ride. As they were tying up to the bouy, I had plenty of time to get into my wetsuit. I had a mesh bag but just put my t-shirt in my mask case to keep it dry. A lot of times, boats will have a "dry spot" up front for anything you want to keep dry and offer it (depending on size). Otherwise, just throw a couple of gallon zip-lock bags in your dive gear and use as necessary.

Have a good trip!