Littlerayray
Contributor
You brits aren't the only crazies out there us canucks love the cold ice diving provides some of the clearest and most exotic diving out there
What's the coldest water temp you will wetsuit in??
- Thread starter garydemos
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ive done 4 dives over 2 days this week in 46F water and felt cozy with a 6 mil shorty underneath a 7-6-5 full with hood and gloves. Each dive was about an hour long.
First day it was snowing above and second it was sunny but windy so the surfacing and changing was not as comfortable...
First day it was snowing above and second it was sunny but windy so the surfacing and changing was not as comfortable...
While living in Maine that was our routine, prime wetsuit with warm water, not to hot and avoid getting a flush of water in the wetsuit. Could do about 40 minutes or so and still do a second dive in 45-50 degree water. Coldest we hit was around 40 in April with the run off at 60feet and definitely had to pay attention to how we felt and did not do a second dive. But man was it worth it. Oh and that was a 5MM with hooded vest and 5MM gloves and boots.
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Of course, air temperature, wind, etc. can be as big a factor as water temperature. I did two shore dives in Mass. a few years back in my shorty in 56F water. No problem warming up in between in July with 90F air temperatures.
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That might be about my limit as well--but for one dive only and on a decent weather day.
Littlerayray
Contributor
Littlerayray
Contributor
I'm going diving today in the st Lawrence
It's supposed to snow (I'm diving dry) I'll let you guys know how cold the water is considering it's only around 1 degree air temp
It's supposed to snow (I'm diving dry) I'll let you guys know how cold the water is considering it's only around 1 degree air temp
HalcyonDaze
Contributor
Back in my Puget Sound days I was too poor to afford a drysuit or training to use one, so I went with a 2-piece 6.5 mil semidry, 6.5 mil boots, and 5 mil gloves. In the winter I'd bulk that up with a 5 mil vest and hood stuffed in between those two layers and snorkel socks under the boots. Often times I'd at least get the lower layer of the 6.5 semidry donned before I left my apartment or the dive shop so I wouldn't have to strip down to my trunks in the parking lot. I felt very much like the little kid in A Christmas Story.
Coldest water I ever dove in Puget Sound was probably 45 degrees F; I could either manage a pair of 45-minute dives or one 90-minute shallow dive and then I was done for the day. I remember after one winter night dive on Alki Beach while I was waiting for the GUE folks to finish all their post-dive checks I stayed in the water rather than exit into the snow flurries. Afterwards I dashed to my car like I was storming Normandy Beach and was half out of my suit by the time the drysuit folks plodded by and warned me that running after diving was bad for bubble formation. If I had possessed the mental capacity to reply I would have said the ice in my blood was probably keeping the bubbles down.
Perhaps the most memorable incident was one Memorial Day weekend when I was setting up to dive the Pipeline and realized I had left my gloves at home; rather than spend 90 minutes to drive back and get them I said to hell with it and suited up. My hands went numb before we got under and by the end of the 1-hour dive they were completely paralyzed; I couldn't unclip my SPG or operate the buttons on my dive computer. At that point we decided a second dive was inadvisable.
About a year of that insanity was enough to convince me I needed to move back to South Florida.
Coldest water I ever dove in Puget Sound was probably 45 degrees F; I could either manage a pair of 45-minute dives or one 90-minute shallow dive and then I was done for the day. I remember after one winter night dive on Alki Beach while I was waiting for the GUE folks to finish all their post-dive checks I stayed in the water rather than exit into the snow flurries. Afterwards I dashed to my car like I was storming Normandy Beach and was half out of my suit by the time the drysuit folks plodded by and warned me that running after diving was bad for bubble formation. If I had possessed the mental capacity to reply I would have said the ice in my blood was probably keeping the bubbles down.
Perhaps the most memorable incident was one Memorial Day weekend when I was setting up to dive the Pipeline and realized I had left my gloves at home; rather than spend 90 minutes to drive back and get them I said to hell with it and suited up. My hands went numb before we got under and by the end of the 1-hour dive they were completely paralyzed; I couldn't unclip my SPG or operate the buttons on my dive computer. At that point we decided a second dive was inadvisable.
About a year of that insanity was enough to convince me I needed to move back to South Florida.
Hoag
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In most cases, about 75 degrees. To get me in the water any colder than that, there had better be something very impressive. (I did go in water in the "high 60's" at Isla Guadalupe to see the Great Whites.)
In general though, any time the water is colder than about 75, and I'm at the beach bar with a margarita.
In general though, any time the water is colder than about 75, and I'm at the beach bar with a margarita.
Littlerayray
Contributor
Well I dove in approx 30 feet water at 36 f in my drysuit with my sitech qcp dry gloves i was toasty warm my budy who was in a tri lam with lobster gloves was colder then me
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