Women divers in Pacific NW

[seakdivers]

Well I have to disagree a bit about getting your cert in your wetsuit first. If you get cold easy, you will be really cold in a wetsuit in the Seattle area.
Coming from a cold water area, I've seen too many people give up diving because of ill fitting/ wrong gear and equipment.

You really want to be comfortable on your first couple of OW dives.

Just my opinion of course!

 

[Ber Rabbit]

If you're diving in a wetsuit wear a bikini or tankini under it, a one piece can be a big pain.

When do you take the stuff off:
Between dives you can peel down the top half of the suit and put on as many layers of clothing as you need to stay warm. I prefer a polar fleece top and something to block the wind, a duster length coat works well. They do make scuba specific long coats to wear over your wetsuit between dives. A warm hat and mittens are also nice to have when you get out of that cold water.
At the end of the day pull off your wetsuit and change out of your bathing suit wherever you feel comfortable doing so. If you pay attention at a dive site you can be stark naked for a short period when no one is looking. I often quickly change out of my suit top and into a shirt with a whole herd of divers nearby and they never notice. (Tech divers are my favorite, they are so engrossed with their gear that you can walk around stark naked for 20 minutes and they'll never notice )I then put a skirt on over the bottoms before removing them and slipping into panties. Yoga pants and bouldering pants are great for diving, easy on/off and some are pretty warm too.

The best investment I made for my shore diving was an indoor/outdoor rug/doormat. It's nice to have something to stand on in your bare feet while changing, just don't stomp all over it with your muddy/sandy booties. I've also used a carpet remnant/carpet car floormat but it absorbs water and if you don't let them hang to dry completely they get gross. Bring an extra one for your buddy otherwise they might take over yours Sure beats trying to stand on a picnic table to get dressed.

Hair is another issue, if you have medium or long hair get a spray-in conditioner for the post-dive day brushing. Hair does funky things under hoods and the conditioner makes fast work of dive knots.

If you do dive wet get a hooded vest instead of a regular hood, you'll be warmer. Three-fingered gloves are nice too, you lose some dexterity but if your hands are freezing in five-finger gloves you don't have any dexterity anyway. You would be surprised how much nicer cold water diving is when your hands are warm.

Hope this helps!
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[Doc Intrepid]

Well I have to disagree a bit about getting your cert in your wetsuit first. If you get cold easy, you will be really cold in a wetsuit in the Seattle area. Coming from a cold water area, I've seen too many people give up diving because of ill fitting/ wrong gear and equipment. You really want to be comfortable on your first couple of OW dives.

I dive a lot over by Hoodsport, Sund Rock, etc. Can't count the number of times I've seen shivering female students standing on the shore freezing their buns off, looking like they're not having any fun at all! Certainly not all women respond that way, but if you tend to get cold fast at least check out drysuits. Most women find them much warmer in the water, and the undressing afterwards is much more comfortable also because you're already dry and in polarfleece (or whatever) when you get out of the drysuit.

Drysuits are often more expensive than high-quality wetsuits, but not always. Ebay is your friend! (Guess how many women got into diving because of a boyfriend, realized they weren't happy (with either) and dumped both?) Also, keep an eye on sites that are selling new suits at discounts for one reason or another. (Additionally, one of my female friends fits nicely into a mens drysuit and undergarment - it all depends on how you're built. Often drysuits are pretty 'unisex' in cut.) Here is DUI's factory discount page (DUI is a well-known maker of drysuits, but there are also others):
http://www.dui-online.com/fr.htm

Xarifa said it best. When you're freezing, you're not paying attention to much else except the fact that you're freezing. Funtime's over.

 

[SubMariner]

:hideing_b :hideing_b :hideing_b Thanks to all who reply.
I was hoping to get cert with the wetsuit and then get the training on the dry suit.

It's not a big deal to do your training in a drysuit. All it takes is a little more instruction time in the pool/confined water. Same with open water. Then voila! You get certified in your drysuit.

As someone who dove wet in TGWN until Divemaster Candidate, I can tell that as soon as I went dry my only regret was that I didn't do it from the start!

Talk to your Instructor; you should be able to work in drysuit training just fine.

Bonne chance,

 

[cyklon_300]

in OR and WA and my first 120 dives there were in a 6mm 2-pc wetsuit...about 110 of those were uncomfortably cold after about 20 min.

Get a drysuit, it's the right tool for the job.

 

[ScubaJewel]

If you can stand it I would suggest doing at least 50 dives in a wetsuit before switching to a drysuit.

Mastering diving is much easier in a wetsuit than a drysuit and the extra warmth is simply not worth becoming overwhelmed by the buoyancy characteristics of a drysuit.

I have seen this happen so many times with my students!

Julie

 

[SubMariner]

If you can stand it I would suggest doing at least 50 dives in a wetsuit before switching to a drysuit.

Mastering diving is much easier in a wetsuit than a drysuit and the extra warmth is simply not worth becoming overwhelmed by the buoyancy characteristics of a drysuit.

I have seen this happen so many times with my students!

Julie

Respectfully, this just isn't the case. It is SOP in The Great Lakes, East/West Coast of N Am, the UK, New Zealand, etc. for students to do their OW courses in drysuits.

Not only is the extra training time negligible, but the benefits are immense when you consider that instead of a cold, shivering diver with limited attention span you have a warm, happy diver who is enjoying the u/w world.

It's like learning to drive standard vs. automatic transmission: if you start out driving that way, you don't know the difference. Also, if you decide to switch to an automatic later on, it's very easy to do.

Pax,

 

[otterear]

OKay gang, thanks for all of your advice. Mucho apreciated.
I will be doing the OW dive in a wetsuit, then I will get training for a dry suit then do OW dive with it.
Frankly the idea of floating upside down in a dry suit is a little unnerving. I can picture that very well. and with my luck thats the first thing that will happen. ;-)
Plus I do have buoyancy issues with just being in the pool that I need to work on before even thinking about dry suitting. Its either I float on top or I crash when I get close to the bottom. I WILL GET the HANG of this. It's just I spent most of my life keeping my head ABOVE water that now I have to tease the ole mind thats its OK to go under.
I'm just a newbie and all this is brand new to me...
Thanks again.
Newbie scubie.

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Frankly the idea of floating upside down in a dry suit is a little unnerving. I can picture that very well. and with my luck thats the first thing that will happen. ;-)

Actually the upside down floating isn't so bad, I spent more than one drysuit dive in that position :biggrin: I just picture myself as a trumpetfish relaxing and gently bobbing along (I don't bother kicking), it's really kind of therapeutic unless your head gets a little close to the bottom
Ber :lilbunny: