Water Temps

"Alan Street" <alan@nonono_irsi.com> wrote in message
news:ee4370pgrcd3oogbihrag85h625kmf7btc@4ax.com...
> On Mon, 05 Apr 2004 15:49:06 GMT, <sytech@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> >
> >What's "generally" recognized as warm enough water temperature where a
> >wetsuit isn't required and a bathing suit is enough.
> >
> >I realize that there are quite a few variables but I'd like to get a
> >"general" idea. Several years ago I went to about 100 ft. in the
> >Cayman Islands in a bathing suit and it was getting too cool but we
> >were fine at around 50 ft..
> >
>
>
> In addition to Greg's comments, there's also the experience level of
> the diver. More experienced divers don't expend nearly as much energy
> as newbies, so they tend to get cold faster. It's not uncommon to see
> instructors wearing full wetsuits in the tropics, even with water
> temperatures in the 80s..

Isn't that just as likely because they are doing many more dives, day after
day than those they are teaching?

Alan Street wrote:

> On Mon, 05 Apr 2004 15:49:06 GMT, <sytech@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
>>What's "generally" recognized as warm enough water temperature where a
>>wetsuit isn't required and a bathing suit is enough.
>>
>>I realize that there are quite a few variables but I'd like to get a
>>"general" idea. Several years ago I went to about 100 ft. in the
>>Cayman Islands in a bathing suit and it was getting too cool but we
>>were fine at around 50 ft..
>>
>
>
>
> In addition to Greg's comments, there's also the experience level of
> the diver. More experienced divers don't expend nearly as much energy
> as newbies, so they tend to get cold faster. It's not uncommon to see
> instructors wearing full wetsuits in the tropics, even with water
> temperatures in the 80s..
>
> Alan
>

The other reason the instructors wetsuits is cumulative diving combined
with both Alan's and Greg's comments. The more in the water the cooler
your body starts off at - in a given day.

<sytech@yahoo.com> left this mess on Mon, 05 Apr 2004 15:49:06 GMT for The Way
to clean up:
>
>
>What's "generally" recognized as warm enough water temperature where a
>wetsuit isn't required and a bathing suit is enough.
>
>I realize that there are quite a few variables but I'd like to get a
>"general" idea. Several years ago I went to about 100 ft. in the
>Cayman Islands in a bathing suit and it was getting too cool but we
>were fine at around 50 ft..
>

Anything over 80 and I'm in a speedo. I might even do it at 75 if it's one tank
only and it's really hot topside

Tao te Carl
"It takes a village to have an idiot." - Carl (c) 2003

(Kudos to Cap'n Jim Wyatt for this link) BEFORE you ask a dumb-ass question
here...http://www.speakeasy.org/~neilco/bart.gif

In article <050420041149118343%sytech@yahoo.com>, <sytech@yahoo.com> wrote:
>I realize that there are quite a few variables but I'd like to get a
>"general" idea. Several years ago I went to about 100 ft. in the
>Cayman Islands in a bathing suit and it was getting too cool but we
>were fine at around 50 ft..

I haven't noticed a big difference in temperature in the Caribbean as
you descend. 79-80 is the threshold for me, down to 75 with a 1mm
tight suit. But you can't get a constant answer. Much of the reasons
for me wearing a suit is jellies/picas/sunlight. OTOH, I occasionally
swim in a swimsuit in 50-60 waters.

--
Jason O'Rourke www.jor.com

Grumman-581 wrote:
> "de Valois" wrote ...
>> Anything over 80 and I'm in a speedo. I might even do it at 75 if
>> it's one tank only and it's really hot topside
>
> We used to dive the caves in Florida (72F) without a wetsuits... But
> then again, after hiking through the woods with a set of doubles in
> 95-100F weather, the 72F water felt really good...

I found things to be just the opposite. I knew the back way into Blue
Springs, so there was not a lot of hiking involved. All it took was a bit
of skill at driving in sand to get us and our gear to the hole's edge. In
the summer, I found the water quite cold. In the winter, however,
particularly on winter nights, the water was warmer than the surrounding
air. That's when it felt good to me.

The post dive company of a co-ed beside a blazing fire also felt pretty
good.

Lee

In article <050420041149118343%sytech@yahoo.com>, <sytech@yahoo.com>
wrote:

> What's "generally" recognized as warm enough water temperature where a
> wetsuit isn't required and a bathing suit is enough.
>
> I realize that there are quite a few variables but I'd like to get a
> "general" idea.

I see a lot of people in just diveskins in the 80-84F range, but I won't
get out of my 3mm until its 84F or 85F. Reason being that after 45-60
minutes, if you're not wearing more than a skin, you'll by now be cold.
So as such, a lot depends on the expected dive duration. If its below
75F, I'll probably be in a full 1/4" farmer john.



> Several years ago I went to about 100 ft. in the Cayman Islands
> in a bathing suit and it was getting too cool but we were fine
> at around 50 ft..

What time of year were you there? There are thermoclines in the
Caymans, although their depth varies seasonally...in the late summer,
they're well below 100fsw. Even so, the temperature change is usually
only a few degrees...enough for you to really feel it when you hit a
chilly upwelling coming up through a tube near the wall


-hh

"Lee Bell" wrote ...
> I found things to be just the opposite. I knew the back way into Blue
> Springs, so there was not a lot of hiking involved. All it took was a bit
> of skill at driving in sand to get us and our gear to the hole's edge. In
> the summer, I found the water quite cold. In the winter, however,
> particularly on winter nights, the water was warmer than the surrounding
> air. That's when it felt good to me.

I don't remember there being anywhere you could drive and get close to the
spring head... I believe that we walked in basically where the boardwalk now
exists and although it seemed like we hiked for a mile through the woods, up
and down the gulleys, it probably wasn't more than a half mile...
Considering the gulleys that we hiked through, I don't think that we would
have even tried getting a vehicle through there if we had had a 4x4 at the
time...

Grumman-581 wrote:
> "Lee Bell" wrote ...
>> I found things to be just the opposite. I knew the back way into
>> Blue Springs, so there was not a lot of hiking involved. All it
>> took was a bit of skill at driving in sand to get us and our gear to
>> the hole's edge. In the summer, I found the water quite cold. In
>> the winter, however, particularly on winter nights, the water was
>> warmer than the surrounding air. That's when it felt good to me.
>
> I don't remember there being anywhere you could drive and get close
> to the spring head... I believe that we walked in basically where the
> boardwalk now exists and although it seemed like we hiked for a mile
> through the woods, up and down the gulleys, it probably wasn't more
> than a half mile... Considering the gulleys that we hiked through, I
> don't think that we would have even tried getting a vehicle through
> there if we had had a 4x4 at the time...


Assuming we're talking about the Blue Springs in Orange City, Florida, you
just had to know where thedirt road was. You tuned down one dirt road and
off on to a sand one. We could get the car close enough to leave our
drinks, etc. in the trunk. I knocked the license tag off my buddies car on
that road once. I was diving there from 1966 through around 1971. You did
have to know how to drive in sand. Many a Yankee got stuck trying to travel
that sand road. I haven't a clue who owned the property back then or
when/if the sand road access was closed.

Lee

Grumman-581 left this mess on Mon, 5 Apr 2004 20:54:17 -0500 for The Way to
clean up:
>
>"de Valois" wrote ...
>> Anything over 80 and I'm in a speedo. I might even do it at 75 if it's one
>tank
>> only and it's really hot topside
>
>We used to dive the caves in Florida (72F) without a wetsuits... But then
>again, after hiking through the woods with a set of doubles in 95-100F
>weather, the 72F water felt really good...

Yea, that would do it for me, I know that.

Tao te Carl
"It takes a village to have an idiot." - Carl (c) 2003

(Kudos to Cap'n Jim Wyatt for this link) BEFORE you ask a dumb-ass question
here...http://www.speakeasy.org/~neilco/bart.gif

On Tue, 6 Apr 2004 22:14:35 -0500, "Grumman-581"
<grumman581-YYYY-MM@cox.net> wrote:

>"Lee Bell" wrote ...
>> Assuming we're talking about the Blue Springs in Orange City, Florida, you
>> just had to know where thedirt road was. You tuned down one dirt road and
>> off on to a sand one. We could get the car close enough to leave our
>> drinks, etc. in the trunk. I knocked the license tag off my buddies car
>on
>> that road once. I was diving there from 1966 through around 1971. You
>did
>> have to know how to drive in sand. Many a Yankee got stuck trying to
>travel
>> that sand road. I haven't a clue who owned the property back then or
>> when/if the sand road access was closed.
>
>Yep, same Blue Springs... I was there back around 1981 when I was stationed
>in Orlando... We didn't know about any road that got close to it... If we
>had, we probably would have ended up stuck anyway... <grin>
>
>Whatever happened to that really large sink hole that developed in Winter
>Park around that time? It swallowed part of a car dealership, if I remember
>correctly... Did it develop into a cave dive site or just end up another
>circular lake?
>

I'll bet it has some interesting wrecks. Although the dealer will
probably claim they were all in mint condition.
--
dillon

Life is always short, but only you can make it sweet