Dry Suit Diving

Cold lake diving in Sheridan, Wyoming with 5 and 7mm wetsuits. 

If there is one thing I was really looking forward to doing in Ketchikan, it was cold water ocean diving in a drysuit.

Ocean water of Ketchikan

For the last five years, David and I have been diving in wetsuits, which allow water to come in to the suit. This layer of water is warmed by body heat from the skin and acts as an OK insulator. Cold water is still cold, and it doesn't take long for this insulator to become useless. The appeal to dry suits is that you get to wear warm insulating layers under a dry suit that keeps all water completely out through closed footies, a neck seal and arm seals. You can stay pretty comfortable for a long time in cold water.

I have a loving relationship with jellies. 

The Pacific Ocean on the coast of Southeast Alaska has some pretty neat stuff to see that rivals the life under water in warmer oceans, supposedly. Nudibranchs, red giant octopus, rockfish, cool things I've never heard of, and lots of jellies.
I was stoked, and a little bit nervous. After all, the water is still cold, a bit darker, and I had no idea what to expect with dry suit diving. It all seemed a bit more complex.

Cold lake water diving. Might be more comfortable with drysuits, but can be accomplished with wetsuits for short dives. 5mm wetsuit, Buoyancy control device (BCD, vest looking thing), regulator, back up regulator for buddy breathing, compass/computer by my left hand, mask in right hand, BCD inflator hose on left shoulder, boots, aluminum cylinder on back. Easy. 

I would say I'm the type of diver who is confident in my skills but can be several steps away from totally losing it underwater with mild claustrophobia and the thought of all the silent ways I could die. I suppose this might make me a safer diver, because you never want to be without caution. On one dive in particular, I thought I lost my buddy (David) and down 60 feet began to think about all the horrible things that might have happened to him, including death. I searched for him the prescribed one minute, and decided to surface hoping he had done the same. Before ascending straight up to the surface, I had to stop at 15 feet of depth for a full 3 minute safety stop. I stayed calm. I focused on what I needed to do. I thought in great detail about not panicking. As soon as I surfaced and got on the boat, I did all the things I was holding off on doing- crying, worrying, searching. Eventually (obviously), he surfaced with another dive buddy who had pulled him away to look at a cool, rare, frog fish. I was so pissed. Point of story: I can stay calm and focused when I need to.
We skipped on down to the dive shop on our first day in Ketchikan and got started with all the necessary materials and information we would need for learning how to dive in dry suits. I felt like a brand new diver, with the sense of the whole world opening up to me while having a feeling of overwhelming dread with all I had to learn. That, and how expensive it would be if we wanted to purchase our own drysuits. Regardless, we were so excited and got to our studies immediately.

Insulation layer that goes under drysuit. Under this layer is a layer of synthetic underthings such as a long sleeve shirt and pants that wick away any moisture from the skin.

We read our books, had our class, learned a lot and took our tests. This was going to be amazing! When we finally got our rental gear figured out (suits, understuff, new whip on our regulators for the suit, socks, hoods, gloves, etc) we headed to the pool to try it all out. Moving around was a little tough and it took a little while to get used to this new endeavor, but overall, I liked it. The max depth of the pool was 13 feet, and we had lots of room to spread out and discover this new form of diving. We had several skills we had to be checked off on and I felt they were all easy and doable. No problems.
Two weeks later, we were gearing up for the ocean dive. We would need two dives lasting at least 20 minutes in order to get our certification. I never dreaded anything more, which I couldn't understand since the pool dives had gone so well. I could think of only three reasons for this: the ocean was cold, dark and the suit gave me an inability to move well.

Checklist:
Steel tanks X2 (heavy)
Long underware
Insulation layers
2 pairs of Smartwool socks
7 mm gloves
5 mm hoodie
Boots
Dry suit
Dry suit whip
Fins
Mask
Regulator
Buoyancy Control Device (BCD)
34 pounds of weight
Dive computer

David on the right, instructor on the left in Ketchikan. 

So, the trick is, put on the dry suit, then crouch down while opening the neck seal to let all the air out: now try to move. I felt VERY constricted. Try putting a thick bag on your hand and submerging it in water. Its like that, I think. The thing about neck and hand seals is that they work really well, which also means that they are very tight. You want them tight, to a degree. I didn't like the feeling of having something that tight around my neck. So, we geared up with everything on (and the 34 pounds of weights, 8 of which were around my ankles) and walked 1/8th of a mile down to the shore to get in. When the suit got even more tight by being in the water, I was faced with the task of putting on my fins. I couldn't bend or move, so the instructor and David helped me. I was to lay face up in the water and give them my feet. First time, I forgot to air up my BCD, put my regulator in my mouth or put my mask on, so I sank, got salt water in my eyes and mouth. Second time I forgot my regulator so I drank some more ocean water. Eventually we got them on.
Immediately upon descent we saw some cool sea life which I have never heard of before. After that, the rest of the dive was full of me trying to stay calm and remember everything while my mask relentlessly kept flooding. I do remember for certain looking out and seeing a whole world of jellyfish.

Moon jellies at aquarium that accurately depict what I saw in Ketchikan waters. 

Here's a glimpse into my mind and thoughts during the dive:
My ears hurt. Oh yeah, clear them. Not working. Keep trying. Ah, better.

Where's David? I'm supposed to keep track of him, and him, me. Look back (flood mask, try to clear it). Crap. There he is.

Suit's tight. (Short puff of air). That feels better. I think we're getting the hang of this!

Shoot, I'm too high, David and instructor are lower and I need to get to them. (suit starts pulling me quickly to the surface!). Umm... oh yeah, purge valve, PURGE AIR NOW! (trying to reach valve on left shoulder with constricted right arm). Crap... turn it clockwise? Counterclockwise? Which way!?
Lift left arm toward surface and press purge valve, worry about venting later! (Do that, it works)

(Descend to David). Jelly! Now the suit is too tight. I think I'll add some air to it. Hmm, but I don't want to float away. I'll just deal with it. Ouch. K, a little air won't hurt.

Ears hurt. Don't forget to clear them. Focus, do it right. Its not worth it to be so distracted that you destroy your tympanic membrane. (Pinch nose, blow. Mask floods. Clear it)

Neck seal is tight. My chest feels tight from the suit. I guess I now know what suit squeeze feels like. It sucks. (Two quick puffs of air into the suit). (Fidget with purge valve on suit). Clockwise? Counterclockwise? I wish I could remember this. I think its counter...

(Foot cramp). Should have had a banana this morning. This hurts. Hopefully the dive is almost over. (Mask floods).

Can't see, too dark. I'll pull out my flashlight. Don't drop it. You can't focus on a light now, you have no dexterity with these gloves. You'll drop it and David will be sad. (Fumbles with light for a while). Put it away. (Get it back in pouch). Zip it. (Done).Can't see. Too dark.

This all continued until we finally ascended after approximately 20 minutes. I was so happy to be done. The dive was a lot of work! We trudge back up to the parking lot with all of our gear on and I started taking it off. I was so tired. It wasn't the hardest thing I had done, but I decided that it was not something I wanted to do again. I dreaded the second dive required for certification. I thought David and I were on the same page about it, but he decided to go forward with a second dive after changing in to some warmer insulation. I was told that if I ever wanted to come back and finish the second dive at a later date, the instructors would be happy to let me do it. I felt certain that I would never change my mind, so I went ahead and took off my BCD, weights, suit, understuff and relaxed in the car for the next half hour while David proceeded with his certification. He had a great second dive where he was much warmer and went down to 103 feet, seeing some really cool stuff.
No regrets. Cold water, dry suit diving is just not my thing.

Warm, clear waters of Cozumel.

Wet suit diving in Cozumel.