The Tampa Bay Times
Water temperatures are now down to 70 degrees and pushing into the 60s. Last weekend the weather was great both above and below the water. We had flat seas, top to bottom visibility gags, hogfish and mangrove snappers hanging out close to shore. In depths from 70’ to 30’ we had nice size representatives of all those fish species. The cold front we experienced this past Tuesday and Wednesday lowered the bottom temperature down to 70 degrees for water in 60’ and less. Most, well made, 3mm to 5mm wetsuits can thermally protect a diver for a day of diving in the 70 degrees and warmer. However, divers with these full wetsuits tend to get uncomfortably chilly below 70 degrees. Instead of buying a new bulky 7mm wetsuit, try adding something to keep your head warm. Your head and neck area loses heat faster than your extremities and core, so keeping them covered makes a big difference on retaining body heat. This time of year, we sell a lot of hoods and hooded vests. The hooded vest is better at keeping the diver warm than just a hood. The hood is tucked in the collar area of a wetsuit top. This set-up allows cold water to go into the wetsuit as the diver swims forward and drives the surrounding cold water into the top of the wetsuit. With a hooded vest, there is no gap at the diver’s neck so the cold the water isn’t driven into the top of the wetsuit. This way the warm water in the wetsuit stays warm and in turn the diver stays warmer.
- Jay Mastry - March 26, 2024
- Captains Corner, Gorta - March 23, 2024
- Dave Zalewski - March 12, 2024
