WHY DIVE DRY?

The in their simple answer is because you stay warm. Or should we remind you of the Pacific’s kelp forests and the magic fronds, or Maine’s tidal passages and their mother lode of invertebrates, or America’s most historic intact wrecks—all below the thermocline.

But drysuits aren’t just for Great Lake gorillas, Florida cave jockeys and mid-Atlantic wreck divers anymore. The current thinking is any diving that increases thermal loss, thereby decreasing comfort and safety, may be done better in a drysuit. This includes long dives in warm water, deep diving, dives that involve little movement (i.e., photography or marine life study) and repetitive diving, especially if you tend to chill easily.

Hard, Cold Facts
Water draws heat from your body 25 times faster than air. The colder you are, the more at risk you become for hypothermia, out-of-air emergencies (cold divers use air faster) and decompression sickness (a 30% higher risk when chilled). Stay dry and you stay warm.

With its system of zippers, attached boots, and seals at the neck and wrists, a drysuit keeps virtually all water out, leaving you surrounded by a cushion of air that your body warms to toasty levels. In other words, a drysuit is like a raincoat. It keeps you dry and allows you to adjust what you wear underneath depending on the outside temperature.

The Solution
So, if you want true thermal comfort while diving, if you want to stay warm the entire dive, not just non hypothermic, but doggone-it, downright toasty, you’ve got basically two choices: become a short-legged flightless bird from Antarctica—or buy a drysuit.

The latter is what more and more div-ers, regardless of the water temp, are doing. Along with the increased recognition of a drysuit’s value have come a number of technical improvements. With a wide range of styles available for every budget, why aren't you diving dry?

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