So you now have your dry suit, comfortable, warm, and moisture wicking undergarment, as well as a proper hood and gloves. Now is the time to get that new kit under the water! Only proper training, guided mentoring and experience will get you off on the right foot for a long, warm, comfortable and safe dry suit diving experience. Adding further options to your dry suit along the road will serve to “supercharge” your dry suit diving experience.
The first thing you need to do before you throw on your dry suit, and giant stride into the cool water is to figure out how you will learn to dive in one. The best and most highly recommended option is to take a dry suit class with a qualified instructor. Not only will you learn how to dive a dry suit through a regimented class with someone qualified to teach dry suit diving, you get the added benefit of obtaining a dry suit diver certification which is required to prove should you ever find yourself having to rent a dry suit. Yes, I understand…you have your own dry suit, why would you ever have to rent one? Well, there may be times when your suit is being repaired or you happen to end up at a dive destination and didn’t bring your suit. Both situations would necessitate renting one. Another option for training, although not as recommended as a formal class would be to find an experienced dry suit diver to mentor you in your dry suit diving. Of course this depends on how experienced you are at diving in general and finding someone willing to mentor you. Just remember, you won’t get that shiny certification needed if you ever needed to rent a dry suit.
Once you have been properly trained and have some hours of dry suit diving under your belt, you may be wondering how you can further enhance your experience. Well, there are a number of additional options to make your time spent underwater just a little bit more “like home”. For starters, do you dive in extra cold water? If so, you may want to consider the added warmth of an Argon inflation system or a heated vest. Both are outstanding options for extending your bottom time in water that most wouldn’t even consider getting close to! Do you do diving that requires extended run times or a decompression obligation? If this is you, the added comfort of a “pee valve” may be something to strongly consider! Do the standard latex seals seem constricting? There are a number of experienced dry suit divers that readily opt for the added comfort of silicone seals.
As you can see, proper training and experience coupled with the right accessories based on your type of diving can only serve to make your already awesome dry suit diving experience even better! Like diving wasn’t cool enough already, with training, experience, and extras….it can be simply amazing!