Cold Water Scuba Diving
Develop Dive Skills, See Clearly, Avoid Crowds and Save Money
The merits of scuba diving in cold water for those not quite sure they want to take the plunge!
You would be amazed at the number of people who think cold water diving is the height of stupidity. However, unless you are blessed to live in the tropics, up to nine months of your year have somewhat intemperate climates where the temperatures (at least at night) drop to near or below freezing. These cold temperatures and various other factors such as solar input cause local lakes, quarries and other bodies of water to go to waste.
Cold water diving develops skills. Diving in 80 degree Fahrenheit water is easy. Diving in 40 degree Fahrenheit water requires you to really think about your gear, your exposure suit and keeping warm, making you a more attentive and aware diver. You also get to try out semi-dry and dry suits.
For lakes and quarries cold water is clear water. In Lake Lanier in Georgia, USA, in the summer the water temperatures can reach 70+ above the thermocline below the thrermocline they can be closer to 60 - easily doable with a 3mm or a 5mm wetsuit. In these warm waters the loading of fertilizer from the nearby communities causes a very healthy algae bloom resulting in a dive visibility comparable to split-pee soup (maybe 5 foot above the thermocline, maybe 10-15 below the thermocline). In the winter time the temperature can drop to 43, which is definitely dry suit range, however visibility widens out to 20 or more feet.
Dive sites aren’t crowded. Given the outright fear instilled in the hearts of fair weather divers at the mere mention of cold water, you have little competition for the cold water dive sites.
Cold water diving makes you appreciate a hot tub. Even though you may dive in a dry suit, soaking in a nice hot tub afterwards is great. A dry suit keeps you dry when you dive and you usually wear long underwear of some sort with them, while, as its name implies, a wetsuit allows a bit of water to get right up next to your skin. For wetsuit divers the first ten minutes and anytime spent out of the water after the initial dunking allows evaporative cooling and a bit of a breeze and you get diver cool pops.
Cold water diving is cheaper. Driving to the nearest warm water at current gas prices can run up the gas bill. Add to that the cost to get a dive boat or a spring or dive site, anywhere from $36 to $60, the cost for tank refills, about another $16 dollars, an overnight stay at a hotel or even a campground, about $150 more and you get a cost for a couple of days diving of close to $300 US. To do the same let’s say 4 dives at the local lake would cost $30 US dollars including air fills and park fees and the gas to get back and forth.
