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What is the best way to keep warm in a wetsuit in cold ocean water?

My wife and I are scuba diving this weekend near Catalina Island (off the southern coast of California), and the waters is going to be about 58 degrees. We have 7mm wetsuits, 3mm gloves, 6.5mm boots, and something like 5mm hoods, with a 3mm vest (which covers the entire trunk of the body).

I’ll probably be fine, since I’m used to swimming in cold Colorado lakes with a 3mm shorty wetsuit, and I can swim on the beach in LA without anything, but my wife gets REALLY cold, really easily.

She wants to know if there’s any good tips or tricks to keep warm in the water, in addition to all our equipment that we already have. We have waterproof hand/body warmers on the way, but they probably won’t arrive in time since somehow the shipment took a wrong turn.

She has a friend who has a 3/2 wetsuit… can she wear 2 suits? or is that ridiculous?

What about extra layers under the hood?

There is no absolute reason why she can’t wear the 3/2 over the 3mm vest and then wear the 7mm over all that…I’ve layered two 3mm jumpsuits before when doing some work in an outdoor pool where I didn’t want to wear my dry suit. The 3/2+3+7 gives 13mm of neoprene over the torso which is the same as what you get with the 6.5mm two-piece suit that is normally used in colder water. However, much depends on how the 7mm suit fits…if it is as snug as it should be it may become too tight with the extra 3/2 suit and vest underneath. If it is stretchy, like the Henderson Hyperstretch, it may work out fine.

In the exposure protection you have listed, the one thing I would recommend you change is the gloves. I don’t think 3mm will be enough, I would suggest moving to 5mm gloves, at least for her.

The most important part of the wetsuit equation is fit. The suit needs to be snug enough to prevent cold water from flushing through the suit but not so tight that it restricts breathing and movement. The neck is one area that needs to fit well since a neck opening that is too large will tend to scoop water into the suit while swimming. Excessive folds or air pockets within the suit also would indicate that it is not a good fit and will not be as effective in keeping the diver warm. Since your wife is easily chilled you want to make sure her suit fits her perfectly, though at this point it’s probably too late if it doesn’t.

I can suggest a few alternatives:

1) she can try moving to a 6.5mm two-piece suit instead of a 7mm jumpsuit. She could even try wearing the 3mm vest under that but that might be pretty tight.

2) Switch the 3mm vest to a 5mm hooded vest. The built-in hood will help reduce water flow over the torso, plus give an additional 2mm over the torso.

3) Consider a 6.5mm hood instead of 5mm.

4) If she plans to dive in cold water often, consider a dry suit. It is much more expensive and requires more care than a wetsuit, but is well worth the added comfort in cold water.

As always, any change to equipment configuration (especially exposure protection) will probably also require weighting changes. If possible, do a buoyancy check before the dive to make sure she has enough weight to get off the surface.

I should probably also add that the more active she is on the dive the more her body will tend to generate heat and so she may feel somewhat warmer, but this is a poor substitute for the right exposure protection. The obvious disadvantage of working harder during the dive is that air consumption will increase, plus the increased flow of gas through the tissues may result in additional uptake of nitrogen and so an increased risk of DCS.

Good luck!

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