When scuba diving, it’s essential to wear the proper scuba diving apparel to feel comfortable and safe throughout your dive. Depending upon the time of year and location, varying weather conditions can make the water warm or cold. Thus, there are different suits available for divers depending on the exact weather conditions.
One type of suit a diver can wear is a wetsuit. A wetsuit is commonly worn by divers, especially in moderate to warmer waters. In this article, you’ll learn all the essential basics of wetsuits so you can wear the suit perfect for your own diving adventures.
What is a Wetsuit, anyways?
Wetsuits are skin-tight suits that help trap a thin layer of water between your body and the skin which helps to warm your body by essentially insulating your body heat while you scuba dive. This is because your own body heat is used to warm this trapped water providing you with a layer of heat amidst the cooler underwater waters. The last thing you want to be doing is freezing deep underwater!
A wetsuit, because it is thinner than say a drysuit, is also more flexible and you are able to move faster and more swiftly underwater. This is because the suit is tight, preventing any unnecessary drafting or excess material to slow down your swimming movements.
Furthermore, there are varying thicknesses of suits to accommodate the varying temperatures you may experience. For instance, the colder the water is, the thicker you want your suit to be to provide that extra layer of warmth and protection during your dive.
Different Wet Suit Styles
Just like there are different thicknesses for varying weather conditions, there are also different design styles and lengths for different conditions. Two main types of style wetsuits are full suits and shorties.
A full suit is likely the typical full-length wetsuit you envision when scuba diving. A full suit is great because it is versatile. Not only is it well suited for colder conditions, but you can also wear a full suit comfortably in warmer conditions too. In a full suit, you are able to pick the thickness of the material to ensure you accommodate exactly the right temperature.
Meanwhile, shorty wetsuits, as the name suggests are not full-length wetsuits. Rather, shorty wetsuits have short sleeves and shorter legs. This gives the diver much more freedom to move around with ease in the water and the flexibility to swim easily. That being said, a shorty wetsuit lacks that layer of full-length material a traditional full suit has. Therefore, you can only wear shorty wetsuits on warmer dives (about 70 degrees and above) because of this lack of warmth from the suit. If you are looking to scuba dive somewhere in warm tropical waters, consider wearing a shorty wetsuit to swim with ease and feel comfortable while you dive.