Galapagos drysuit or wetsuit

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Jamie Lynn - 10 Sep 2005 16:58 GMT

My husband and I are planning a trip to the Galapagos in November on a
liveaboard. When I dive in the Caribbean, I wear a 5mm long wetsuit, a 2mm
shorty over it and a vest with a hood. I am not sure whether to bring a 7mm
wetsuit with a hood or a drysuit. I have been told not to go dry due to the
rocky bottoms and rough conditions in the Galapagos but to wear thick
gloves. I have been getting mixed answers to this question. Any advice would
be greatly appreciated as I am in a big dilemma whether to go wet or dry.

Jamie

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Dan Bracuk - 10 Sep 2005 23:13 GMT

Jamie Lynn <n@ne.com> pounded away at his keyboard resulting in:

:My husband and I are planning a trip to the Galapagos in November on a
:liveaboard. When I dive in the Caribbean, I wear a 5mm long wetsuit, a 2mm
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
:gloves. I have been getting mixed answers to this question. Any advice would
:be greatly appreciated as I am in a big dilemma whether to go wet or dry.

Wear what is appropriate for the temperatures you expect. Don't worry
about rough conditions or rocky bottoms or things like that.

Dan Bracuk
If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.

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Greg Mossman - 11 Sep 2005 05:47 GMT

> My husband and I are planning a trip to the Galapagos in November on a
> liveaboard. When I dive in the Caribbean, I wear a 5mm long wetsuit, a 2mm
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> would
> be greatly appreciated as I am in a big dilemma whether to go wet or dry.

Obviously thermal protection is a personal issue, but I can tell you that
two people in our group that dove off the Aggressor II last July brought
drysuits and ended up renting the boat's 7mm suits because they were too
warm. I wore a 5mm farmer john and was perfectly content.

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H Huntzinger - 11 Sep 2005 11:38 GMT

> My husband and I are planning a trip to the Galapagos in November on a
> liveaboard. When I dive in the Caribbean, I wear a 5mm long wetsuit, a 2mm
> shorty over it and a vest with a hood. I am not sure whether to bring a 7mm
> wetsuit with a hood or a drysuit.

My initial thoughts were that if you're wearing 5+2mm in the Caribbean,
then you're coldblooded and really should go dry. However, this may
very well depend on when and where in the Caribbean you're diving that
you're wearing this much...if this is "winter" Caribbean where the
waters are in the upper 70s, this is obviously quite a bit different
than "summer" conditions of 82F and higher.

> I have been told not to go dry due to the
> rocky bottoms and rough conditions in the Galapagos but to wear thick
> gloves. I have been getting mixed answers to this question. Any advice would
> be greatly appreciated as I am in a big dilemma whether to go wet or dry.

My trip had one drysuit diver. His #1 complaint was that his wife would
*always* want to snorkel with any sea lion within 3 miles, which would
cause a half hour delay getting back to the ship so that he could pee.

Generally, the only time that you're going to really "risk" getting your
suit cut up or abraded is when you're holding onto one of the rocks at
Wolf IMO. That's what you need the gloves for. BTW, also bring a reef
hook, although you may find conditions too turbulent for its use.

Overall, so long as your suit has some thigh/kneepad protection, then
I'd suspect that your primary risk might be a hole in an elbow/upper arm
in a trilam suit, mostly because you'll probably be willing to brace
with the mid/upper arm instead of letting your UW camera take a whack.
If no camera, then gloves & kneepads should be more than enough to
protect a drysuit IMO.

-hh

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Bob & Geri - 25 Sep 2005 13:49 GMT

We were in the Galapagos last week:

2 people dove with dry suits. Water temps were in the mid 60's in the
southern/middle islands and in the low 70's at Wolf and Darwin. We had
one dive at the end that had a temp of 59.

Bob wore a 7/5 wetsuit with a thin hood. Wore a 3 mm hoodless vest
twice.

Geri wore a 7/6/5 wetsuit with a 3 mm hooded vest on all dives.

We wore kayaking gloves on most dives - diving gloves on a few dives.

In the Carribean we wear a 3 mm wet suit with no hoods.

With what you are wearing in the Carribean, you should probably
consider the drysuit.

>My husband and I are planning a trip to the Galapagos in November on a
>liveaboard. When I dive in the Caribbean, I wear a 5mm long wetsuit, a 2mm
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
>Jamie

Bob & Geri
bobandgeri@rbhayes.net
http://www.rbhayes.net

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W.E. O'Neil - 26 Sep 2005 16:20 GMT

> We were in the Galapagos last week:
>
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> With what you are wearing in the Carribean, you should probably
> consider the drysuit.

I've been to Galapagos a number of times over the years and have decided
that a 5 mil full suit with 3 mil pullover vest with hood works best for me.
It seems whenever the water was cool enough to warrant the vest, the hood
was needed as well. And when the water was warm enough for the 5 mil only,
the hood wasn't required.

The only times I thought dry would make any sense was at Punte Vicente Roca
or maybe Tagus Cove, and even then it wasn't required. And since the other
two work so well for the remainder of the diving, it just makes sense for me
to be a bit cold on those dives and not carry a drysuit along for a couple
locations. Plus, at Punta Vicente Roca one tends to get narc'ed so the cold
isn't particularly relevant in that you don't feel it :^)

I wear gloves in Galapagos but not because of cold, but rather because if
the currents are ripping, hanging on is a necessity and some sites are rife
with barnacles. In fact because of the barnacle fields at both Marchena and
Roca Redonda I have been wearing full booties to protect my ankles after
having cut the front of them pretty good at Roca Redonda a few years back.

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