Hello again dive buddies.
I hope you had a wonderful winter.
As for me, I could be quite happy without them. I survive winter by taking some time to visit
the Caribbean and dive. It gives me
something to look forward to and something to look back on when it is
done. If I could find a way to live in
the Caribbean and dive every week I would.
Realistically though I can’t afford to spend as much time there as I
would like and we have family ties that mean we probably won’t be leaving
Wisconsin any time soon. Yet there is
something not right about waiting all year for the 3 1/2 months that we can
dive the quarries around here. It would be nice if the dive season was a bit
longer and maybe a bit more exciting.
Photo by Scott Durban |
Last year for the first time, I dove in Lake Michigan. We dove the 'Willy' and ' The Dredge'. Frankly I didn't expect to like it much. I'd been on a number of wrecks in warm water
where the wreck was covered in coral and alive with fish. I figured that local wrecks couldn’t
compare. In some ways that was
true. There is not a lot of sea life on
the wrecks. On the other hand I
discovered there are other ways to enjoy the wrecks that we have right here in
our back yard. While most of the
beautiful wrecks in the Caribbean have been strategically placed, there are thousands of wrecks in the Great
Lakes which are there due to nature and which have very interesting
histories. There is something about
visiting history where it really happened that brings it to life. Like visiting an old military fort or a
historic building such as the Ford Theater.
Divers come from all over the country to dive the historic wrecks in our
back yard. Why shouldn’t we??
Aha I know what you are thinking, 'because it is freakin
cold in Lake Michigan!'. Correcto mundo. It is cold.
But with a dry suit those problems disappear. Imagine a beautiful warm day on the Lake
cruising out to a wreck. Put on your
nice warm dry suit and drop into the big pond.
Slowly descend as a wreck opens up before you..and you are warm and
comfy in the 40 degree water.
Poof!! Once again my
psychic abilities kick in and you are saying to yourself 'Oh but it is soo
expensive' sort of true, but not really.
I am all about not spending money without a good reason but let's dig
into it a bit. I looked at how much
money does it cost to go to the Caribbean for a week? Airfare, place to stay, food, diving....cha
ching$$. How much of my not enough
vacation time do I need to spend? How
much money have I spent on scuba so far?
Regulator, BCD, Wet Suit, Fins.....
OK so maybe it is better not to add it all up, but here is the logic to
it. All of that investment is for a
week in the tropics (unless you are Neal) and for some quarry diving. You can take one more step into a dry suit
and suddenly diving Lake Michigan or Lake Superior becomes exciting, not
scary. Diving in May or October is not
an issue. You can now not only dive two
extra months every year, you can dive the thousands of wrecks that lie in the
Great Lakes. Yes there is an investment
in the dry suit, but those exciting dives are now only a day trip and a few
dollars for gas. You have increased
your investment but have also added to the value of your previous investments
by making them more usable, more often, and more exciting.
Photo by Scott Durban |
Do your particular math.
You spent X dollars for Y dives per year. Now consider X+Drysuit for Y+Cold Water
dives. As a total percentage of your
dive dollar, the dry suit will pay for itself over time. Of course the time,
number of dives etc. may vary from diver to diver but the math really can work
in favor of a dry suit.
Picking out a dry suit is like picking out most scuba
gear. There are lots of options and
price ranges. Heavy duty and lightweight
materials, bootie options, colors and trim, valves and zippers. I will leave those details to the capable
experts at Manta and Bare to help you sort them out. The Dry Suit night at Manta is very
helpful. Even if you miss it, they
usually have the information available for a few days afterwards.
There is one other advantage to owning a dry suit. Not only do you get to do more dives in more
places there is the added benefit of telling people you have a dry suit. Watch for the look of admiration as you scoff
at the idea of diving in 40 degree water.
It is the same reaction one gets describing seeing sharks, that look
of 'are you flippin' nuts?'. I just smile and think to myself....you
don`t know what you are missing.
See you in the water...