Diving in colder weather

It is officially cold outside. That does not mean it is time to put away your dive gear. The good thing is that the water is warmer now than the outside temp! Now you are thinking that there is nothing stopping you now, huh?!

Here are some things to remember about diving in colder surface conditions.

Clothing:
Make sure you pack extra clothing for you to change in to if your drysuit develops a leak. Hot hands or hot toes are great to have in your toes between socks in a drysuit but remember. Hot hands/toes are activated by Oxygen. If you are diving Enriched Air, they may tend to burn a bit hotter. Do not put directly to your skin. There are hot warmers that you can get that can be reused by reboiling and be used when wet.

If wearing a wetsuit, bring extra clothing or blankets to put on over your wetsuit in between dives (and wear it). Extra hats and gloves are really nice so if they do get wet while you are setting up your gear, you have another pair to wear when you are headed home from your dive.

Free Flowing Regulators:
When turning on your gear, make sure you minimize the purging of your second stage. When getting into the water make sure you have control of your second stage to prevent it from free flowing in the water. With colder air temperatures the second stage has a more likely hood of freezing up the first stage if left free flowing for to long. No big deal top side, just turn off the first stage to stop the free flowing. Wait for it to "unfreeze" or pour hot water over the first stage. The extra outside cold air and the free flowing of the second stage causes an ice up. If this happens under water, no big deal. You will calmly switch to your back up octo, go up to your buddy to switch to their alternate air source. Have them turn off your air supply, if they are comfortable with that (must be comfortable with oral inflation of bc), if not, of course end your dive in a safe matter headed to the surface where you can than turn off your air. If the air drains out past 400psi make sure to bring your tank in right away to make sure there is no water inside your tank. Preventing any other possible long term problems. Do a "dry run" on the surface on how to react to a free flowing regulator under the water.

Bring a big thermos of hot water for beverages or cup of soups in between dives or after dives to a quick warm up. Choose a shore diving area that has hot water showers after a dive. Most of all, do NOT wear cotton under your wet clothing. If you are cold after your dive and unable to warm up before getting back in, it is time to call it a day. Once you are cold and shivering you must take off wet clothing, get dry and stay out of the water. It is not like you will "warm up" in 50 degree water!

Fall/winter is our BEST diving months around here. Just ask anyone who has been in the water around this time. Lack of sun (boooo) means less algea blooms in the water. Freezing temperatures in the mountains means lets silting run-off into our waters.

Plans
Make a plan with your buddy talking about what to do if you have a free flowing regulator top side or under the water. What to do if you have a dry suit leak. What to do if you are just to cold to continue under the water. Always remember why you are scuba diving. It is for fun, if it is not fun anymore, what are you doing?

Make sure you are diving the appropriate gear for your dive conditions. If you have any questions, that is why Gone Diving is here. Helping you get the training and proper equipment for our environment.

If anyone has anything else that they would like to add to help offer advise for colder surface temperatures, please do.

Happy and safe warm diving to you all!