The instructor who told me to ditch my drysuit for a wetsuit on that Gulf job was dead wrong

Back in 2017 on a pipeline inspection near Port Fourchon, my dive supervisor kept pushing me to use a 7mm wetsuit instead of my drysuit because he said I'd move faster. I listened and lasted about 45 minutes before I had to come up shivering so bad I couldn't grip my tools. Switched back to my drysuit the next day and finished the whole 3-hour shift without any issues. Has anyone else had a supervisor give advice that just didn't work for the conditions?

2 comments

2 Comments

brian_jackson23d ago

Respectfully disagree, that wetsuit would have been fine if you kept moving.

olivia47823d ago

42 minutes was my record before giving up on a wetsuit in 60 degree water off Galveston. I was so cold my regulator started free flowing from the shivers and I swore I heard a seagull laughing at me. Look, I'm shaped like a beanbag with arms, so keeping still to work just means I turn into a popsicle in no time. My buddy still gives me crap for that day because I spent more time warming up in the boat than actually working.