Hello

[lucidblue]

Hi! I'm a new diver too. Since my certification in early June, I completed 8 dives in Cozumel. I'm addicted and after reading a few forums and dive magazines, I want to go everywhere tropical. Unfortunately, I live in the northeast and will be stuck diving cold waters, except when I go on vacation.
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<DIV>I'm currently in the process of researching gear and deciding what I want to buy. </DIV>

[Wolfie2012]

I love cold water diving! Of course that's about all we have here in the middle of the country. Why I let my wife talk me into moving here from Florida, I'll never know.
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<DIV>Drysuits make cold water diving so much more enjoyable!</DIV>

[lucidblue]

I think part of my aversion is that I had a bad experience during my open water certification. The dives were at a quarry more than an hour from the dive shop. When we got there and I tried to put on the farmer john piece of my wetsuit, I found out they had the wrong size inside the jacket. The jacket was one I wore in the pool during class, the farmer john was an xs, about a size or so too small. They had to shake me into it and I really just couldn't breathe properly. This definitely affected my performance during class and was causing me a bit of anxiety because of the pressure on my chest and stomach. By the end of the two days my ribs felt bruised and I was just plain miserable. I'm glad we were heading to Cozumel the following week and had our dives booked, because I might never have tried again otherwise. With or without diving, I have a preference for clear blue warm water. I'll definitely be trying cold water again because it will be most cost effective.

[Wolfie2012]

Definitely an ill-fitting wetsuit can make a dive miserable, cold water or not. Glad you kept with it. My wife is the same way. She did her checkout dives here in the midwest, but I can't manage to talk her into diving locally with me anymore. She hates the low-vis, cold water that we have around here. Sometimes it really does take a die-hard to withstand some of those quarry conditions!

[jtaffar]

Hats of to you. Don't think I could do low/no visibility dives.... Well at least not yet. maybe someday. Cold water with the correct equipment sounds like fun to me. Proper equipment being the key. yes?