Cold Water Scuba Diving

My name is Mike Ault and I am a cold-water diver, you would be amazed at the number of people who think this is the height of stupidity (cold water diving, not being Mike Ault, though there are some…) however, let me elucidate the joys of cold water diving to help prevent calls for the fellows with the white coats, at least for diving.

Unless you are blessed to live in the tropics, up to nine months of your year have somewhat intemperate climates where the temperatures (at least at night) drop to near or below freezing. These cold temperatures and various other factors such as solar input cause local lakes, quarries and other bodies of water to rapidly become what many call not able to be dove. I say this is a bunch of bunk! There are definite joys to diving in cold water.

Cold water diving develops skills. Diving in 80-degree Fahrenheit water is easy. Diving in 40-degree Fahrenheit water requires you to really think about your gear, your exposure suit and keeping warm, making you a more attentive and aware diver. You also get to try out a larger amount of exposure gear such as semi-dry suits and dry suits.

For Lakes and Quarries cold water is clear water. In Lake Lanier in Georgia, USA, in the summer the water temperatures can reach 70+ above the thermocline below the thermocline they can be closer to 60, however, easily doable with a 3mm or a 5mm wetsuit. In these warm waters the loading of fertilizer from the nearby communities causes a very healthy algae bloom resulting in a dive visibility which can be compared to split-pee soup (maybe 5 foot above the thermocline, maybe 10-15 below the thermocline). In the winter time the temperature can drop to 43, which is definitely dry suit range, however visibility widens out to 20 or more feet.

Dive sites aren’t crowded. Given the outright fear instilled in the hearts of fair-weather divers at the mere mention of cold water, you have little competition for the cold water dive sites, usually you and your buddy are the only ones there. However, I believe the joys of cold water diving may be catching on, the last lake Lanier Looneys New Years Day dive we have close to thirty divers attend, however, I haven’t seen many of them out there since, they may be still warming themselves by a fire somewhere.

Cold water diving makes you appreciate a hot tub. Even though I dive a dry suit, so I am much less bothered by cold water than the “wet” divers who still dive wetsuits, I have to admit, soaking in a nice hot tub afterwards is great. I can only imagine how much the wetsuit divers look forward to it after a couple of dives in 40-degree water. A dry suit keeps you dry when you dive and you usually wear long underwear of some sort with them, while, as its name implies a wetsuit allows a bit of water to get right up next to your skin, for wetsuit divers the first ten minutes and anytime spent out of the water after the initial dunking is the worst time. A wetsuit suffers from evaporative cooling out of the water, a bit of a breeze and you get diver cool pops.

Cold water diving is a definite conversation starter. I guarantee that you mention you have been scuba diving in the local lake while ordering a hot coffee at the local fast-food place while the temperature is making everyone’s noses and cheeks red, you will start a conversation. Of course some folks just look at you odd, pull their children closer and side away…

Cold water diving is cheaper. From where I live it is about a 6-hour drive to the nearest warm water in Florida. At current gas prices that would run about $85 each way for gas in my Dodge Ram 1500. Add to that the cost to get either a dive boat or into a spring or dive site, anywhere from $150 to $175, add the cost for tank refills, about another $16 dollars, an overnight stay at a hotel or even a campground, which would be about $150 more and you get a cost for a couple of days diving of close to $500 US. To do the same let’s say 4 dives at the local lake would cost $30 US dollars including air fills and park fees and the gas to get back and forth, if I go to the nearest quarry, $160 US.

In Summary:

So, hopefully you will now see that there are advantages to cold water diving. If I had to wait until I could do warm water dives, I would have less than half the number of dives I have logged to date. So, you can now see why cold-water diving isn’t crazy and has its joys. Now those ice divers on the other hand….