PADI Dry Suit Diving - Pattaya Thailand

That's right ... you are not dreaming! Dry suit scuba diving courses are now offered through Mermaids Diver Career Development Center, Pattaya Thailand. With an average sea water temperature of 27 degrees we do not exactly require dry suits for diving here (unless extreme technical diving) however, we like to prepare the divers for conditions that they might be entering.

In 2005 Mermaids began the ERDI/PERT (Professional Emergency Response Team) courses - the dry-suit divers program will be included within this program also.

Another reason, we have many divers come to sunny Thailand for the training but then they return to generally colder climes if not continuing on to dive work. In this instance we like to ensure that the divers' have had good dry suit training to allow them to get straight back into the water on return.

The majority of novice divers are taught in the warmth of tropical waters - or those hardy enough to train in colder climes might usually wait until the summer - hence most are taught in Wet Suits if any suit was required at all. To be educated in dry suit diving well open new doors - unfortunately many divers that do not own a dry suit or had the training avoid diving until the summer months. This is a great shame as there is so much being missed out on. A correctly attired diver can fight the elements and take advantage of the generally better visibility offered by the winter months especially at inland dive sites such as quarries, lakes, sinkholes and caves etc. The cold temperatures kill off the any algae and leaves the water crystal clear at some dive sites. There are generally a lot less divers in the winter months also so you can enjoy the quiet dive sites. There are also some incredible dive sites world wide in the cooler regions that are best enjoyed in a dry suit even in their warmer months.

Even in the middle of summer the dry suit has the advantage of being easier to don and doff. Getting back into a cold/wet wet suit for a second dive has us all in shivers. A dry suit diver simply releases the upper part of the drysuit and keep the dry suit partially on. They can enjoy their surface interval dry, warm and relaxed and when ready to dive again a simple puff of talcum powder later and they are ready.

A very common misconception is that diving dry-suits are for seriously cold water dives only. If you remember the physics from your open water course then you'll note that water drags heat from your body 20 times faster than air. A temperature of 21 degrees above the surface that would usually be comfortable would be cold in water very quickly as the body loses heat. Water would have to be 34 degrees Celsius or above for the diver not to lose any heat.

Many technical divers wear dry suits on almost every dive due to the length of the time spent underwater at "stops". The longer the diver is in the water the more thermal protection is required. A dive to 40 meters for a recreational diver might take nothing more than a 5mm wetsuit. If a technical diver made a dive to 40 meters then their might be many mandatory decompression stops. To decompress efficiently, the body needs to be warm with no cold spots. It has been shown that if the diver is warm, decompression stops are more effective in eliminating the inert gases that the diver absorbed.

The scuba diving dry suit course is designed to allow the diver all knowledge and skills to safely don, dive with, doff and store a dry-suit. A lot of information on the different types of suits is given also allowing the diver a very informed decision if considering purchasing a dry divers suit.

Practical skills covered within the course:

For PADI Dive Instructors: Mermaids have witnessed that the dive industry prefers to take dive instructors on for dive employment from the MSDT level and higher. Although it is possible to achieve dive jobs directly from an IDC (Instructor Development Course), dive employers are more likely to offer a dive position to a diver that has more experience. The MSDT scuba diving rating displays that the dive instructor has good experience teaching diving. The MSDT internship with PADI specialty diver courses can assist in your dive career.