Marloes Otten

As a wetsuit diver I thought divers with a dry suit were wimps in winter. Once I had a dry suit myself, I thought people with a thermal jacket were just wimps. Now that I have a thermal jacket myself, I think I am particularly smart...

Of course you can dive in a wetsuit when the water is a degree or two. But wearing a dry suit makes it more comfortable and especially more worthwhile because you can dive longer. But even then, cold hands and feet were more of a limitation to the dive time than the air supply. And the amount of energy that a 50-minute dive in cold water takes is really serious.

The biggest surprise of the first dive with my Thermalution vest was that my hands and feet became much less cold than usual. Because of the warmth on your torso, your blood circulation is better and that makes a big difference to the feeling temperature of your hands and feet. I also find the difference in 'recovery' after a dive a great advantage of diving with my Thermalution vest. Because I am not cold through and through and warm up faster after the dive, a dive costs my body less energy. In short, I can therefore dive longer while it costs me less energy. That is, of course, ideal. The vest is easy to use, easy to charge and you can make several dives on the batteries. In my dry suit, I like the fact that I can heat the mode with the remote control. Climbing the dikes in Zeeland often provides enough warmth before entering the water, so then my vest is off. But as soon as I go into the water, I put the vest on. If the water is really cold, I can turn the heating up one level during the dive, or if we dive deeper. The remote control works well and because of the vibration you feel confirmation of the changing of the setting.

And let's face it, after the dive it's great to leave the vest on for a while. Call me a wimp. But a smart wimp 😉 😉 I'm not a wimp.