Hey Guys/Gals,

Need your help?

Heading to Malaysia (Eastern Sabah) in April and from what I read there is quite a few tiny jellyfish (thumbnail/smaller along with the occasional big one). And most people wear wetsuits/rashes/tshirt.

Should I purchase a 1.5-2mm wetty. Currently have a 3.5mm wetty open cell which might be too warm as Ave temp 28degrees+. And we're going to be snorkeling twice a day for 6-7 days out of 12.

There's some cheapish wetsuits around $100-150 with spear loading pad. And I have it, if I visit tropical areas or warmer areas again.

Or Worst case scenario is I can take over the top half of my wetty and wear that.

Whats your opinion and what thickness do you guys normally wear in tropical areas?

Thanks

Geoff

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnsjOA1G3wE&sns=em

Not sure of the water temp where you are going but for snorkling in the tropics I have worn long running tights/pants, a long sleeve rashie, a lycra hood, gloves and booties - sometimes I wear an open cell vest under the rashie. Depends how cold you get and the water temp.

I've scuba dived kapalai/mabul/sipadan and didn't encounter any real nasties wearing a 3mm shortie. Just the small stingers just sting for a second and don't really hurt. Maybe just get a cheap rashie from Kmart for $9 (used in the maldives for the last few days) or a 30-40$$ long sleeve surf one if you're ok with 26-28 degree water temps.

James.

Edit. I went in jan/feb 2 years ago so don't know if stingers increase in numbers in April.

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J.bizzle, putting pieces to the pizzle

Did Fiji (scuba) this time last year. Water temp was ~27-28.

Took a 3mm Sonar steamer for the more 'static' dives I did (sitting around watching the sharks feed), and a .5mm Probe thermal vest / board shorts for the more active dives. We were diving to about 30 meters each dive, down for an hour, and never once was I cold, but I wasn't particularly warm on the more static dives, even in the steamer.

Snorkeling you could easily get away with a rashy and board shorts in that temp water (depending on how badly you feel the cold I guess), but if you're worried about the stingers, you could look at a Lycra stinger suit or something. Wont overheat, easy to get on, you look like you're in the wrong spot for a bicycle race, etc.

A 2 - 3 mm steamer would do the job as well.

You can buy long sleeved camo rash vests with loading pads, I used one in qld and it's pretty sweet.

Thanks for the info so far guys.

Hey J.Bizzle bit off topic but when you went kapalai/mabul/sipadan were there many travel warnings 2yrs back.
Currently they are saying "reconsider your need to travel" to islands dive sites of coastal areas of eastern sabah. The area you went are the best places to dive (Sipadan supposed to be better than Great Barrier Reef). But those places are the highest risk from kidnappers due to being so close to Phillipines. In Nov x2 Malaysian nationals were kidnapped.

For those that are thinking why am i going over there. Never let "girls" organise holidays. Turtles and Orangutans are far more important then there boyfriend nuts being hooked up to 10,000 volts. Mind you that might be the icing on the cake after shooting a Wahoo but its a fricken marine park.

So currently we are looking at going to a place north of Sandakan which is still in a questionable area but has Military personnel stationed there 24/7.

Maybe if I get blue wetsuits this way we are camouflaged from not just fish but terrorists

Well at least the fish had a laugh bout the camo suit.

Geoff

_________________
Watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnsjOA1G3wE&sns=em

Yeah there were warnings about the kidnappers and terrorists but we read somewhere that a naval base had been set up on the east coast because of the threats and illegal fishing (I was underwater at kapalai when people were dynamite fishing a km away, real scary!). And we stayed at seaventures dive rig so didn't think much about it at the time. I think the last incident before we were there was over a year prior.
.

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J.bizzle, putting pieces to the pizzle

I think i should be more worried about the Orangutans




Geoff

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnsjOA1G3wE&sns=em

Ended up getting this wetty as it was cheap

2mm brand new $110 included postage

I know it's not open cell (not worried bout warmth) but I wanted it purely for a little bit of flotation and i could use it for warmer days when I don't want to wear my 3.5mm or for future tropical trips, or as a spare wetsuit for mates.

Geoff

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnsjOA1G3wE&sns=em

I forgot to mention for Carly I bought this

Stinger suit Lycra $45 including postage
Girls 1.5-2.5mm wetsuits were to expensive ($200-$350)for something that she will hardly use and ive spent enough on this trip already. Told her to wear her 3.5 jacket over the top if she wants more warmth/flotation.

Geoff

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnsjOA1G3wE&sns=em

Got back today. Glad I purchased wetsuit/stinger suits as we would of been stung a plenty as we dived 2-3 times a day 6-10hrs. Everyday with the area we were covering you were bound to bump into a few or the occasional wall. Even with the wetsuit I copped one right on the back of the upper neck. Ended up with nice cricket ball sized scab.

2mm was great for flotation as many dives were shored based and you had to swim over shallow lying corals on the way out to deeper grounds and I didn't get hot in it either, most days 28-32. Carly was rapt with her stinger suit as she didn't cop any.

Geoff

_________________
Watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnsjOA1G3wE&sns=em