El Andalous - First Wetsuit

A Good Snorkeling Day

Although the sea here just now is warm enough to swim – my guess would be that it’s around 24 degrees centigrade – it’s a little cold for snorkeling and my arms get goose bumps if I’m not moving around at any speed. It had been suggested to me many times to get a wetsuit. I’ve been reluctant, because they look like a lot of effort to put on, but since I’ve been earning some money this year in Zurich, I thought maybe I’d buy one while I have the spare cash.

I’d decided that I wanted a wetsuit with short legs and long arms, since really it’s my arms that get cold. I looked around in Hurghada, but could only find full wetsuits or ones with short arms and short legs. So, I went to Miami with a mission in mind.

I can’t really say I enjoyed buying my wetsuit – it was all a bit embarrassing. The first one I tried on was too small (I thought it was my size, but I couldn’t get the zip done up). I got so flustered with trying to put it on, since I didn’t know how tight it was supposed to be, that I sweated quite a bit; in any case, I was in Miami with temperatures in the high 20s and then the wetsuit just made me feel hotter as I tried it on. And then I got more flustered because I was sweating and making the wetsuit wet, and that sweat in turn might just have been making me hotter still when trapped between the wetsuit and my skin. Or maybe it was menopause-related. Or a bit of everything. In any case, I felt embarrassed, but had to brave it out.

I had to ask for the next size up, which was the largest one they had in the store. Yikes. I didn’t think I was that big! The next one fitted and I felt obliged to buy it after sweating all over their first one, even though I looked like a beached whale in it. Every little bulge is visible; I’m not that lithe, perfect-body sportswoman that you always see on TV when you see people wearing wetsuits. Surely it’s impossible for any normal person to look good in a wetsuit? I’d really not appreciated that before. The one I was trying on was light blue, so maybe that also doesn’t hide your faults as well as black. Well, that’s my excuse.

I have managed to try it out a couple of times already. I was impressed with the long tape attached to the zip, so that you can pull the zip up at the back yourself.

I’d been away from Egypt for a while, so it is hard to judge how well it insulated me (I got a 2mm wetsuit). It doesn’t really save you much from the shock of getting in (I was reading up online about wetsuits and some people were saying they urinated in their wetsuits because the pee is nice and warm!!).

The first time I used it, it had been a full moon and the waves were really choppy, so it felt as if water was constantly sloshing into my wetsuit and I wasn’t too sure if I’d got it on correctly. Actually, if I were prone to feeling seasick, I think I’d have felt nauseous. As I was carried back and forth by the pull of the sea, there was a really bizarre optical illusion that made it look as if the entire coral reef was lurching backwards and forwards (but it must have been me, obviously) as if it were one huge shove-penny slot machine.

The sand was also swirling everywhere and when I got back, I could barely see two inches in front of me – the coral reef would suddenly appear in front of my face as I tried to find it so that I could get my bearings as to where to get out (there’s a bit where there’s a gap in the reef where I can get in and out). It was quite scary and I was careful never to get too close to the reef.

The second time it was calm. Because I knew what to expect with the wetsuit, I wasn’t so aware of water circulating around, but I felt colder, possibly because I was more relaxed. I think if I didn’t have the wetsuit, it would probably have been too cold for me to snorkel; I was at my warmest when I just floated rather than when I moved; I guess because the movement makes new water come in.

However it’s much, much easier getting out of the water with a wetsuit. It’s horrible when there’s wind as it’s just so cold when you walk back onto the land. There are often times where I am reluctant to swim, just because I know I will be really cold when I come out. With the wetsuit, I’m no longer a shivering wreck!