Poe Lim wrote:

> I don't think in situations where you are using only up to 3mm will
warrant
> a drysuit...

You might be right.  Actually, my interest stems from several things.  For
one, I keep getting invites from people to dive in the Pacific NW.  I've got
one friend and several acquantances up that way.  Then there's the seas and
sea lions found further down the U.S. west coast, where the water is still
colder than I am likely to find comfortable.  As I understand it, the Great
Lakes also have some interesting wreck dives and, since Zebra muscles
infested them, have good enough visibility that I might actually visit them
some day.  Then there's all those I talk with from uk.rec.scuba, a few of
whom I have met, who will want me to see whatever it is that keeps them
interesting in diving, indlucing an almost mandatory trip to the world
famous Stoney Cove, where I suspect on the most despirate water addicts
dive.

There's a wide range of  places I've never been and, without a dry suit,
will probably never go.  At this point, I'm only considering options and
trying to learn a bit more about what it would take if I were to configure
for colder or longer diving.  The few cavers I know are pretty clear in
their preference for drysuits and, personally, I think I'd rather go
directly from a thin wetsuit to a membrane drysuit than move through a
succession of increasingly thick wetsuits.  My thinking is at least partly
colored by my belief that handling compression of gas alone will be more
like the buoyancy skills I've been using for many years than handling all
the quirks of compression brought on even by the 3mm wetsuit I now use.  I
could be wrong, but there's no harm in exploring the idea further even if I
am.

Lee