Why Wear a Wetsuit When the Sea Is Warm?
Because water pulls heat out of a body far faster than air does — roughly twenty-five times faster — so even a sea at 28 °C is well below your body temperature and is steadily cooling you the whole time you are in it. Add the fact that water is cooler below the sun-warmed surface layer, that you are barely moving on a dive, and that you do two dives with a wet surface interval in between, and the wetsuit stops looking like overkill. On top of that it protects you from rock, from stings and from the sun on the boat.
Every Side Diving trip includes a wetsuit in your size, along with the tank, regulator, BCD, mask, fins and weights. There is nothing to hire and nothing to bring.
What Water Actually Does to Body Heat
Air at 28 °C feels warm. Water at 28 °C feels pleasant for the first ten minutes and then quietly starts taking heat from you, because water conducts heat away from skin at a rate air cannot match. On land your body copes by producing heat as fast as it loses it. In the sea it cannot keep up. Nobody shivers on the first ten minutes of a dive; people get cold on the last ten minutes of the second one.
A wetsuit does not keep water out. It traps a thin film of water against your skin, your body warms that film, and the neoprene — full of tiny gas bubbles — stops the warmth escaping. That is why a wetsuit must fit snugly: a loose suit flushes cold water through and warms nothing.
It Is Cooler Down There
The sea off the Antalya coast runs from around 17 °C in winter to about 28–29 °C at the surface in late summer. But the sun only warms the top layer. Below it the water is noticeably cooler, and how deep that warm layer reaches changes through the season and with the wind. On a beginner dive at five to eight metres you may barely notice. On the second dive of the day, at up to about thirteen metres, most people do. Certified divers feel it much more sharply, because a standard certified dive runs to around thirty metres and the deep sites — the Paris II wreck at 21–31 m, the DO-28 aircraft at 19.5–23.3 m — are colder, darker water where thermal protection is not optional.
The Second Dive Is the Cold One
Here is the pattern almost every diver learns the hard way. The first dive is fine. Then you come up, sit on a moving boat in a wet suit with the breeze on you, eat lunch, and go back down already cooler than you started. That is why we hand out the suits before the first dive and not between them, and why the crew will tell you to get out of the wind and into the sun during the surface interval. Cold divers use more air, get tired sooner and enjoy the second dive less.
The Protection Nobody Thinks About
- Rock and reef. A hand steadied on rock, a fin brushing a wall — neoprene takes the scrape instead of your skin. It also keeps you from damaging the reef.
- Stings. Jellyfish are occasional in any sea. Covered skin is protected skin; sightings vary with conditions and season.
- Sun. Hours on an open boat between dives is where most holiday sunburn happens. A suit peeled to the waist plus sunscreen on the rest works better than sunscreen alone. See /blog/what-to-bring-scuba-diving.
- Buoyancy. Neoprene floats, which is why you are given a weight belt. Your instructor calculates the weight from your suit and build, so it is set before you enter the water.
Sizing on the Boat
Suits are fitted on board before the safety briefing, so there is time to change size if something is wrong. Two things matter:
Snug, not tight. No loose folds at the lower back, armpits or behind the knees — those are where cold water pools. But you must be able to take a full deep breath and raise both arms comfortably. If it restricts your chest, it is a size too small, and that is worth saying out loud rather than being polite about.
Wet it first. A dry wetsuit fights you. Splash water inside, work it up in stages — feet, calves, thighs, then arms — using the flat of your hand rather than fingernails, and let the crew do the zip. It is easier with someone helping and everyone on the boat has done it.
Wear a swimsuit underneath. Bring a towel and something dry for the ride back. Nothing else is needed: the full kit list is at /diving/equipment.
How Cold Will I Actually Be?
In high summer, most people in a suit are comfortable for both dives and want the sun afterwards. In spring and autumn the water is cooler and the suit is doing real work. If you know you feel the cold, say so on the boat — the crew can often adjust what you are given, and telling us is far better than shivering quietly at thirteen metres. Honest conditions for your dates: message us rather than trusting a calendar, and see /blog/visibility-diving-side for how the sea changes through the year.
Ready When You Are
The wetsuit, the equipment, two guided dives, free two-way hotel transfer, fresh lunch on board, passenger and diving insurance and a full safety briefing are all included: Side Underwater Museum 45 euro for seven hours, Kumköy 43 euro, Kemer 43 euro, Alanya 43 euro, Antalya 50 euro. Reserve free online, pay on the day in cash or by card, free cancellation up to 24 hours before. Pickup is in the morning and the exact time is confirmed the evening before. Book at /tours/side-underwater-museum-diving or ask at /contact.
