no-no and from a dive shop perspective, a BIG NO.” What Our Writers Say Dan Orr: Yes. “There have been rare occasions when I have had to pee badly enough to consider peeing in my wet- suit. I have, however, on long-duration research dives, had to pee in my drysuit. In those instances, I was wearing diapers (Depends or something similar). “There are situations I am aware of where divers have peed in their wetsuits, and the pee has caused skin irritations, which they misinterpreted as skin bends. One diver that I personally dealt with was so insistent on the fact that he would never pee in his exposure suit that he actually insisted upon being treated for DCS when it actually was a skin irri- tation caused by his own urine.” Alex Brylske: Yes. “I can’t imagine diving without ‘letting go’ at least once during a dive. In fact, I look forward to the warmth! I did encounter a shop in Canada once that charged a stiff fee if a rental was returned smelling of urine. I always soak all of my gear overnight in water with Simple Green added. Never had a problem with odor.” Terry Cummins: No. “I simply don’t do it. I hate the smell of urine in wetsuits. Hated it when students used to do it, and I had to clean out the smell for the next user. And that is not easy.” Carlos Lander: Yes. “I primarily dive solo in the Caribbean waters. I prefer to be hydrated and pee in my wet- suit rather than add a risk of DCS or mess with my blood pressure by consuming salt, which is also a risk. Odor shouldn't be an issue unless you are eating a lot of asparagus, seriously.” Feedback from Marin Scuba Club Members Kenneth Carter, who initiated “Blue Friday” in 2021: No. “Peeing in your wetsuit is ill-advised. First, a brief aside into the Second Law of Thermodynamics and Neuroscience: When you urinate in your wetsuit, you do not warm yourself. Rather, you only move the heat from inside your body to the outside of your body, where it dissipates more quickly. It only feels warm because your heat-sensing nerves are on your skin. Second, if you are on a long-duration dive and can’t make it back, then you have no choice. Adult diapers and p- valves are an option for long-duration drysuit divers.” A female member of my dive club: No. “Having dived mostly in Palau or the Philippines, where the boats do not have heads and there are often long boat rides to and from the dive site, I suspect that most divers pee in their wetsuits. I never had a problem with my wetsuits or other items, even RETAILING continued PAGE TWENTY-EIGHT | SCUBA DIVING INDUSTRY
after several years of wear and washing.” Another female dive club member: Yes and No. “I don't pee in my wetsuit unless I am in pain to go and can't avoid it, not to get warm, but only to relieve myself. I urinate before I dive, as I really don't want the stench of taking off a stinky suit to offend anyone. If I have peed in my suit, I clean it with a solution purchased at a dive shop by soaking it for a bit, then hanging it to dry. “In addition, in all my drysuit diving on the North Coast of California, the Arctic, and Antarctica, I have never used a diaper. Nor have women I have dived with, as they said it really is hard to do so. So we just went to the bathroom be- fore entering the water and limited our liquid consumption before donning our drysuits. Often, we were in the water for 1-3 hours, depending on what we were photographing or ex- periencing in the water.” The Bottom Line: Nobody wants to pee in their wetsuit, but “urine” in good company if it happens to you, and if you happen to do a number underwater in your dive gear, remember to take proper precautions to cleanse it with the recommended shampoos and solutions. By the way, if you want to be among the first to buy a signed copy of my book
Scuba Storyteller: Mostly Humorous Diving Tales by An Addicted AquaNut or to sign up for Writers’ Workshops for some guidance on your project, please contact me.
email Gil
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