Hi
I know this is a photography forum but hope you guys can help.
I've been diving since the age of 12 and have done plenty and bit of diving. The problem is that I've been fortunate my whole life diving in temperate to warm waters where the water temperature rarely goes below 18C.
Now living in Cape Town, South Africa, the water temp ranges from 8C to about 16C max from a few discussions I've had with divers in the area.
I've always dived in 3mm to max 5mm wetsuits and have to invest in some warmer gear. I have zero experience in these cold conditions and have been looking at semi-dry suits to neoprene dry and tri-lam suits. Tri-lam suits is out of my budget range as I'm currently saving to start building a new camera rig.
A lot of diving in Cape Town are shore entries and boat launches so the suit need to be tough to withstand a bit of work.
Are there any of you cold water experts on here that can provide some sound advice on decent suits, what to look for and what to avoid?