Does anybody know if that type of dive equipment is high end and thus suggesting a more serious diving hobbyist, or was it the minimum type of equipment that a somebody diving after a few introductory lessons would more likely buy?
I am a certified Naui Diver, trained to go 100 feet. I would NOT attempt to get a dry suit, and start dry suit diving, that is going into another territory than what I am trained for. I don't think an amateur would even think to go there with a couple lessons. You can't go on a reputable dive boat without showing your certification and a dive log history.
My training to be certified was about 5 months. Most of it was in the classroom. There is a science behind it, understanding that science and passing the tests makes you a safe diver. One wrong move and you can kill yourself. I have been a diver for 20 years. I could have expanded my certifications, adding deeper diving, nitrox gas diving, cave diving, entering wreck diving etc. I am trained to dive in the North Atlantic Ocean as opposed the Bahamas. Since I am trained to dive in the North Atlantic I can pretty much dive any where. If I was trained in the Bahamas, I would be stupid to try to dive in the North Atlantic.
I use a 1/4 inch neoprene wet suit for recreational diving in the North Atlantic. He had on a dry suit, today a good one costs between 2000 - $3,000.00. a dry suit has it's own valves, etc. a little more technical than a 1/4" neoprene wet suit. Compared to my suit that would be $400.00. That is just the start. you need boots, hood, dive computer, buoyancy vests, tanks, regulators. So recreational gear for the diving I do is total 2000.00 - 3000.00.
The Dry suit alone starts at 2000-3000.00 dollars not counting accessories.
Dry suits are usually worn by professional or advanced divers to keep themselves more comfortable in the water.
Dive Shops Are not on every corner. My husband and I frequented the same dive shop for anything we needed and tank refills so the dive shop owners know the local divers. They also know the recreational divers from the professional ones especially by the equipment they purchase.
I live in NYC on the Atlantic Ocean. I only know one commercial diver. He dives for Sea Urchins that is his job. On the side he retrieved the Coney Island Dreamland Steam Boat Pier bell that was lost in a fire in 1911. That is what divers that wear dry suits do, they are not tourist/recreational diving.
They are even more serious divers than a "Master Diver". It's their livelihood.
A dry suit diver is known in the dive world. Diving 101, never dive alone.
If he was commercial diving someone had to be operating the boat he dove from. If he traveled he would bring his own gear, because its a safety issue. He would not have brought that gear to dive as a tourist some where, he used it to work some where or was on some sort of expedition to look for something.
Alot of things can go wrong when you are diving that is why you need to dive with someone. They can save your life. I know a master diver that grabbed the wrong regulator and took in the wrong gas and died. He went in alone from the boat when he didn't come up someone else went in and retrieved his body. If someone was next to him they would have given him the correct regulator to breath the correct mixture he needed at that depth.
Point being someone had to know this ADVANCED DIVER and someone had to know he went missing in the water. I don't know anyone that wears a dry suit going in from the surf. They wear them going in off a boat that is anchored with someone else running the boat.
Anyone could buy a dry suit with a couple lessons or no lessons, but I just don't see it. No one is spending that kind of money unless they are serious about it. You don't spend that kind of money to jerk around in the water. When a $300.00 1/4" neoprene wet suit will do. Or better yet a $20.00 rental.
