Specialty - Ice or Dry Suit

[mcdiver]

I spoke to PADI last fall and inquired about offering a class combining the drysuit with ice diving certification.  They said under no circumstances, you are just setting yourself up for a liability issue.  Should the student panic and not be able to dump the air from their drysuit and go crashing into the bottom side of the ice, you can and probably will be held liabile.  If the student is injured, will your liability insurance cover you?

Back to the topic at hand, I would definately take a drysuit class prior to ice diving.  The drysuit extends your season and allows you to go ice diving more comfortably.  Ice diving also allows you to meet with some dive buddies, both new and old. 

I went ice diving last weekend and had an equipment malfunction, so I chose to end the day of diving with probably 2 minutes bottom time.  I probably had just as good of a time standing on the ice tending, shooting the breeze with a guy I met for the first time that day.  I met Arcflash for the first time last year doing an ice dive on Forest Lake, and since then have probably done about a half dozen dives with him, including a memorable night dive last Labor Day weekend.

It takes a certain breed of diver to want to go under the ice, it is not for everyone, but those that do tend to have a closer bond then the average diver.

Go Dry.