As a diver to engage in any deep water diving activities like scuba diving, free-diving, snorkeling or spear-fishing you would need a wetsuit.

Mind you it is not compulsory to wear wetsuit when snorkeling or spear-fishing.

A wetsuit is a special suit made for divers, those who spend a lot of time in water.

The aim is for protection and most especially to keep them warm while going about their deep sea diving activity.

Wetsuits provide warmth by trapping a thin layer of water between the suit and your skin, this helps to conduct heat all around your body while you are submerged in water.

The heat radiating from your body warms up the trapped water which in-turn creates a protective layer of warmth keeping you warm as you dive in cold waters.

This process allows for a warmer feel and comfort as you dive in cool waters, it protects you from shivering in and out of water when you are done with diving for the day.

A type of wetsuit called swimsuit are used mostly for swiping sports, and unlike wetsuit which is meant to keep the body warm in cold water.

Swimsuit are made to reduce drag for swimmers while the professional swimmer glides through the water as they compete in swimming competitions like that of the Olympics.

Wetsuits comes in different styles and thickness, when you go shopping for a wetsuit you would have varieties to choose from.

These styles are not for fashion purposes despite being very stylish, just like the different thickness they have the roles they place mostly to provide comfort and your needs at the time while you embark on your diving journey based on the weather conditions there about.

You cannot dive in a really cold water like 60 degrees with a light wetsuit with a thickness of 3mm you would end up cutting short your dive journey while you spend the rest of the day shivering.

There are a lot of varying wetsuit styles but there is two main styles that are common, the full and short wetsuits.

The full wetsuit, everyone would have come across a full wetsuit at some point be it on the TV, the internet or the beach. 

It is the most common of all wetsuits.

It is ideal for colder waters because it stretches all the way from the neck to the wrist down to the ankles of the legs.

The short wetsuit are not as common as the full wetsuit, but they are still as useful as the full wetsuit especially when you’re diving in warmer waters.

These have shorter limbs which gets to the elbows and it goes down almost getting to the knees.

Now that I have explained a bit on what wetsuits are, what they are used for, and the significance of them. We can now delve into the main focus of this article.


How To Pack A Wetsuit

Packing a wetsuit is easy as long as you follow the simple steps to pack it and you’re good to go, mind you it is best to pack your wetsuit forehand so as to avoid rush hours.

This mostly applies to those who travel for diving events in other states or maybe you don’t live close to the beach and have to drive for miles to get there, or it could be you just want to pack it away for a long period of time.

Considering how good wetsuits are expensive and the more you take care of it the longer it lasts, here are ways to prep your wetsuit before packing it:


1# Dry the suit: 

After swimming turn the suit from the inside out and dry it by using a hanger, this enables the inside of the suit to dry up completely.

Once that has been achieved turn the suit back out and allow the little water left on the suit dry up.


2# Store the suit: 

When you have successfully dried the suit, store it by hanging on a non-slip hanger which keeps it ready for your next swim and by doing this you avoid it creasing up.

After going about this two process, you can then proceed to packing the wetsuit by:


Step 1: Make sure your suit is well laid out on a flat surface, this lets you avoid creases while folding.

After laying the suit face down, zip up the zip at the back or if it is at the front unzip it; make sure the chest is facing down as you fold.


Step 2: Take your first fold at the knees of your wetsuit to avoid creating any unwanted creases, do not fold your wetsuit at the middle this would leave a long crease at the middle of your wetsuit this is not ideal, creases shorten the life span of your wetsuits.

This step is pretty obvious as you can tell that the next move is to fold the arms to the back of the suit.

You can either fold the arms parallel to one another, or fold them diagonally crossing the arms over one another.

You can also check which way the shoulders of the suit bends and fold them towards that direction for natural fit of the suit.

Now that you are done with the hands and legs of the suit, go ahead to fold the suit in half, take the suit at the waist and fold it where the knees get to the top of the suit.

Note: You can always fold the wetsuit in half one more time to make it even smaller and easier to pack.

Remember the arms and legs of the suit are to be on the inside as you fold the suit in half, if they are not on the inside and are dangling around, then you have gone about the folding the wrong way and you need to start over with the steps above.


Photo by: Malik Skydsgaard