By Jake Miller
So, after becoming a dive master the amount of diving I was doing increased a lot, and I was beginning to get worried my trusty 3 year old 5mm wetsuit just wasn’t going to be enough this winter and surely enough one club day, leading 3 dives, I was absolutely freezing by the third dive.
I decided that it was time to get rid of the trusty old wetsuit and buy a semi-dry suit that could handle being dived in almost everyday. I had seen the ScubaPro NovaScotia in the shop plenty of times and had my eye on it after a certain club day. The all black suit with silver stitching and graphics even looked warm! and at $725 RRP it’s definitely worth its weight in gold!
Putting the suit on for the first time was surprisingly easy, seeing many other people almost end up in fights with their semi-dry suits trying to tug them on over their legs and arms the NovaScotia was easy as. The tight fitting and black and silver material made me look way cooler than I did before, or so I thought anyway!
In the water the NovaScotia acts better than it looks, the seals stay tight with minimal leakage, it was comfortable but most of all, it was warm! A few months down the track and it’s still as good as new, even after the trials of wearing it whilst instructing, it is tough as nails and after a double dive I get out the water and most of my torso is still dry! On top of all this the NovaScotia comes with a thigh pocket, this might not sound like much, but, it has come in handy so many times whilst diving!
My verdict:
The good: Warm, comfortable, tough and flexible. Great for any tough/cold condition diving.
The bad: At first the hood/ neck seal were really tight. Soon stretched out however.