Nevertheless, I was fairly comfortable, or so I thought, diving Mediterranean Lebanon in the early spring and winter seasons, when the water temperature would be between 18° C (64. 4° F) and 25° C (77° F).

It wasn’t until one frustratingly cold day of November 1994 that I decided to borrow a friend’s wetsuit jacket in order to prolong a spear fishing afternoon. To be honest, although it was such a relief to be finally able to dive longer, I hated wearing it because it limited my freedom of movement in the water.

Then, back in Canada, in the spring of 1995, I saw an ad on the Internet for a four-piece 7mm wetsuit and I bought it. (Jacket, hood, farmer-john trouser and vest). I was finally able to freedive and spearfish in Montreal and Rhode Island without endangering my life.

But although it saved me from hypothermia, I would dread each time I had to wear it, because of the “claustrophobic” sensation that came over me when diving in it. Also, I began to think it was normal to carry a cold-cream ointment to relieve the sore skin behind my knees, my neck and under my armpits that resulted from chaffing against the fabric lining. After all, all my dive buddies used the cream before and after the dive. I started to develop an allergic reaction (rashes) on various parts of my body each time I wore the wetsuit.

So, in the winter of 1995, I purchased a 5mm two-piece wetsuit from a dive shop in Beirut, Lebanon, which would be less restricting for freediving in the warmer Mediterranean Sea. Although it was a more convenient wetsuit than the 7mm 4-piece I had left in Canada, I missed my teenage years freediving, wetsuit free.

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