They’ll Be ‘Fin’ Without It

(I’m from Finland and we’re on vacation in Australia. We’re going for this ‘introductory dive’ thing for people who don’t have diving experience. There’s first a half an hour crash course to using the equipment and then a half an hour dive with a dive master. You’re hooked to the dive master throughout the whole dive. There’s about 15 of us on this dive, everyone doing this for the first time. We’re all from different countries. This happens during the crash course.)

Instructor: “Here are the wetsuits, and there are the insulation suits with longer sleeves and legs. Put the insulation suit first and then the wetsuit on top. We’re going for a depth of about 10 meters so it’s gonna be colder there.”

(I’m not convinced that I’ll need the insulation suit since the waters really seem almost too warm. The wetsuit has sleeves to elbows and legs to knees, insulation suit to wrists and ankles.)

Me: “I’m not sure I want the insulation suit. How warm or cold is the water at 10 meters deep?”

Instructor: “It’s really quite cold already, something like 22 Celsius. It’s like that little pond there.”

Me: *I already know I don’t need the insulation suit, but just to make sure I check the pool temperature with my feet* “Okay, I don’t need the insulation suit. I’ll just take the wet suit.”

Instructor: “You’re gonna be in the water for 30 minutes. Are you really sure you don’t want it?”

Me: “I’m sure; the water’s almost too warm.”

Instructor: *goes through his papers* “Oh, now I understand. You’re from Finland! I wouldn’t give you one; you’d be cooked alive in it!”