Look into the old style neoprene suits, they can be had REALLY cheap now, I have seen them new for $350 on a closeout. They are extremely durable and warm. Of course at that price, you can replace them as they wear so you don’t have to worry about a failure as much. Look for the neoprene seals as they too are tougher. And whoever told you that the dry suit will fail is 100% correct. It happens more often than you would think, but it is usually not a big deal, you don’t freeze and you can continue to do your decompression requirement. Don’t ever think a dry suit is dry, I am always wet after a dive.
Well, the wet/dry issue aside, the job sounds interesting. I am sure everyone would love if you posted a new thread about your scuba job. I know a lot of us would love to have scuba as part of our job. Unfortunately that usually means difficult commercial diving or low pay dive jobs like DM or instructor.
Ace