It's cold! What do you wear? Options

[EMac]

After Saturday's cold, I realized perhaps shorts only isn't enough to stay warm in a mountain creek in mid-Oct.

Had the sun come out it would have been tolerable with some numb feet and hands only (spring for me really), but with nothing to warm the rest of me up, Jesse and I ended up packing in early (btw, she was in dry overalls, and was still cold).

I definitely want to be out there digging still, but would also like to retain all my digits while avoiding hypothermia (I have that t-shirt already). What do y'all use to keep warm in the water, and how has your experience been with what you use (brand, model, etc.)?

I've seen the discussions around gloves not mattering since they'll get ruined quickly moving cobbles, and also saw the pic of Mrs. CP in the water in what appears to be a dry covering over her legs and full length panning gloves (with the elastic in the back). I've never bought any of this stuff, don't know which brands are better than others, what thicknesses or sizes to buy or what features I should look for. I saw one thread on wet suits, but there was only 1 reply.

I can very much envision myself underwater with a hot water system some day, and would prefer to be as efficient with funds as possible (i.e. only buy once for the next 5 years or so....unless this is an unrealistic expectation). This might give me some good starting points for my looming search.