Do You Wear Gloves When Scuba Diving?

Do you wear gloves when diving?

Article by Mark Powell

Image featuring Sergi Navarro

In many parts of the world gloves are not required but when diving in temperate or cold water they are essential. Most divers who use gloves put them on as one of the steps in kitting up but in this article, I am going to suggest you try something different.

When I look around most dive boats, I see divers put on their suit, weight belt, BCD and cylinder, fins, hood, mask and then gloves. The order may vary slightly and sometimes the gloves are not the absolute last piece of equipment to be put on, but it is usually one of the last.

In fact, I know many divers will do their buddy check first and only then put on their gloves. The reason most divers give for putting their gloves on last is that it is easier to kit up when they are not wearing gloves. The thicker the gloves the more unwieldy they are and the more difficult it is and so they try to put as much of their gear on before having to put on the unwieldy gloves.

There is no doubt that it is harder to do up buckles, tighten straps, adjust your mask or connect your dry suit hose when wearing gloves. It is harder to find and operate all your equipment during your buddy check if you are wearing gloves and so the logic of putting your gloves on last seems to make sense.

However, the fact that it is harder to connect up your equipment and perform your buddy check while wearing gloves also means it is harder to operate your equipment during the dive while wearing gloves. It is possible to avoid wearing them while doing our initial kit up and buddy checks, but in cold water, it is not possible to avoid operating your equipment with gloved hands.

This means that by avoiding wearing gloves while kitting up and doing a buddy check, you are limiting your opportunity to practice operating your equipment while wearing them to just the in-water part of the dive. If you have to operate a buckle, reattach an inflator hose or adjust your mask while underwater it is still going to be difficult to do this while wearing gloves, but you now also have limited experience and muscle memory of doing it while wearing gloves.

My suggestion to you is to switch the order you do things and put your gloves on as early as possible during your kitting up routine. Put your suit on and then put on your gloves. Once you have done that, put on your weight belt while wearing gloves. Next, put on your BCD, tighten the straps, do up the buckle and connect your dry suit inflation hose while continuing to wear your gloves. Put on your hood and then your mask before finally conducting your whole buddy check – while wearing gloves.

To begin with it will seem awkward and unnecessarily cumbersome, but if you keep going you will find that it becomes easier and easier each time you do it. Before long, you will be just as comfortable kitting up while wearing gloves as you were previously. In addition, if you need to adjust your equipment, reconnect an inflation hose, find your alternate air source or your SPG while in the water you will find that it has become much easier.

By making your kitting up slightly harder in the short term you will develop better muscle memory in the long term and will be much better prepared to deal with an issue in the water should it ever occur. After a while you will look at other divers putting their gloves on last and wonder why they are taking a shortcut like that when with bit of practice they can improve their confidence and ability to deal with issues in the water.

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