re: gloves
Gloves for both thermal protection and abrasion protection have been a component of recreational diving since it's inception.
In the original dry suit era the divers had a three finger mitts made of heavy duty rubber worn over a pair of gloves. This three fingered mitt design followed into the wet suit era but made of foam neoprene. The gloves were shunned by most as being bulky with reduced dexterity making them difficult to use for normal sport diving.
In 1967 Scuba Pro imported the first sized tailored glove from England for the recreational diver. They were offered in four sizes; #451-XS; #452 -S; #453-M and #454 L. They had some problems and were not well received in the SoCal market.
A few years later they introduced a better made good fitting 1/8 inch glove produced by Ruben Pena Gonzales in one of his plants in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico (FYI == much of the early Scuba Pro products were made or assembled in Baja By Ruben -at one time he had 9 facilities)
With in a few years most manufactures were offering some sort of thermal protection for the diver's hands. Still the many of the SoCal recreational divers of that era preferred a variety of garden or work gloves for abrasion protection and certainly better dexterity. The present generation of divers demand thermal protection over dexterity therefore have thick gloves of neoprene as a component of their dive costume.
Apparently there is also a portion of the current community who wears the old school garden gloves---they will do just fine. One of the best gloves for diving was made from Elk hide. Very very durable had great dexterity, the only criticism was that he thread would deteriorate prior to the glove, but generally after several years of use.
There are many modifications that can be made to garden dive gloves. One that comes to mind is to coat the palms of the dedicated lobster catching gloves with an adhesive and immediately dip into sand creating a very abrasive surface to catch and hold lobsters. But some times the back of the hand takes a beating...Just examine the top of the hand of a old lobster diver --you will see acres and acres of scares.
sdm
WannaLaguna...Grand Cayman! ...I recently returned from there...Did you have the honor of meeting Courtney Platt? He is an ex-dive student of mine..from OC, CM as I recall. Was the driver of the DDS.. was married at 700 feet...Great experienced UW photographer..Lots of photos in National geo etc...sdm
