Gloves?

[Mark Derail]

Something to learn - never use bare skin on the buoy lines - after that first time, I wrapped my arm around the line, having my 3mm wetsuit protecting me.

Sylvie cradled the line with her legs.

Problem with coral bites is that there are buggers living inside your skins for months causing painful flareups.

 

[Drew Sailbum]

By the way...do they have a "law" there regarding knives?

As best as I can tell it is not a law but many dive operators will strongly encourage or insist that guests not take a knife on a Stingray City dive.

Why? See Mark Derail's comment:

I am NOT happy that a few idiots ruined it for all of us.

Idiots have pulled knives on the rays in the past.

---------- Post added April 9th, 2012 at 03:37 PM ----------

One other exception on the gloves issue: lionfish culling.

Licensed persons may take invasive lionfish: whilst wearing gloves, in a Marine Park or Replenishment Zone, whilst on scuba, and/or which are less than 8 inches long. This is a significant exception to the general regulations of the Marine Law. See: http://www.doe.ky/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Lionfish-Brochure.pdf

AFAIK the Cayman Islands Department of Environment is primarily licensing lionfish cullers within the local dive community. I'm not sure if they have procedures in place for training and licensing of tourists.

 

[AggieDiver]

The reality is that currents in Cayman are pretty rare, and generally mild if present at all. You are very unlikely to need the gloves for the purpose you stated. As was stated before, please don't try to put the DM in the position of taking money over following the law. In the worst case, that is bribery, and I think it is just wrong to consider doing it over something so insignificant as whether you can wear gloves in a place you don't really need to wear gloves. In all the time I have spent diving there over the cours of 5 week long trips, I have never experienced a current strong enough even have to fin too much against it, much less needing to hang on to a mooring line.

People in the US complain all the time about corruption in 3rd world countries and how slippery the laws are, yet you are willing to go to a modern country like the Caymans with the plan to bribe somebody to ignore the law. Not to mention that if other divers see you doing it, others will want to do it too, including those with less than stellar buoyancy skills. So you would be encouraging behavior that would be detrimental to the reef system. Sorry to go off on a rant, but the whole idea just rubs me the wrong way. Kinda helps us all earn the title of "ugly Americans"...

---------- Post added April 9th, 2012 at 05:19 PM ----------

BTW, I dive with surgical shears in my BC pocket and never have any issue from any DM.

 

[SAPIUS]

Having been diving the Cayman's since 1990 and seeing a decline in reef/reef-critter quality and quantity over a period of time (there is a blight of reasons collectively but we as divers need to share our involvement), I fully support any 'laws/regulations/mandates' etc that improve the quality of the diving environment in the Caymans... I could write volumes about careless/clueless/arrogant divers so I fully support the 'no glove' law. As Bubbleblocker said IF you have a legitmate need to wear gloves there is a process to get a waiver. Just as a reminder of some diver's DUH/STUPIDITY this pic says it all>>>

I do not dive with gloves, but would really prefer to do such, but I would rather set the example for all not to do and respect the Cayman marine conservation laws

 

[BubbleBlocker]

The reality is that currents in Cayman are pretty rare, and generally mild if present at all. You are very unlikely to need the gloves for the purpose you stated.

+1

We're there pretty much every month of the year these days and I can't recall a single time I've ever had to grab a mooring line. I mean, c'mon ... think about it ... The reason there isn't drift diving in the Caymans is because there's generally no current.

If you feel that not being able to wear gloves presents that much of a risk, and your doctor agrees with you, by all means go through the process and request a waiver. It's a quick and easy solution when there's a real problem, vs. just a perceived one.

 

[Mark Derail]

Current & winds were so strong, first week of March, that all week a small craft advisory was in effect. Stingray city was closed all week.
High swells, red flag beaches.

A 30 yr old, while at Calico Jacks at night around 8pm, just a couple of days before we got there, walked to the beach, [speculation: to the waves...went for a swim? ] never to be seen. A huge search effort was organized.

Our first dive, around March 4th, where we held on the mooring line for our safety stop and get rid of reverse block, the current was strong enough to make me almost vertical. A few days later it got better.

Gloves...Gloves! You know, what should be allowed - cut off the fingers! Half a glove is better than no glove.

 

[lulubelle]

For those with legitimate health issues (e.g., Raynaud's or extreme allergic reactions to marine life stings, etc.) you can request an exemption for the duration of your trip. The exemption is issued by the Cayman Marine Conservation Board. You will need a letter from your physician. Your dive shop should be able to assist with this, and it's advisable to make your request several weeks prior to your trip.

This is the correct answer. Certainly if the stings you had were severe/life threatening, your doctor should be able to support a medical waiver. I can assure you that they are quite strict about the no glove policy in the Cayman Islands and many dive staff are unaware that there is even the possibility of being granted a medical exception and may tell you that it is impossible even if you are standing there with a medical letter. I found it to be a better idea to notify the operator before my arrival so that it was expected and all permissions were obtained. I even had one DM remind me to put on my gloves before I jumped.

Even still, I don't think some of the dive staff liked that I was wearing them as I had not shared the particular medical reasons for doing so with them, and one made the comment that it shouldn't matter if I didn't touch anything (which in my case is not true), until they saw how I dive, with both hands tucked under my armpits, in the manner of a wreck diver. I don't touch anything.

A glove wearing Caymanian diver

 

[BubbleBlocker]

A 30 yr old, while at Calico Jacks at night around 8pm, just a couple of days before we got there, walked to the beach, to the waves...was swept away, never to be seen. A huge search effort was organized.

Not to quibble, but this is how rumors start. If you're referencing Nathan Clarke, he disappeared on February 25 while we were still on island and the seas and winds were still calm. I went diving that day and conditions were quite nice. It was never determined what happened to Nathan and the search involved both sea and land. The reason they started focusing on the water was because his cell phone was found in 10 feet of water by someone visiting on a cruise.

On the issue of gloves, your idea of fingerless gloves isn't a bad one at all. An obvious alternative would be to carry gloves in your pocket in case of an extreme situation such as you described. I know that the conditions in March after we left certainly turned toward the unusual!

 

[Drew Sailbum]

A 30 yr old, while at Calico Jacks at night around 8pm, just a couple of days before we got there, walked to the beach, to the waves...was swept away, never to be seen. A huge search effort was organized.

Respectfully, no one knows what happened to that man. There has been little evidence found in relation to his disappearance and there is absolutely no reason to believe he was swept away by a wave while walking on the beach.

FACT. The man is missing. FACT. His cell phone was recovered from the water, close enough to shore that it could have been thrown in by someone on the beach. Little else is known and speculation is not warranted.

---------- Post added April 10th, 2012 at 08:20 AM ----------

Current & winds were so strong, first week of March, that all week a small craft advisory was in effect. Stingray city was closed all week.

As others have noted, strong currents are rare in Cayman. In nearly 5 years of guiding dives in Cayman we did a drift dive only one time. The standard here is to move the diving to a different part of the island for calmer seas and minimal current. North, West, or South there is almost always calm crystal blue and clear water available.

 

[AggieDiver]

Our first dive, around March 4th, where we held on the mooring line for our safety stop and get rid of reverse block, the current was strong enough to make me almost vertical. A few days later it got better.

Forgive me if I misunderstand what you are saying here, but how would a current make you go vertical? Was it a downwelling off of a wall or something?

My experience has been that if you were diving in high swells and small craft advisories, grabbing the mooring line is likely to result in feeling like the line is trying to take your arm off at the shoulder. Because of the way the boat will react to the waves and winds, it pulls the mooring line back and forth through the water and makes it seem as though there is a very strong current. If you had released the mooring line, you probably would have found the actual current to be less than you thought.