Hood requirement for Galapagos in Feb

[DazedAndConfuzed]

Hi,

Heading to Galapagos soon for Feb trip, was wondering if a hood is required. I have a 7mm, but wife has a neoprene doo-rag called scab. She tried my hood zip on hood (2 sizes larger than what she would wear) and found it claustrophobic. She said she is going to just use the doo-rag. Is that warm enough for water in Feb?

Also, for gloves, we got some 5mm and 7mm neoprene stuff with some tougher fabric on the face of mine and some rubber grippies on hers. I presume they would shred up in time, so I would be bringing piles leather and suede faced garden and work gloves. Would those harden up and turn brittle before our wolf/darwin dives are over?

As for knee pads, I might just bring my rollerblade knee pads with the hard plastic face. I hope it won't be too slippery.

 

[ronscuba]

I find hoods claustrophobic too, but they keep me warm. I don't think the doo rag is going to provide much warmth. You might want to get her a proper fitting hood to bring along just in case. If she gets cold, she might decide to just deal with the closed in feeling.

I wouldn't go too crazy with the gloves. My trip had a few people who brought multiple sets of gloves, but one set was more than enough. With the currents you do hold onto rocks with barnacles, but unless you are constantly rubbing your hands back and forth over the barnacles, I don't see how a glove will shred in one trip. Then again, one extra set will not take up much room. One person lost 1 glove so a spare did come in handy.

Your profile lists NYC. Do you go to any of the NYC dive clubs ?

 

[DazedAndConfuzed]

Thanks. I picked up a couple of hoods for her to try out. Will just have to trim the face seal to size.

As for gloves, my concern is having one that is tough while still being able to operate all the controls on my camera/strobe/P&S camera for video combo. Grab tight onto rocks, squeeze thighs onto rock, operate camera, fiddle with white balance on camera, fiddle with strobe, change between UW mode and non-UW mode w/strobe, fiddle with white balance on P&S, change between UW mode and manual WB mode on P&S. I think I need to be anchored down for all that so I don't get swept away.

I don't go to any scuba clubs. I am in the greater NYC (outer boroughs). I did meet someone in my last liveaboard that wanted me to come to her club in LI. Never did. Not sure what the local clubs talk about besides planning on going to dutch spring.

 

[tstormdiver]

I went in Sept. 2010. I used a 5/7mm hood & was fine the entire week. Water temps ranged between 50- 70 degrees F. As for gloves, most everyone in our group used XS Scuba's 3mm Bug Grabber gloves that had Kevlar palms, fingers & tips. The gloves performed beautifully. Those who were operating still & video cameras had virtually no problems with dexterity.

 

[ronscuba]

When possible, I liked to wedge myself between some rocks or straddle a rock between my legs. This freed up both hands. There were a few of us shooting video or photo and it was funny since we were all looking for the perfect rock.

In Manhattan, there are 3 clubs I know of that meet monthly. NYUPS is underwater photo/video focused. Sea Gypsies is mainly about local diving. Ocean Blue runs trips. All three have guest speakers each month. The presentations and guest speakers can be pretty good. Doesn't cost anything to attend a meeting.

 

[RJP]

One thing to remember in Galapagos is that you are usually either stationary or drifting. Either way, you're not actively swimming so you're not generating heat. Net result is you'll be a tad bit colder than you ordinarilly would be in water of the same temp where you were swimming along the whole time. I dove dry with my regular 7mm hood. Can't imagine going any other way.

 

[DazedAndConfuzed]

Just came back from Galapagos. Some of the dives had thermocline temps down to 60 deg. Didn't have the hood or gloves. Felt like I dunk my head in freezing water and my fingers were going numb. So used my 7mm hood afterward, but on Darwin/Wolf, with alot of long intense swims into current, I felt like my head was overheating and was about to explode. So no hood after in Darwin/Wolf, especially with the speedy DM.