Quote Originally Posted by acelockco View Post
I personally wear gloves on every dive, usually necessary for thermal protection, but even in warm waters I wear some thin gloves. I feel more comfortable knowing that my hands have some protection on them. I know not to put my hands on the reef, so I don't, but I do touch a lot of things when digging through a wreck for artifacts, or when trying to grab a lobster, and especially when going up an anchor line or mooring buoy line.
Ace, very good point re: mooring buoy lines etc. Lots of interesting little critters living on those and most of them seem to have some sort of "stinging" capability. Also, watch out for rusty fish hooks caught in the line. I don't always wear gloves, but if I don't have them with me, I have been known to grasp the mooring line in my elbow for the safety stop, if there's any sort of current. Either that or hang on to one of my buddies who's wearing the gloves