Whoops, forgot about the rest of your question. Hood, gloves and boots? A hood is often recommended to help augment the exposure protection of your suit, but this is really a personal choice. I usually don't bother, but my wife won't dive without her cap. As to gloves, I was trained to not use gloves a long time ago, and you can find lots of debate here on this. In general, they are not much use unless you are wreck diving, in my opinion, but then again I am a photographer, and gloves really get in my way when handling my camera. Others insist on them. And as for boots, I use open heeled fins and use the best hard soled boots I can get, which has paid me dividends so many times I can't even count them. You want the real, molded hard sole boots, not those slippery like things with the flexible rubber soles. If you use full foot fins, then of course you will want rubber socks instead of boots, but do use something. I have seen a lot of people who get stung or nipped around their bare ankles, and pack hydrocortisone cream for them in my first aid kit. Again, good luck. Woody