Whether you're diving warm, tropical waters in a swimsuit, or wearing a 2-piece, hooded, 7mm wetsuit in while you dive in the Pacific Northwest, if your feet are cold, it's hard to enjoy the dive. Water removes heat from our bodies at more than 20 times the rate that air of the same temperature would. (At the PADI website, they currently list the heat absorption rate of water as 800 times the rate of air, but I'm pretty sure that it's a typo.) Additionally, the water at depth is often colder than the surface water, and many divers make the mistake of choosing their exposure protection based on surface temperatures, instead of bottom temperature.
When you start feeling cold, scuba diving stops being fun.
So how can divers avoid getting cold for the duration of their dives? One way is to dive a drysuit (there are even drysuits for warm-water diving out there.) But a drysuit is a big investment; most divers who don't frequently dive in cold-water (and even many divers who do) aren't likely to go that route. The best answer for all divers is to make sure that whatever exposure protection they use fits them properly, and is appropriate for the bottom temperatures at the dive site and the planned duration of the dive.
Getting exposure protection that fits well is essential. For many women who dive, this can be a challenge, but finding the right wetsuit, the right dive gloves, and the right dive boots is well worth the effort! Here's why:
Heat loss is a problem for both male and female divers, of course, and feeling cold is one of the most common factors that can cause scuba divers of either gender to choose to end their dives earlier than planned. Many women experience discomfort from cold most accutely in their hands and feet. The reason our hands and feet are particularly sensitive to the cold is partially due to the fact that when exposed to a colder environment, the human body starts to restrict blood flow in the extremities, in order to shunt more warm blood to the core to protect the body's vital organs. Although this is a physiological response to cold that all men and women have, the process is much more efficient in women (meaning that for most women, the temperature of their extremeties drops lower than it will for most men in the same environment.) Keeping your hands and feet warm while diving will allow you to enjoy your dive more, and stay underwater longer (within your planned depth and time limits, of course!)
Although finding a women's wetsuit with the right cut and size for your individual body can take a while (read more of my thoughts about women's wetsuits here,) your search for the right gloves and dive boots (aka booties) will probably be much easier. The key is to wear boots that fit snugly, but aren't too small for your feet. You want to be able to stand in them comfortably, without your toes being squished, but you don't want any large spaces inside the boots, which will allow more water inside them, and also increases the volume of water that flows through your boots as you move through the water. (More water moving through the boots means more water absorbing heat from your feet.)
There are many models and styles of dive boots out there to choose from. In addition to finding a good fit, choosing a thicker neoprene, a thicker sole, and higher tops will help keep your feet warmer and your dive more enjoyable. There are also boots that have various impermeable materials affixed to the outside of the neoprene to provide improved insulation and less drag.
Keeping your feet warm is one of the easiest ways to make every dive better. Even if you do all your scuba diving in water too warm for a wetsuit, a thin pair of booties will do wonders for your comfort level and enjoyment (not to mention protect your feet from sharp objects and accidental stings as you walk around on shore or into and out of the water.)
One note of caution when shopping for new dive boots: make sure that you try them on with the fins you plan to wear when you're diving. Otherwise you may return home to find that your new, warmer booties don't fit in the fins you bought when you were wearing your old pair of booties. Most open-heel fins will accommodate a reasonable variety of boots for their given size, but occasionally a thicker boot or sole can cause you to need fins that are one size larger. In the long term, getting a great pair of warm boots for diving is probably worth doing even if it means buying new fins, too, but if you need to go down that path, it's much better to know about it before you're at the dive site with brand new boots and fins that don't fit anymore!
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