AdivingBel
Diver
For socks I like XS Scuba Beefy Socks. They are a bit thicker than plain lycra, adds a bit of padding, and dry nearly as fast.
Shore diving question...booties?
- Thread starter jorgie6
- Start date
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oldschoolto
Contributor
For your viewing pleasure....
Jim.....
Jim.....
boat sju
Contributor
oldschoolto
Contributor
I'll try something different
oldschoolto
Contributor
Okay, You can all watch the video of oil slick in soft rubber sole booties...
Jim
Jim
Montana Tom
Registered
The wife and I have done 0ver 100 dives on Bonaire and Cayman Brack with 5 fingers and wouldn't trade them for any other bootie. They give you dexterity to go over all surfaces and just now after 4 years are they starting to look a bit worn. They fit snug to your foot that you don't even realize they are there. I do reccomend the velcro rather than laces as to reduce the bulk on top of foot. You can usually find them on clearance at REI or My daughter bought some from EBAY. I've seen people in booties sloshing around and saying their feet slide from side to side in them.
Bruce Justinen
Contributor
Hi this is Bruce from SEASOFT SCUBA and I just ran across this thread and the video above from "Old School To".
The point of the video, from what I can surmise is that he and his dive partner can dive "Oil Slick" with soft soled booties meaning they don't have to invest in better footwear. He also had holes in his wetsuit and the fins both of them were carrying were also ones I would never use.
If a backpacker put up a video showing that he could hike to Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic Mountains of WA State in tennis shoes and he did so would we admire him or think he was foolish. Now I am not saying OLD SCHOOL is foolish because those booties work for him and that's fine but let's not suppose for one second that that means they work for everyone.
So let me give you another viewpoint that is opposite of his.
I think that I want to dive with gear that is designed for tough places, no, for even tougher places because I just might end up there someday like I did on the BIG ISLAND where there was nasty lava and it was hard to walk even with good solid dive footwear.
I want my fins to be the best, there just might be a current or an emergency that I need every bit of speed, endurance or both to get me there.
I view gear through that lens. I want my suits to be the warmest because the dive boat might have to leave me like it did at Race Rocks in British Columbia for 45 minutes while it helped with a rescue. I had really good gear on, I was chilled, others were hypothermic.
I want to be comfortable because I just might want to do that 3rd dive with the amazing folks at Conch Republic Divers in Key Largo or in my drysuit with Rick on the BANDITO CHARTER boats out of Tacoma WA on Puget Sound.
Diving isn't about seeing how to get by with the least, it is enjoying it to the max with the best.
Diving was meant to be warm, comfortable, and safe where your gear doesn't interfere negatively but only enhances the experience.
Maybe I'm getting old but after those 6,000 plus dives I still remember the dives not the gear. Call me crazy!
The point of the video, from what I can surmise is that he and his dive partner can dive "Oil Slick" with soft soled booties meaning they don't have to invest in better footwear. He also had holes in his wetsuit and the fins both of them were carrying were also ones I would never use.
If a backpacker put up a video showing that he could hike to Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic Mountains of WA State in tennis shoes and he did so would we admire him or think he was foolish. Now I am not saying OLD SCHOOL is foolish because those booties work for him and that's fine but let's not suppose for one second that that means they work for everyone.
So let me give you another viewpoint that is opposite of his.
I think that I want to dive with gear that is designed for tough places, no, for even tougher places because I just might end up there someday like I did on the BIG ISLAND where there was nasty lava and it was hard to walk even with good solid dive footwear.
I want my fins to be the best, there just might be a current or an emergency that I need every bit of speed, endurance or both to get me there.
I view gear through that lens. I want my suits to be the warmest because the dive boat might have to leave me like it did at Race Rocks in British Columbia for 45 minutes while it helped with a rescue. I had really good gear on, I was chilled, others were hypothermic.
I want to be comfortable because I just might want to do that 3rd dive with the amazing folks at Conch Republic Divers in Key Largo or in my drysuit with Rick on the BANDITO CHARTER boats out of Tacoma WA on Puget Sound.
Diving isn't about seeing how to get by with the least, it is enjoying it to the max with the best.
Diving was meant to be warm, comfortable, and safe where your gear doesn't interfere negatively but only enhances the experience.
Maybe I'm getting old but after those 6,000 plus dives I still remember the dives not the gear. Call me crazy!
boat sju
Contributor
well, good for you
I had/still have and use on LOB's a pair of booties that look very similar to Oldschoolto's, and I wore them for many, many years on Bonaire. Worked OK, I guess, and still work ok on nice smooth boat decks.
Then I bought me a pair of hard-soled boots on Bon one year when buying some for my young daughter, kinda on a whim.
What I found out was that the problem never was one of things cutting or sticking me, though I did jam one of those thorns at Oil Slick through my boot into my foot one time. Not sure any boot would have helped - those thorns could flatten tires. And the problem is almost never when walking around on the surface. It's when you step down into the water or up onto ironshore when exiting - those times when you can't see where you're putting you feet.
The problem was sharp rock poking me in my tender soles and causing me to lose my balance. Not penetrating the sole, just poking me enough to throw me off. I discovered that I had been tip-toeing through the semi-rough stuff, much as Oldschoolto does in the video.
In all the years on Bon with soft soles I never fell, but I did have several close calls. Mostly when exiting at the southern sites where you step up onto iron shore and the foam is hiding that spike sticking up, about to poke you in your instep when you put your weight down on it.
With the hard-soled boots I just walk, albeit carefully, but just walk with much less risk of falling.
And to me, falling is the real problem.
I'm an old-school kind of guy, that is, I am just old, and my gear reflects that. I used those soft-soles for 15+ years on bonaire. But it doesn't make a lot of sense when some new boots with a molded hard sole are not a lot of $$, and make life easier and safer for the old guy, for whom a fall is a bad thing.
Then I bought me a pair of hard-soled boots on Bon one year when buying some for my young daughter, kinda on a whim.
What I found out was that the problem never was one of things cutting or sticking me, though I did jam one of those thorns at Oil Slick through my boot into my foot one time. Not sure any boot would have helped - those thorns could flatten tires. And the problem is almost never when walking around on the surface. It's when you step down into the water or up onto ironshore when exiting - those times when you can't see where you're putting you feet.
The problem was sharp rock poking me in my tender soles and causing me to lose my balance. Not penetrating the sole, just poking me enough to throw me off. I discovered that I had been tip-toeing through the semi-rough stuff, much as Oldschoolto does in the video.
In all the years on Bon with soft soles I never fell, but I did have several close calls. Mostly when exiting at the southern sites where you step up onto iron shore and the foam is hiding that spike sticking up, about to poke you in your instep when you put your weight down on it.
With the hard-soled boots I just walk, albeit carefully, but just walk with much less risk of falling.
And to me, falling is the real problem.
I'm an old-school kind of guy, that is, I am just old, and my gear reflects that. I used those soft-soles for 15+ years on bonaire. But it doesn't make a lot of sense when some new boots with a molded hard sole are not a lot of $$, and make life easier and safer for the old guy, for whom a fall is a bad thing.
A few years back family showed up on a Bonaire trip with full foot fins, and of course no boots at all.
Our solution, which worked out pretty well was to have them wear rubber hard sole sandals which we would thread on to the the strap of their BCDs for the dive once they were in deeper water, and then don the fins.
At the exit the kids would remove the fins, and put their sandals back on for the exit.
This worked very well, at least far better than trying Bonaire entries and exits in bare feet.
Our solution, which worked out pretty well was to have them wear rubber hard sole sandals which we would thread on to the the strap of their BCDs for the dive once they were in deeper water, and then don the fins.
At the exit the kids would remove the fins, and put their sandals back on for the exit.
This worked very well, at least far better than trying Bonaire entries and exits in bare feet.
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