Choice of Fins for Maldive Channel Dives: Scubapro GO Travel Fins (Size xxs) or Aqualung Hot Spot with Booties

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DivingChipmunk

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Location
New Jersey, USA
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Hello,

We are getting ready for a Maldives Carpe Novo on Dec 17 North Male-South Male-Vaavu-South Ari-North Male. I am having a hard time deciding between two pairs of fins to bring :

1) Scubapro GO Travel fins (size xxs), shown in the left in the picture. It looks small as my shoe size is women's 5.
2) Aqualung Hot Spot (size "regular" men's 8-11), shown in the right in the picture, with my 5mm booties. It's not open heel fins but works with my booties.

My plan was to take Scubapro GO Travel fins as it's light and easy to pack. I used it in Belize and Cozumel lately. Given the warm water in Maldives, I don;t need to wear booties for warmth.
But a friend mentioned that
I may consider a "stronger/bigger" pair of fins for swimming through currents in Maldives. Does that make the bigger sized Aqualung a better choice?

Or neither is " right" for Maldives? And if so, what do you recommend?

Any experience and wisdom to share? Thanks in advance!

Sue
IMG_0305.jpg
 
How do you rate both fins against current?
LoB in Maldives usually use "Dhoni" to bring divers to the site. Would you be happy to walk around the two vessels bare feet or something flimsy? Any injury/cut to your ft is NO fun in diving.
 
How do you rate both fins against current?
LoB in Maldives usually use "Dhoni" to bring divers to the site. Would you be happy to walk around the two vessels bare feet or something flimsy? Any injury/cut to your ft is NO fun in diving.
Thanks @Centrals for your input.
I usually walk around in a pair of sports sandals. Boots would be nice to walk in, but I usually avoid packing them unless I need them for the warmth.

Unfortunately, I do not know how these two fins rate against current, esp Maldives current. It's our first time to Maldives. I have dove in the Scubapro Go traval fins in Belize with very little current, and in Cozumel in drift dives where we did not need to kick much. The Aqualung Hot Shot fins are new to me, as part of a used dive package purchase.
 
I worked some years as an instructor and dive master at Maldives. In those resorts and on the dhonis, we were always bare feet. There is nothing dangerous, just the sun burning the upside of your feet.
Regarding fins, we were all using long freediving fins. Cressi Rondine Gara, in my case.
I would not use anything shorter or weaker in those strong currents.
The other important thing is to be very streamlined for reducing friction as much as possible.
The last trick was to carry a "reef hook": a rod with a hook allowing to get anchored to the coral reef without touching or damiging it...
In some channels the current was so strong that it can rip your mask away...
 
In some channels the current was so strong that it can rip your mask away...
I think I read about a fatality somewhere near Fiji due to this some years back… but I am perplexed - How does that even happen… does it tear the mask strap or does the mask simply work its way up over the head? I have been in currents where I experienced a loosening mask seal at least when I turned my head sideways and I did fear for my mask though.
 
I think I read about a fatality somewhere near Fiji due to this some years back… but I am perplexed - How does that even happen… does it tear the mask strap or does the mask simply work its way up over the head? I have been in currents where I experienced a loosening mask seal at least when I turned my head sideways and I did fear for my mask though.
The two times it did happen to me, I was hooked to the reef exactly on the edge at the entrance of the channel.
In that point the current has a strong vertical component towards the surface. I did protrude slightly over the edge for looking down at hammerheads just below the edge of the channel, and zap! The mask was gone, ripped up over my head.
In one case the mask was retrieved by my wife, who did stay behind the edge, controlling the group of customers we were shepharding.
The other time the mask was gone, and I had to complete the dive (with 10 minutes deco) without mask.
Apart these two extreme cases, the much more common accident was simply a partial dislogment and flooding of the mask, which of course is just a minor inconvenience.
Back to fins.
Another common problem was that many divers, despite giving them long and powerful fins, were unable of using them properly. So they were pulled away from the current, and I, or more often my wife, had to run catching them and pulling them back to the rest of the group.
Another good way of using the reef hook, catching the diver from the H-valve of their tank.
One of these times my wife rescued a customer who was caught by a down current, well below 60 meters.
Of course he went out of air soon later, so she had to give him her secondary before reaching the safety deco tanks at the deco rod.
The guy was so narched that he did not realise he had been rescued.
After a number of reports of similar accidents, at Maldives it was forbidden to do deco dives and to descend more than 30m.
 
My wife wears aqualung, she's happy with them, but booties are necessary to avoid foot injury due to rubbing.

But the main part of this equipment is your legs ! ... and how you use them.

Another reflexion : why going gainst the current ? let you go ... drift dive, SMB, and your dhoni will be there to pick you up.
 
Becouse there is nothing intetesting to see beyond the entrance of the channel.
You want to stay there watching the big animals, who stay at the entrance.
If you leave the current to transport you downstream, the nice part of the dive is gone.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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