Bonaire Footwear - Booties Needed?
- Thread starter WebmasterJ
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
DiveMaven
Contributor
I wear Chuck Taylor sneakers as well, but the low tops. I voted for "regular booties" because my regular booties are Pinnacle booties with a medium sole, which was great until I started wearing the Chucks 3 years ago for shore diving.
OP
WebmasterJ
Contributor
Well 13 votes with none for full-foot fins without booties I think we may have to bite the bullet and get some booties and open heel fins. Thanks for all of the input.
OP
WebmasterJ
Contributor
CaliDenna
Contributor
I went there for the first time last Sept. and I wear Hot Shot fins which are basically barefoot. Found out the hard way it was not the setup to have! (But I did get a free "lift" in for the first dive) Booties will not fit into them but I went into town and got the hardest sole water shoes I could find, put them on to walk out and then slipped them off when deep enough to put my fins on. They could be worn in my fins but not as comfie as I would have liked so I tucked the shoes into my cumberbund while diving.
lmorin
Contributor
Like most issues, this one has two sides. My wife used full foot fins for years, including 3 yrs of multiple trips/yr to Bonaire. FlipFlops to the shore; barefoot to the water, etc. Yes, you can do it, but it really is not comfortable. If you have the money, buy the booties and open heel fins. My wife finally did and it was a good decision. A medium hard sole is sufficient, IMHO.
OP
WebmasterJ
Contributor
Well my wife and I just returned from Bonaire and here were our findings.
Entries: they range from the softest white sand you can imagine, to old dead corral, to extremely sharp partially eroded ancient corral.
As divers who strongly prefer full footed fins (freedivers and current divers will understand) we wore extremely unstylish aquasock type shoes from our truck into the water, when we were in 3+ feet of water we floated and put our fins on, at this point I clipped our aquasocks to my BC, when we came back in we reversed the process.
So my recommendation is if you are OK wearing booties/fins do so, I would take a medium+ sole booties. If you are like myself and are not willing to give up the power/speed of a fullfooted fin take some kind of shoe that you can wear in and then put them on. One guy on our trip tried going in barefoot and it was a constant hassle to find the best possible entry and he eventually ended up wearing flip-flops into the water then using one of my clips to secure them during the dive.
Hope this helps someone else pack for their trip, dive safe and have fun.
Entries: they range from the softest white sand you can imagine, to old dead corral, to extremely sharp partially eroded ancient corral.
As divers who strongly prefer full footed fins (freedivers and current divers will understand) we wore extremely unstylish aquasock type shoes from our truck into the water, when we were in 3+ feet of water we floated and put our fins on, at this point I clipped our aquasocks to my BC, when we came back in we reversed the process.
So my recommendation is if you are OK wearing booties/fins do so, I would take a medium+ sole booties. If you are like myself and are not willing to give up the power/speed of a fullfooted fin take some kind of shoe that you can wear in and then put them on. One guy on our trip tried going in barefoot and it was a constant hassle to find the best possible entry and he eventually ended up wearing flip-flops into the water then using one of my clips to secure them during the dive.
Hope this helps someone else pack for their trip, dive safe and have fun.
Kharon
Contributor
Last time I wore my Tilos regular mid height cold water boots and they were OK (barely). The are good for small rocks and larger ones that aren't sharp. For this trip I have Acona molded sole 3.5mm lowcuts. My entries will be much better and more comfortable with the hard soles. Last time my feet occasionally ended up a bit bruised and sore. Won't happen this time.
Doctorfish
Contributor
I've made the flip flop to full fit fin swap in the past but it was not a good idea. Your footing in the flip flops in shallow water is not secure. It is also a pain to wade out to deep enough water, swap foot wear and clip the flip flops to BC and then reverse the whole process on the way out. I Hardsoles for me now.
Similar threads
