Do free diving fins work better when drift diving in strong currents??

[ewaiea]

Who thinks that when doing drift diving in different places like Palau, Galapagos, Cozumel, etc. that wearing free diving fins while scuba diving makes diving easier than wearing the shorter traditional scuba diving/snorkeling fins?

I imagine in ship wrecks they would be somewhat impractical but I was wondering if anyone had opinions on this as the Palau Aggressor is in my future for next February (long way off but hey, never too late to start planning )....

 

[stevenl]

Normally you would be going with the current. In case you have to fight a current, I would recommend against splitfins, but some will disagree with me, and for more traditional fins like the Avanti Quattro.

 

[Walter]

Do free diving fins work better when drift diving in strong currents??

They work great when free diving. When wearing SCUBA, they are almost useless with or withour current. I stick with Jets, especially in current. I also make sure I'm as streamlined as possible.

 

[Shasta_man]

As mentioned above, you don't want to fight the current as it will always win.

Free diving fins are basically just large fins, which while there would be some additional reward for your effort, continuous use would just wear you out with little additional gain because you'll have to pump those bad boys around everywhere you go.

Besides, drift diving is some of the easiest diving you can do. YOu just flow with the current. Many places like Cozumel, the current basically goes in one direction. The strong currents you read about in places like Indonesia are not nearly so uniform. They pour around an island, or they flow over the top and down the reef, or upwell pushing you to the surface. You can get all different directions in one dive. In that environment, you're just getting from point A to B meaning you couldn't put your fin rockets to too much good.

My input on splitfins would be I like them a lot and they return a lot of energy for less work in any environment. I feel it takes much less effort to move them while seeming to get as much return for your effort. I can't seem to back up well but didn't know how to do that anyway.

 

[Shasta_man]

Oh, Palau? You will always be going with the current and then hooking into the reef. After unhooking, you fly away with the current. No worries at all. Let us know if you see anybody besides the guides who can fight that current for long.