Fins with straps or the other kind?

[dutchpickle]

I really like the fins that fit with a snug fit over your bare feet. If you are doing mostly boat diving they seem a lot less clunky than those ones with straps worn over the booties.

Why is it that almost everyone I see dives with the ones with straps?

 

[lishen]

I've got a pair of both. I take my full foot (closed heel) ones diving with me in the caribbean and my open heel ones when diving in up in the northeast. I know my LDS promotes the open heel ones to students because they're more versatile. When you go boat diving in the caribbean it doesn't really matter which type you use, but if you go shore diving in a place like Bonaire (where the beach is full of broken corals and rocks), you'll be happy that you've got booties on.

 

[Jorbar1551]

agree. if you need to wear protection, get an open heel fin. if you are only doing boat dives in warm water...closed heel will be fine.

 

[David Wilson]

I also prefer full-foot fins and I snorkel with them over a suit in the North Sea from the sandy shores of the Northumbrian coast in England. Just make sure that any full-foot fins fit comfortably over anything you are wearing on your feet. Back in the 1960s, when I began diving, people would purchase two differently sized pairs of fins, one to be worn barefoot, the other to be worn over bootees.