Shallow Water Snorkeling: Which style of fins?

[YvonneH]

Hi all,
I'm planning a trekking trip across Central America, with many snorkelling excursions. I'm hoping to buy a good quality equipment package, and I've budgeted $100. I've found several outfits online, but I don't really know what I'm looking at. Fins are especially puzzling--some are long and solid, others short and contoured (for example, Scuba Diving Skin Dive Silicone Mask, Dry Snorkel, Fins - eBay (item 320207469474 end time Jul-11-08 21:24:06 PDT) vs. Snorkeling Scuba Dive Gear Bag Mask Dry Snorkel Fins - eBay (item 220248870098 end time Jun-26-08 10:55:00 PDT)). What might best suit my purposes?
Thanks!

 

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

Try these guys: www.scubatoys.com

You get a 10% discount if you tell them you are a scubaboard member when you call

They are very helpful on the phone and carry quality gear. Do a search on Scuba Toys here on the board. Their reputation speaks for itself.

And for mask defog, I use spit or really cheap travel size tooth paste.

Hope you have a good time!

 

[prskate2]

If you want some good fins you will have to spend more than $100 for them. Unless you get them used. But for snorkeling you should MOST DEFIANTLY get Split Fins. Split fins are light, and give you an effortless kicking motion. They are so easy to kick on the surface. I LOVE THEM!

 

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

Are you going to be hitting the beach where it is rocky? If so you might want to get fins that use booties. If it is clean and sandy, you can use full foot fins. If you are doing a lot of water time, the fins can rub your feet so the fins that require booties protect your feet.

If you want full foot splits, these are a nice entry level full foot fin $42
Tusa Full Foot Split Zoom Fins, Fins, Tusa, Tusa Full Foot Split Zoom Fins

Paddle full foot $44.95
Aeris Velocity Full Foot Fins, Snorkeling Equipment, Aeris, Aeris Velocity Full Foot Fins

Paddle open heal $37.50
Oceanic Vector Fins, Fins, Oceanic, Oceanic Vector Fins

If you want a paddle fin that will last forever $64 I use these in the pool as well as diving and the work well
ScubaPro Jet Fins, Black from LeisurePro.com

I aslo have $200 scuba pro full foot twin jet fins, but dive the jets most of the time now.

You can get a good mask from $30-70 I really like my replacement soft mask strap is it is easy on the hair.

As for a snorkel. I like the dry top, but any tube will work. I have a couple of snorkels and the ones with the longer flexible clear section don't make my jaw as tired.

 

[YvonneH]

Thanks, you've been so helpful!
Yvonne

 

[Damselfish]

No idea why someone should "definitely" get split fins for snorkeling??? Paddles work fine (besides splits will blow the budget here.) And I don't think splits are generally lighter than paddle fins, it really depends on the fin but some splits are pretty heavy.

It's not necessary to spend a ton of money on good scuba fins for snorkeling. (Unless your freediving, that's a whole different story.) For the travel you're doing, light and not too long would be good. Full foot fins tend to be lighter and cheaper and are nice in the tropics as long as you don't have to walk anyplace nasty between taking your shoes off and putting your fins on. One of those packages shows open heel fins, if you get that kind you will probably want either booties or some at least kind of neoprene socks to protect your feet and fill the foot packet or you'll likely wind up with blisters. Some people even wear some kind of sock in full foot fins, it depends how they fit.

You want the mask to fit well, a leaky mask is annoying. But again, while a perfectly fitting mask is the goal for scuba, if you're surface snorkeling you can get away with a slightly less than perfect fit.

You may have a bunch of people here tell you that dry snorkels are a waste. While that point can be argued for scuba, they're very nice for snorkeling. But all you need is a purge at the bottom and a splash guard at the top, like semidry, it doesn't have to be big/fancy/expensive. Both those snorkels have a flexible section, which is intended to drop away from your mouth so it's out of the way of say, a scuba regulator. I find they pull on my jaw and for doing a lot of snorkeling I prefer a solid tube, but that's me.

Anyway, while it sounds like you want something better than a Walmart special (good idea) I have no idea if the stuff you're looking at is. One of those packages would probably work fine since for basic snorkeling, it's just not all that crucial. But it's really hard to tell the quality or how the fins and mask will fit. You might go into a local dive shop and see what they have to offer that you can try on, if you're lucky you'll find a shop that doesn't try to upsell you and has something within your budget. Or, I would second the idea of seeing what Scubatoys would suggest.

Or you might look at these, I wouldn't use them for scuba but they might make great travel snorkeling fins. Zeagle EZ Travel Open Heel Adjustable Fin from LeisurePro.com . They have some good masks on sale in the 25-35 dollar range too.

 

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

Above you listed some ebay products. I would recommend that you go with someone like Scuba Toys or Leisure Pro since you can swap them out if they don't fit.

My first pair of fins were $20 and very close to those Aeris full foot velocity fins. I wore those things out! and had a great time doing it too!

Do you plan to get into diving or is this a once in a life time trip?

If you call the guys at Scuba Toys, they often have close outs or stock that isn't listed on their site. They have a web cam and they boys will be glad to hold the stuff up and even model for you. I think they could help you find some really nice stuff within your budget. I got some nice full foots in the $20 range for my family to play from Scuba Toys. I don't see those on the web site now.


As far as masks go everyones face is a little different. You want one with a nice soft skirt that you can place on your face and with a little suction from your nose hold in place. You can always order a couple and try them and then ship back the ones you don't want as long as you don't use them. Just ask when you order what the return policy is.

 

[prskate2]

It depends what split fins you get because some are lighter than others. But I just love how split fins penetrate the water so easily. No other fin can do that.

 

[David P]

sorry I cant help much with Shallow Water Snorkeling, only deep water snorkeling....

 

[prskate2]

So why post? Do you think your are AWESOME because you "deep water snorkel?"

Just kidding, but really why post?