Shoes with flippers

[jrl5549]

I am heading out to Bonaire soon. I have delicate feet. Hard to believe a 6'1" 200 LB guy has delicate feet. I wear good boots everyday at work to protect my arches and in tern my back. I can not think walking up and down 100 steps with my BC and tank on my back, with nothing but booties.
So what do people suggest. I have heard Chuck Taylors, I have seen some sport boots might work.
I was wondering for some input.
Jonathan

 

[djtimmy77]

I use hard soled booties with my flippers:

They work reasonably well, and I have done two Bonaire trips with them. The top is neoprene and stretches so you do have to be careful that you don't put a lot of lateral strain on them.

A lot of people use chucks, or "rock boots"

 

[lemke]

If you want to save a couple bucks, buy some neoprene wading booties from Academy... 20 dollars.

 

[D_B]

I would go with ones with a real boot sole with arch support .. like the Sea Soft Stealth or Sunrays
... http://www.seasoftscuba.com/booties/sunray-boots.html

 

[Lorenzoid]

Here's a pair of tropical-weight booties with hard soles that think are perfectly suited for Bonaire:

Bare 3 mm HD Tropic Boot at LeisurePro

 

[miked]

1st suggestion echoes the previous posts: find a pair of booties that give support.

2nd suggestion: find a pair of "water shoes" or sandals that give sufficient support, then switch to booties at the waters edge. Options regarding what to do with the alternate footwear: BC pocket, mesh bag, clipped off/bungied to BC straps???

 

[Just_Me]

I wear Chuck Taylor's with my fins. I absolutely love them. I could not find a good fitting bootie. The chucks are awesome for this task.

 

[Damselfish]

just remember, if you are moving from whimpy tropical booties with no support, to something more beefy, there's a decent chance the new boots won't fit in your old fins. Which may push you into new fins too, that's what happened to me. (May be the thing to do anyway -wearing supportive sandals that you take off for the dive avoids this, but can get old if you're doing it all the time.)

 

[diversteve]

I like the Tusa Imprex 5MM for ironshore in places like Bonaire. They're not the most treaded boot though. http://www.joediveramerica.com/page...leProductAds&gclid=CLOg0OvqiL8CFc1lfgod06sApg I think the Seasoft ^ Sunrays would be better.

It's not really 1000Steps that's a problem - the steps themselves are pretty easy to manage and the entry point is actually crushed coral rubble. It's the nearby entries where in a lot of cases you're walking on ironshore that's all gnarly right to and into the water. I have high arches also and found that more punishing - flexing my feet in odd ways.

Here's some examples:

Karpata: http://www.shorediving.com/Earth/ABC/BonaireN/Karpata/c004321.jpg
LaDania's Leap: http://www.shorediving.com/Earth/ABC/BonaireN/La_Dianas_Leap/c003913.jpg
the Hooker: http://www.shorediving.com/Earth/ABC/BonaireS/Hilma_Hooker/c004703.jpg
Invisibles: http://www.shorediving.com/Earth/ABC/BonaireS/The_Invisibles/c004617.jpg

Of course they're not all bad. Besides all the resort dives sites like Windsock: http://www.shorediving.com/Earth/ABC/BonaireN/Windsock/c003901.jpg are pretty easy.

One last thing is look for entry markers. At many sites earlier divers have piled up coral rubble indicating the entry point. At some sites there's also sand channels bisecting the ironshore that lead right out to deeper water. A good example of this is Vista Blue - I've sat on that rock and put everything but fins on b4 walking out in the sand: http://www.shorediving.com/Earth/ABC/BonaireS/Vista_Blue/c004508.jpg

Many of the entries can be seen here: Scuba Shore Diving Region: ABC Islands

 

[MaxBottomtime]