Wearing full foot fins with shoes

[Iralub]

Greetings, I'm new to SB and fairly new to diving. Have what is probably a silly question re fins.

I'm a very small female and have tiny feet - between women's size 4.5 and 5 (EU size 35). I've been looking for a good pair of fins that would give good return for effort, but are not too stiff/too hard for my legs to power. Finding good fins that would fit my tinny feet is not proving easy. OK, it's actually not proving possible.

My LDS suggested using a good full foot fin (Seawing Novas) with a dive boot. My foot with a dive boot on fits into size small of the full foot Seawing. Looking at various online reviews, Seawings are likely to be suitable for me (good efficiency and not too hard to kick), but I was wondering whether the shoe inside full foot pocket arrangement would cause problems.

Has anyone used shoes with full foot fins? How did you find it?

I'd be grateful for any advice

 

[Hintermann]

If you buy the two together and the fit is good, I do not see why not. But I would have thought even the softest shoe would be a bu**er to squeeze into a fin pocket meant for bare feet.

My wife used to use fin socks for her full-foot fins but found it difficult and changed to boots and open-pocket fins.

 

[AngloFish]

Well I once forgot my boots on a cenote dive in Mexico and was able fit my fins over my sandals, worked like a charm but wouldn't recommend it
I could be wrong but I think the fin/boot combo is in use much more than the slide over bare feet kind. Those I've only seen down south or for playing around in a pool.
The full foot system has a lot of advantages especially if you start doing shore diving and if you eventually move over to a drysuit you'll need full foot fins anyway.
If you can get a set of boots that fit an allow you to comfortably wear fins, definitely go for it. I'd bet good money 75%+ of divers on this board dive this system.

 

[TN-Steve]

What about something like a light weight canvas running shoe or something like that over the neoprene bootie? Get the neoprene with a soft sole, a larger shoe to fit over it, and then the whole thing should fit easily into a small fin with strap. That way you get a nice protective shoe for walking, the neoprene for insulation, and it makes your foot "bigger" than it really is.

Steve

 

[David Wilson]

The idea of wearing shoes inside a pair of full-foot fins is far from new. Here's an illustration from Lil Borgeson and Jack Speirs' Skin and Scuba Diver, published by Arco Publishing Company of New York, fifty-two years ago, in 1962:

The image above (click it to get a better view) shows a young diver wearing sneakers and donning a pair of full-foots over them. There is no lack of myths about closed-heel fins, which were once the norm for diving everywhere in Europe; divers there often owned two pairs, one for bare feet, another one size bigger for use with booties. Foot pocket size permitting, they can be, and are, worn in colder waters over socks or booties. I use them when snorkelling in the cold waters of the North Sea because they are so comfortable.

Another tactic worth considering is a pair of fin grips, triangular rubber straps worn over ankle, heel and instep for additional security when wearing full-foot fins. See below, clicking the image for a closer look:

 

[Iralub]

Thank you very much everyone. Sounds like it may well work. I also really liked the idea of sneakers/canvas shoe as I only dive in warm waters, so thermal protection for the feet is not really necessary. Thanks also for the tip about fin grips, David.

 

[barilhu]

Licra sock + neoprene boots + fin grips + seawing = winning combination. Seaawing are great

 

[Iralub]

Having now tried the boot + full foot seawings with fin grips combination, I can report that it worked really well. Having a shoe horn makes donning the fins much easier. Fin grips made them feel more secure, but I did a number of dives without the grips and fins were never in danger of coming off. They the seawings are really nice fins - gave me great propulsion.