First post...My wife and I are going to Bonaire in March and planning to do lots of shore diving. We both have full-foot fins (without booties). How feasible is it to shore dive without booties there? Do most shore dives have rough (rocks, coral, etc.) entries, or are most soft (sand) or pier entries?

In short, will we be missing out on the best dives if we don't get new fins and booties before going, or will we be ok with what we have?

Thanks!

With the exception of resorts with piers (Capt Don's, Divi, etc.) virtually every shore dive is ironshore coral or coral washed up by waves. You will suffer cuts and stone bruises if you attempt to beach dive barefooted.

What folks using full foot fins do is use rubber sandals (available everywhere on Bonaire) and clip the sandals to their bc. To me, leaving them on the beach is really not doable because I rarely exit exactly where I enter.

OBTW... Welcome (forgot my manners)..

Strom

There are very few sandy entries, but this good as this means better visibility. Bonaire has a fringe reef which slopes away from the shore, there are sea urchins too. So bootees (thick soled) and new fins would be better.

Brian

Thanks for the quick replies! Does the rubber sandal technique work pretty well to avoid cuts and bruises? It sounds like a great solution if it works! (Assuming we can avoid the sea urchins.)

I don't find that the rubber sandals give me as sure a footing when walking over some of the rough and or slippery spots but others may be more sure footed than me when all geared up! I would vote for booties.

Sandals and full foot fins have worked for our family. You could try it with your current fins and if you find it difficult buy new booties and fins while you're here.

Most sea urchins are easily avoided by staying in your full footed fins until clear of the water. For the most part Bonaire surf is minimal, so you can remove the fins and slip into your sandals right at water's edge.

Cuts and bruises can occur regardless of your footwear of choice. I wear heavy-soled booties and open-heeled fins and still managed to get dinged walking over the coral. As Susan mentioned there is the occasion slippery spot (alage) but these are mostly visible..If you don't stumble once or twice you aren't beach diving.

I managed to do Atlantis and Windsock barefooted last December. I prefer my little snorkel fins when I can get away with using them. I also hasten to add that I've got pretty tough feet.

I'm a tenderfoot....definitely recommend booties and new fins. I went to booties paticularly because I didn't want to miss all the fun in Bonaire.

Strom
You're spending thousands of dollars on a vacation. Why not spend a few more and have the right things? You definately won't regret it. While a lot of people prefer the sandel route, I personally can't see it. It makes something easy into a project.
Enjoy Mickey

Bob and I bought new booties with Teflon strengthened thick soles. I cannot do without them, they have made a significant difference to my shore diving and Bob doesn't have to pick me out of the coral nearly as often!!!

Strom;

I only dive with full foot fins. I can not stand booty fins. Booty fins are like finger nails on a chalk board to me.

I wear water socks/shoes as I enter, then I tuck them into my B.C. My biggest fear are the urchins. They are small (2"-3" Dia.) with short black spines. They can penetrate a water sock/shoe or a fin. They are hard to spot becuase they are small, black, and hide in little holes in the iron shore. They are also right at the surf line, so the surf makes it tough to spot them.

If you are like me, and refuse to wear booty fins, it can be done. I think that rubber sandles would be somewhat difficult, unless the heel was attached somehow. Water shoes are far better. A hint though; Do not try to throw the water shoes or sandles back onto the shore from the water. The wind is generally strong enough and blowing directly out to sea that you wind up with boomerang shoes.

Good luck.

Nathalie, it sounds like you and yours are all snorkelers? A bit less gear, as I'm sure you are aware.
No booties are too thick soled.
If I could, I'd have monster neoprene hiking boots with snap on fins.
Now if I can just find that collapsible diving staff I'll be all set.

last summer i met a group of divers who were diving with a friend who lived on the island. only the friend had booties. the rest wore tennis shoes into the water, took them off in waist deep water, put on their full-foot fins and gave the shoes to their friend who took them back to his truck. seemed like a lot of trouble but it worked for them

Wow, this is all *really* helpful. Thanks, everyone! Dave, are the water shoes you wear the generic ones like you might find at Wal-Mart, etc? Nylon/mesh with rubber soles? I think we've got a couple of pairs of those, so if they work and can fit into a BC pocket that might be a good way to go. Gotta watch out for those urchins, though!

Welcome to the board Strom.
I will echo the rest, hard soled booties are the way to go. You could buy booties at home and rent fins on island if that is a better option for you.

On a different subject, you may be interested in the weekly "meeting" of "BTers" (members of this board). Who ever is on island meets at Gibi's restaurant on tuesday nights at 6:30pm. It's a great way to meet some of the people who you have seen posting here. It's a "don't miss" for us.

I was planning on wearing aqua socks/surf shoes instead of my booties. I'm still going to dive my open-heeled fins, but now I won't have to lug my 5mm booties to Bonaire. I can wear the aqua socks anywhere (one less thing to leave in the truck) and they're pretty comfortable with my open-heeled fins. Besides, booties get pretty skunky after a week of not fully drying out. Now ya'll have got me thinking I can bring my brand new full foot fins and just stuff the surf shoes in my BC pocket on the dive. Hmmm.

Seb, I'm a snorkeler now, but was a diver for a number of years. The others in the family both dive and snorkel. We all prefer full foot fins and do as others have suggested, walk into the water with Teva type sandals or el cheapo water shoes and then switch to fins. There's no right or wrong, just personal preference. We lean toward a minimalist approach. We also dive/snorkel in just bathing suits and t-shirts. Good quality booties and open heel fins can be purchased on the island for those who arrive with full foot fins and decide to switch. We have no connection, but have found Carib Inn a good place for purchases, with prices comparable or lower than in the US. I'm happy to avoid the booties that soon start smelling like rotting hippo carcasses. :-)

Sorry....didn't mean to leave my booties outside your window

Strom;

Yes I use the generic types. They are small and light and do fit in my B.C. I generally trash a pair on one trip to Bonaire. One thing to keep in mind is to find a pair that the heels fit firmly. I swim a distance from shore with by aqua socks/shoes then float in 3' -4' deep water to put fins on.(This way I am not tearing the corals up in the shallows and I avoid stepping on urchins. Start floating ASAP w/ full B.C.) Loose fitting aqua socks/shoes will pull off and become a problem, just like I would guess that sandels would.

Dave

Strom.. Why risk spoiling a beautiful vacation by stepping on an urchin, stonefish or sharp edge of a submerged piece of coral which would require trip to hosp, tetantus shot etc etc??
Your inquiry specifically states "plan on doing lots of shore diving".
Unless you're snorkeling/diving from a pier IMHO
hard sole boots are a mandatory piece of equipmt. Between you & me I personally wouldn't dream of doing shore diving (even on a sandy beach) without them. I only remove my boots when I'm safely back to the truck.

Well, we already have full foot fins, and to switch to adjustables with booties would run us a good $400 between the two of us. I know that's a pittance compared to the cost of the trip, but I'm hoping to get a sense for how crazy it would be to go without booties ;-)

Has anyone tried the watershoes or a similar method and regretted it?

Strom, watershoes will work if you choose your path (avoiding sharp edges, etc.) and they are more convienent than sandals. Seems to me that for your gang, this is the best way to go. Enjoy !!!

Strom, quick get boots. Pink Beach is a site you can bare foot. But as a rule you want to dive/snorkle with your boots on. Bon Bini

Hi,

These are all very helpful comments for me as well. My only shore diving experience is off the coast of California on a sandy beach. I'll be down for two weeks at the end of March, and before going to my dive shop to update some of my gear, can someone describe the differences between:

1) water shoes
2) booties
3) hard sole booties (as Vince mentions above)

Thanks!

Kathleen
Toronto, Canada

kathleen, welcome to the board and hope to see you at gibi's during your visit. just to quickly describe the footwear.....watershoes are lightweight, general short (maybe ankle height), very thin uppers and soles, often made out of thin neoprene. you can find them anywhere from kmart and walmart to dive shops. booties are thicker neoprene, above the ankle in height usually with a zipper for ease of entry, and a softer, pliable rubber sole. hard soled shoes are much like the booties but with a thicker, stiffer sole. we started with soft soled booties but now have hard soled.

Thanks Pat! Great descriptions. I went to D2D on ScubaDiving.com and got a bunch of advice as well. Everyone seems to be swaying to boots with hard soles. I'll be able to go to the dive shop much more informed now.

Maybe I'll get down to Gibi's - what's the distance by bike from Lion's Dive?

Hi Kathleen..I think the distance is only about 2-4 miles at most..It's only a 5 min drive by car..You'll be glad you went with the hard sole boots when your loaded with equipment doing beach dives.. One less thing to worry about..I recently just bought a new pair (henderson)..

Thanks Vince -sounds good!

Hi Vince,

How do you like your new Hendersons? Are they the zipperless kind? Those look nice. What fins do you use them with? Do they fit well into the fin?

If you found a good deal on the booties, feel free to share! Also looking for a good deal on Atomic Splitfins -- they look nice, but aren't cheap!

Thanks, everyone!

Strom..I just bought them over the holidays & will be testing them out this Feb down there. They have zippers, but I wanted a good hard soled boot (I know what the shore entries are like) for tropical diving. I believe they are about 3 mm. Bought 2 pairs. My wife has weak ankles so she needs something with good support. They seem to fit very comfortably in my fins.I use the Scuba Pro graphite split fin..The first time I used them in the water I was simply amazed. Felt like I wasn't wearing anything on my feet! Yea expensive, but I believe they're worth it.

Is this thread still going? I shore dive all the time but wear full foot fins. Simply walk in wearing your hard-soled booties without fear of urchins - then when it's deep enough put your fins on your feet & your booties in your pockets. Reverse when exiting.

My booties were full sole, but fairly thin on the bottom. The weight of the tank and weights on my feet was fairly painful when walking to the waterline on many of the shore dives. What I did was bring along a pair of thick bottomed sandals and wore them instead of my booties as I walked down to the water. When I got to the waters edge I left the sandals on the shore and put the booties on and entered the water. That saved the bottoms of my feet much pain and agony !

Update: Well, we decided to go the safe route and bought thick soled booties (Oceanic Neo-Classic for my wife, Mares Avanti for me) and open heeled fins (Cressi-Sub Frog for my wife, Tusa X-Pert Zoom for me). I think we could have gotten by with the watershoes trick, but life will be simpler this way. This is our first experience with shore diving, so the fewer variables the better. I needed a new pair of fins anyway ;-)

We leave next week (March 4-10) -- can't wait!

Enjoy yourself Strom but be prepaired for a bad case of PBD after you get home. You will not regret the booties. The shore diving is easy, just make sure you head into the current. It's usually not too strong but even a slight current will have a significant impact on your air consumption and your over ground speed.