Fins for snorkel vs scuba

[bgsnmky]

I bought these fins for scuba diving and am getting ready to go on a 2 week vacation in Hawaii. Since the person I am with does not dive, I will be snorkeling a lot.

I know these fins will "work" but will they tire me out snorkeling.

Tusa Zoom Fins discounts on sale Tusa

Would I be better to have a different pair.

Also curious if people prefer to have the ones like this where you hve to wear booties or just slip on with bare feet.

 

[Testudo]

I vastly prefer full-boot fins to the open-heel, strap closure styles. I find they provide much greater propulsion efficiency (more thrust with less effort). Also, the bigger, the better when it comes to snorkeling.

Here are my long-time favorite fins...

 

[bgsnmky]

I am basically deciding on carrying these too hawaii or renting a pair for the two weeks I am there...

 

[danvolker]

These are THE FINS for snorkeling, or recreational diving, or non-penetration tech diving.

DiveR Fins More efficient by far than any other fin you could try, allows technical precsion in advanced kicks like helicopter turns and reverse kicks, as well as spectacular frog kicks, not to mention flutter kicks or dolphin kicks.

So yes...You would be better off with a pair of these

 

[j yaeger]

snorkling,i like full foot,easy kicker's
not so much drag without the scuba
i like to free dive,so the have to have a bit of a$$ to them,however
i dont like walking through broken glass bottoms for entries-sissy,tender feet!!
booties and open heel are winners on that!!!!!!!
to each their own-travel lite!! try the ones there!!!!may find a new foot friend!!!!!!!
have fun
yaeg

 

[bgsnmky]

j yaeger..are you saying the full foot, meaning the booty vs the slip on with heel back..or did you mean not being split!

I will want to dive down to take pictures....

 

[j yaeger]

full foot-no booties
open heel-booties
have fun
yaeg

 

[Testudo]

These are THE FINS for snorkeling, or recreational diving, or non-penetration tech diving.

DiveR Fins More efficient by far than any other fin you could try, allows technical precsion in advanced kicks like helicopter turns and reverse kicks, as well as spectacular frog kicks, not to mention flutter kicks or dolphin kicks.

So yes...You would be better off with a pair of these

, gotta get me a pair of those!

 

[David Wilson]

I've never scuba-dived. The great thing about snorkelling is that just about any kind of fins can be used. I've snorkelled for fifty years using simple, traditional all-rubber full-foot fins and I wouldn't consider wearing anything else. Why fix what ain't broke? This said, I wouldn't expect anybody else to adopt my choice of fins. Incidentally, it's a myth that you can't wear thin socks or booties with full-foot fins. You just have to get them in a size that will accommodate the extra bulk. When I went to La Jolla Cove in southern California some years ago, there were snorkellers wearing every kind of fins imaginable. Some wore fixed open-heel bodyboarding fins; other wore adjustable open-heel scuba-style fins; others had all-rubber full-foot swim training type fins; others were shod with long freediving fins. The common factor was that everybody was enjoying themselves. As the French say, "vive la différence!, long live diversity. I think it's great that snorkellers can and do use many different types of fins. I for one don't want to see a monolithic army of snorkellers, all wearing the same fins, masks and snorkels.

The paramount criterion when choosing fins is fit and foot length isn't the only consideration there. Some fins have narrow foot pockets, others have wide ones. Individual fin models don't come in a variety of foot widths, so I would urge anybody contemplating snorkelling to forget about brands and focus on whether the fins fit snugly, neither too loose not too tight. Only then should you consider other criteria such as blade flexibility and length. I for one don't wear my fins for speed when I'm snorkelling in the North Sea off the North East coast of England. I wear them for power, manoeuvrability and endurance and my cheap vintage-style full-foots suit me perfectly. There's no point in buying fins that don't fit or are overpriced just because somebody else raves about them. Make your own mind up, don't have it made up for you by anybody else.

 

[diver_doug]

Some people love splits some people hate em, but there seems to be a fairly general consensus that splits aren't very good for surface swimming (from my experience they are terrible). I think you'd be better off with a paddle fin of some sort sort. Given that you're not gonna be pushing a punch of gear like SCUBA divers are pretty much any decent paddle fin should be good ($50-$100).

I've only used open-heel fins with booties because I use my older SCUBA fins for snorkeling (mares quattros) which work great for me. But the general consensus seems to be that full-foot-fins are preferred in climates where they are practical...like Hawaii.