Newbie Fin Questions!

[Pebbles Photo]

Hi again, can you direct me to a source for more info on snorkeling with freediving fins? Again I am a total newbie, but I have some instructor friends telling me to completely ignore the idea, and I would like more info. The only place I have snorkeled was off of Manzanillo in Costa Rica (Puerto Viejo area) and most of the time were far enough away from the coral reef that it wouldn't have been an issue, but would alternate with being close enough that I was worried about the regular diving fins touching something. How much control would I have in very shallow water to not let a FD fin scrape anything?

Most of the divers we see "kicking" into the bottom at the BHB Marine Park, are scuba divers wearing too much weight, and that have not blown enough air into their bc's to get dead neutral. They end up swimming in a head up and fins down position, constantly having to swim upward, to prevent falling onto the bottom--and this puts their fins below them and often hitting the sea bottom. At the BHB this leaves a silt cloud in their wake..on a coral reef, it means they are beating up the coral.
However the typical snorkeler, even little kids, tend to snorkel without any weights, and the tendency is for them to be positively buoyant. If they are swimming down 10 feet or 20 feet, they are more likely to have their feet pointing up, in order to push their body downward so they can stay near the bottom---feet stay above the diver. So the snorkeler is not the one that usually does damage--it is the poorly trained scuba diver.

I'd wonder if these "dive instructors" giving you the advice, have ever even used freediving fins, or if they have ever learned the technique or kick shape to use them properly.

If you have never used any fins, then you need to learn a technique for whatever fins you get. In all fairness, short inexpensive snorkel fins are so floppy they allow you to use very poor technique--to make some vary basic mistakes in how you kick...and still get pushed around by the fins....With freedive fins, the much longer blade will exagerate the effects of your mistakes, and doing something wrong becomes very obvious--you might not go anywhere with bad bicycling kick style kicking. Make some kick style improvements, and the freediving fins let you know this right away, with much better propulsion. Suddenly you are moving much more quickly and easily.
But if you have little time to get a good technique, or no interest in learning to kick correctly, then the much shorter snorkel fins will be much more enjoyable for you...

Here is a video my husband Dan Volker did for the 135 Project Seahorse kids they taught to swim and snorkel this year in Palm Beach ( through Palm Beach County and city camps).... The 10 to 12 year old kids are using Cressi Rocks fins or Cressi Palau fins..they are fairly short, the kids learn very quickly with them, and while much shorter than freedive fins, they are high quality fins a snorkeler can do alot with. Next year, several of the kids from this year's Project Seahorse are likely to be using freedive fins

 

[beepbird]

Dear Mako,
I'm going snorkeling with Humpback Whales but my feet are women's size 5. Could my feet fit in your children's free diving fin?

Thanks!

Lindy

 

[MAKO Spearguns]

Lindy: Wow that sounds like a fantastic trip. I'm jealous.

Our XS Los Ninos fins should fit, if not we will accept a return. All orders over $99 ship for free in the US, so maybe you will find a few other must have items. If you do not have neoprene socks, you may want to check out our selection.

Thanks

Dano
Los Ninos Freedive Fins | MAKO Spearguns

 

[Buliwyf]

I really like a buoyant fin for snorkeling. I like to stay perfectly flat, on the surface. That way I can sneak into the shallow coral areas. I'll often paddle into water over coral in only 2-3' of water. Staying perfectly flat is the only way to do that. I use full foot Scubapro Seawing nova's. They float.

Staying off coral under water with scuba, is all technique. Any fin can be made to work. The Mako rubber fins are likely going to be the next fin I try.

They're cheap as well:
Freedive Hunter Freediving Fins | MAKO Spearguns

 

[MAKO Spearguns]

Great!! Let us know how you like them. The fins have a polymer blade and monoprene pockets which might be described as a synthetic rubber.