Travel fin question

[chrismar]

Here's a silly question: What kind of diving do you do? If you're spearfishing or snorkeling in reasonably shallow and warm water, I've got about a dozen recommendations that should work. If you're doing deep diving in cold water, the options narrow and are very different.

 

[gman]

Awesome question actually chrismar. My plan is for my travel diving to be warm water. I live in California (and learned to dive in Northern California) so I don't need to travel for cold water. I'll wear sock booties but that is just to protect my tender toe skin...
I would not expect to be getting deeper than 25M and I don't think I would be diving a line. Going deep for the sake of going deep has not had much attraction for me in in the last bunch of years. I prefer to squander my bottom time being on the bottom and scooting around seeing as much as I can.
I would probably be either surface snorkling, freedive sightseeing (my personal favorite) or conceivably enjoying a hunting trip but that would not be a priority due to the extra gear required. What I really enjoy doing, and what I hope my boys will enjoy as well, is jumping in the water and seeing what's "down there". If "down there" is anywhere between 1 and 25M, I feel comfortable. Outside of that is pushing my comfort level considering my current dive frequency.
Thank you for asking. Do you have any suggestions based on my description?

 

[azapa]

this may sound like a joke but if your just going to warm waters to cruise around try no fins! of course if the place you are going has strong currents you should be careful.

on a recent warm water trip i just took snorkel, mask and trunks. it was a blast! also, if you inhale a little less you may get away without weight too.

 

[gman]

this may sound like a joke but if your just going to warm waters to cruise around try no fins! of course if the place you are going has strong currents you should be careful.

on a recent warm water trip i just took snorkel, mask and trunks. it was a blast! also, if you inhale a little less you may get away without weight too.

Neat idea. I've actually been toying with that idea for a while. It just seems so much more free to not have anything attached. I need some fluid goggles and a nose clip and it would be better yet huh????
I also tried experimenting with my lung volume. I tried one dive with no inhale at all. I dropped pretty well but it was a REALLY weird feeling and there was no "bottom time" at all, just a "touch and go". That will take some work to get used to.

 

[azapa]

Neat idea. I've actually been toying with that idea for a while. It just seems so much more free to not have anything attached. I need some fluid goggles and a nose clip and it would be better yet huh????
I also tried experimenting with my lung volume. I tried one dive with no inhale at all. I dropped pretty well but it was a REALLY weird feeling and there was no "bottom time" at all, just a "touch and go". That will take some work to get used to.

you can forget he fluid goggles i'm sorry to say, at best you can make out shapes and colours, but seeing something nice enough to bother going to photograph isn't happening with fluid goggles as I know them.

another low footprint travel tip: make the snorkel be one of those flexible ones. Beuchat and Spetton (and many other) have a version. one last tip: instead of lugging a towel around try one of those "kangas" (spelling). they dry you fine and don't get heavy with water.

regarding bottom time on part inhale: you should not really notice that much difference. I suspect you were working too hard on the way down or on the bottom.

 

[gman]

you can forget he fluid goggles i'm sorry to say, at best you can make out shapes and colours, but seeing something nice enough to bother going to photograph isn't happening with fluid goggles as I know them.

another low footprint travel tip: make the snorkel be one of those flexible ones. Beuchat and Spetton (and many other) have a version. one last tip: instead of lugging a towel around try one of those "kangas" (spelling). they dry you fine and don't get heavy with water.

regarding bottom time on part inhale: you should not really notice that much difference. I suspect you were working too hard on the way down or on the bottom.

Well rats on the Fluid goggles. Photography is a budding interest of mine. Boy like I need one more thing to spend money on$$$. I have a flexible snorkel (sporasub), but if you know of an "ultra flexible" one I'd like to talk about it. I never did take a towel. I just sat on the beach or walked around until I was dry. It may be different on a boat dive.
You really don't see a difference with bottom time regarding inhalation volume??? Boy this is something I really want to talk about. Maybe another thread.

Thanks a ton!

 

[Jon]

When we go biking from lake to lake with the family I don't have room to take a lot of gear and usually just grab a mask and snorkel. If the water cold I might garb a vest but never a weightbelt.

I used to struggle to stay down, but this past year, or so, I've played around with FRC and can stay down almost as long as my inhale dives. On some, non-working dives, I can even stay down longer. It seems very strange, but also very comfortable once you get used to it.

Due to the cold nature of the freshwater lakes were diving in I don't go much below the thermocline, since I don't have on a suit, and my dives are limited to 35' or so. This really isn't much of a hardship as there's really nothing to see, in the way of fishlife, below that depth anyway.

I find no issues not using fins if I'm just dropping down to take some photos. Where fins come in handy is when I'm swimming across the bottom chasing some fish. Still, due the to the depth constraints, I could get by with some small flopppy fins that would pack small if I wanted to drag them along.

I bring long fins, or a monfin, along on my camping trips, but leave them at camp when we venture out on the bikes. It's just not worth the hassle.

Jon

 

[gman]

Great stuff Jon. Lots more going in my head now... I'm going to search FRC. Unless you have a favorite source of info and advice on it...

Thank you again.

EDIT: Boy oh boy I have been away for a while. My old buddies FRC and Frenzel have come back for a visit. Thanks for steering me back. It's amazing how much one forgets over time.

I plan to commit myself to FRC full force and see where it takes me. I am really motivated. Watch out Mr. Fattah and Mr. Murat. Well okay maybe that's a stretch, but I'm really excited again.

I still want fins though

 

[chrismar]

Nice. If you still feel like a pair of fins, underwater hockey fins would be ideal for what you do. They're short, some have removable footpockets (but not many) and they're generally quite light. I use a pair of Breiers for hockey and playing around in, but there are other options, some quite a bit cheaper.

All should have plenty of grunt to get you to 25m and back without a compressed wetsuit and weightbelt to hold you back. I also find my breiers easier to cruise on the surface with than my long fins.

 

[Mullins]

Re the fluid goggles - I've found them to be pretty good for sightseeing, just about good enough to spearfish with but poor depth perception would make it difficult. Might be worth a go with a camera? In theory the quality of vision they offer should be near perfect, but there are a few factors that mess this up in practice.

 

[Bill]

About 25 years ago I had a similar problem. I just trimmed a pair of Sporasub plastic blades to fit in the suitcase disassembled. I guess they didn't work like they should but I seldom dove over 20 meters and really didn't notice. Diving Hawaii with a few kilos of lead and leaving the 6 mm suit off felt different enough anyway. I think I still have those blades around somewhere.

 

[gman]

About 25 years ago I had a similar problem. I just trimmed a pair of Sporasub plastic blades to fit in the suitcase disassembled. I guess they didn't work like they should but I seldom dove over 20 meters and really didn't notice. Diving Hawaii with a few kilos of lead and leaving the 6 mm suit off felt different enough anyway. I think I still have those blades around somewhere.

That's a great idea. I'd like to see a photo of those fins if you can still find them. It sounds like we may be in the same boat.

Re the fluid goggles - I've found them to be pretty good for sightseeing, just about good enough to spearfish with but poor depth perception would make it difficult. Might be worth a go with a camera? In theory the quality of vision they offer should be near perfect, but there are a few factors that mess this up in practice.

I toyed with the idea of fluid goggles a few years ago. Mostly for the nevelty of it. But then I looked into getting a nose clip and only one place made them and it was hard to get contact and ect... Maybe that has changed. My other issue is that I need a perscription mask. I don't thing the FG's come in perscription do they?

Nice. If you still feel like a pair of fins, underwater hockey fins would be ideal for what you do. They're short, some have removable footpockets (but not many) and they're generally quite light. I use a pair of Breiers for hockey and playing around in, but there are other options, some quite a bit cheaper.

All should have plenty of grunt to get you to 25m and back without a compressed wetsuit and weightbelt to hold you back. I also find my breiers easier to cruise on the surface with than my long fins.

I also toyed with getting hockey fins. I noticed the specialfins hockey models when I was looking at the black speedys. I'll check your links for sure.

Thanks again guys.

 

[Mullins]

If you're using fluid goggles then your prescription is probably irrelevant - they focus light straight onto your retina. The lense of your eye has almost no focusing effect, because its refractive index is so similar to that of water. Or so I gather, I'm no expert in optics...

They're easy enough to come by, just order them from somewhere like Monofins - Home Page. The noseclips from FIT are good, I think PFI sells them too. It may be a bit of an expensive experiment, so if you can try somebody else's goggles first that would be ideal!

 

[Bill]

Sorry. Last year I cleaned out that part of the garage and tossed a bunch of fin parts. I just measured some Sporasub blades at about 27 inches. all I did was scribe a line and use a hacksaw. If you really want to be high tech, you could probably take an inch off the foot pocket end and two off the tip. Make sure you have blades that snug in the rails so they stay without glue. It cost me a C4 blade when a rail came off.

 

[vrokhlenko]

I searched this topic and did not find anything recent. My family and I just got back from a great trip to Maui. We are trying to commit ourselves to being "carry on" travelers. It sure makes things easier at the ends of the trip. So in addition to finding a suitable bag that is about 22"x14"x9" to meet the airline size requirements for carry on, I am looking for fins. I can carry a mask and snorkel just fine in my bag along with my clothes and everything else. What I would like to find are freediving fins that can be disassembled (like Omer's for example) that have blades 22" or just less so that the blades and foot pockets will all fit in my carry on. Does anyone know of a "long" fin that will fit this description????
I've tried e-mailing a few companies for specs on their fin blades but I have not gotten any responses

Thanks!!

I guess there are as many suggestions as there are people. Here is my 2 cents. I went to India with only a carry-on (maximum size allowed, purchased on e-bags specifically for that trip). It was a scubadiving trip in a 28 degree water so no wetsuit was needed. All equipment was provided but I chose to use my mask, snorkel and fins. I actually prefer to freedive to the best of my modest abilities so I needed my close-heel fins which are Mares Avanti Tre. I just bent them and shoved them in the bag. Problem solved! I went freediving to 32 meters in them which should cover your 25 meter comfort zone. On a previous similar trip I also had my Omer Pegaso and did not see any need in them so I managed to travel to India without any checked baggage.

So my suggestion - look into shorter bendable rubber/plastic fins. I did a lot of testing for speed/pulse rate comparing Pegaso to Esclapez Long Plastic to Mares Tre to Mares Quattro. Pegaso and Quattro gave me 10% more speed over Tre which tells me that for most needs Tre are more than sufficient. Quattros are extremely comfortable but longer and heavier than Tre. Pegaso had absolutely nothing on Quattros but their footpocket is stiff and they interfere with each other because they are too long.

For what it was worth!

 

[Theodoric]

I have to agree that FRC is the perfect solution in so many ways. I did a little diving in Taiwan last week, and I had a blast with cheap rented scuba fins and no wetsuit. FRC decreases your bouyancy, so:

No weights- the complete opposite of lightweight travel :duh
No wetsuit- depending on how comfortable you are with jellyfish and how warm the water is.

As an add on, it was my first time ever attempting freediving (besides a little training) and I had very comfortable bottom times just under a minute FRC style, and was diving up to 30', which was as deep as the bottom got where I was with my snorkeling buddies.

 

[Jon]

Vrokhlenko reminded me of a dive trip I took to Peurto Rico a few years back.

We we're only allowed carry on bags, as we were flying stand-by, and I fit all of my clothes and scuba gear in the bag. I was using Mares Avanti HP fins, a dive skin, travel BC, and my own regulator set up. I also had room for a film camera (with strobe and lenses) that I wrapped up in my clothes and dive skin. It all fit into one bag and that big fit into the overhead compartment on the way down and under my seat on the way back.

Jon