How to put on Dive Fins

Paying attention to the correct technique of putting on your fins is one of the most essential skills for a new diver to learn.

It is important to keep always hold of your scuba flippers. If you are putting on your mask or working on some other task with both hands, place your flippers between your calves or give them to your buddy. If you place them on the ground, then you run the risk of losing them to a rogue wave.

If you are shore diving, there are two approaches to putting on your fins depending on what the sea conditions are:

Flat seas

If the weather is completely calm, with no waves or surface movement. Do not delay getting into the water to help your buddy put on his/her fins. Simply get a fully inflated BCD, float in the water and put them on in there. This is twice as quick and twice as easy.

If the sea is not perfectly flat

Stand with your buddy. Pass them one fin, as you put on the other by crossing one leg over the knee, use the opposite hand to the opposite foot. With this technique you turn around as you swop from one fin to another, therefore it is best to start off facing away from the water, so that when you turn to put the second fin on you are facing the ocean.

Making sure to use the correct technique for putting on your fins before you head out to sea makes it much easier to dive.