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The Open Heel snorkelling fin design is one that was originally designated as a cold water style which required the use of additional footwear in order to be used. The design of the foot pocket included an adjustable strap which allows for a more customised fit, but the foot pocket portion is usually made of a more rigid material. Wearing wet suit boots, water shoes or neoprene socks is required to prevent chaffing and irritation caused by the rigid material in the foot pocket on bare feet. Though known as cold water fins, these are also suitable for warm water use as well. Common names for this fin style are strap, cold water, pocket and open pocket.
There is a warm water, barefoot open heel snorkelling fin design that has been introduced which has been becoming increasingly popular with snorkelers. In this barefoot open heel design you will notice that the foot pocket uses the same flexible material as is found in the full foot design. This is still a strap design, but like the full foot is designed to be worn on bare feet. Having an adjustable heel strap means that the size range for a particular pair will be more generous than the full foot style. This is great if you are looking for someone whose feet are still growing. Be aware that there may be width issues as these are mostly engineered for average foot widths of your bare foot. These will not accommodate wetsuit boots or water shoes but may allow for the lycra or neoprene socks because they have no soles on them. You will see the bare foot strap fins more with the travel design than you will with the traditional length style.
The original Open Heel fins, intended to be used with dive boots, come into their own when entry to the water involves walking over rocks and rough surfaces. The boots/shoes worn will protect your feet. Then you slip on your fins at the water's edge. Whereas with full foot fins and warm water open heel fins, you have to walk barefoot to the water's edge with no protection for your feet. Please check out our range of Boots/Socks for use with original Open Heel snorkelling fins.
Need more information? Then please check out our Snorkelling Fins Buying Guide.
Jones Bay, Cape Nelson
Reef Dive | 
Boat access
Jones Bay, Cape Nelson
© Western Abalone Divers Association
Depth: 2 m (6.56 ft) to 15 m (49 ft)
Level: Open Water and beyond.
Jones Bay is a boat dive site on the western side of Cape Nelson, ten kilometres south-west of Portland on Victoria's Discovery Coast.
Diving at Jones Bay, Cape Nelson
This site offers the opportunity to catch abalone and crayfish.
Location: Cape Nelson, Portland, Victoria 3305
Ideal Conditions: Best dived in good conditions with a low swell with light offshore winds. See WillyWeather (Cape Nelson) as a guide for the tide times and the height of the tide.
Access is by boat from the Portland Harbour, Lee Breakwater Road North Ramp or the Portland Harbour, Lee Breakwater Road South Ramp.
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Abalone Dive Site
© Mark Norman, Museum Victoria
Divers have the opportunity to catch Abalone at this dive site. Remember your catch bag, legal abalone tool, current Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence, and abalone measure. Please abide by all current fishing regulations if you intend to catch abalone.
See article-catching-abalone for practical abalone hunting advice from The Scuba Doctor, plus melbourne-abalone-dives for a list of other Abalone dive sites near Melbourne.
Crayfish Dive Site | © Ian Scholey
Divers have the opportunity to catch Southern Rock Lobster (aka Crayfish) at this dive site. Remember your catch bag, current Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence, rock lobster measure, and cray tags. Once you get back to the dive boat, or shore, make sure you clip the tail and tag your Crayfish as per Fisheries requirements. Please abide by all current fishing regulations if you intend to catch crays. See article-catching-crayfish for practical cray hunting advice from The Scuba Doctor, plus melbourne-cray-dives for a list of other crayfish dive sites near Melbourne. For tips on cooking your Crays, please see article-cooking-crayfish.
Gunditjmara country
Traditional Owners — This dive site is in the traditional Country of the Gunditjmara people of far south-western Victoria which continues over the state border into a small part of south-east South Australia and is bordered by the Glenelg River to the west and the Wannon River in the north. This truly ancient Country extends 100 metres out to sea from low tide and also includes Deen Maar (aka Lady Julia Percy Island) where the Gunditjmara believe the spirits of their dead travel to wait to be reborn. We wish to acknowledge the Gunditjmara as Traditional Owners. We pay respect to their Ancestors and their Elders, past, present and emerging.
Jones Bay, Cape Nelson Location Map
Latitude: 38° 25.082′ S (38.418036° S / 38° 25′ 4.93″ S)
Longitude: 141° 31.421′ E (141.52368° E / 141° 31′ 25.25″ E)
Datum: WGS84 |
Google Map
Added: 2022-05-18 08:26:05 GMT, Last updated: 2022-05-23 16:16:27 GMT
Source: Peter Ronald GPS
Nearest Neighbour: Murrells Reef, 1,306 m, bearing 340°, NNW
Cape Nelson, Portland, Discovery Coast.
Depth: 2 to 15 m.
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DISCLAIMER: No claim is made by The Scuba Doctor as to the accuracy of the dive site coordinates listed here. Should anyone decide to use these GPS marks to locate and dive on a site, they do so entirely at their own risk. Always verify against other sources.
The marks come from numerous sources including commercial operators, independent dive clubs, reference works, and active divers. Some are known to be accurate, while others may not be. Some GPS marks may even have come from maps using the AGD66 datum, and thus may need be converted to the WGS84 datum. To distinguish between the possible accuracy of the dive site marks, we've tried to give each mark a source of GPS, Google Earth, or unknown.
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