In our work, we spend many hours sampling on intertidal reefs in northern Australia. We have tried all sorts of things. The green jungle 'grasshopper' boots from Army surplus stores have a great sole but thin canvas sides. Leather steel caps are great, but get uncomfortable when wet for a long time and get stiff quickly when they dry out. They also don't last very long in the salt. Most of us wear pro-dive boots now. Performance Diver ones are comfortable, the soles are good, and I think would do pretty well against a stonefish, but neoprene sides offer limited protection. Northern Diver and Protemax boots are Military issue and might be tougher still. See these for what I'm talking about:
Glenn Moore
Posts: 228
Date Joined: 13/02/12
boots
In our work, we spend many hours sampling on intertidal reefs in northern Australia. We have tried all sorts of things. The green jungle 'grasshopper' boots from Army surplus stores have a great sole but thin canvas sides. Leather steel caps are great, but get uncomfortable when wet for a long time and get stiff quickly when they dry out. They also don't last very long in the salt. Most of us wear pro-dive boots now. Performance Diver ones are comfortable, the soles are good, and I think would do pretty well against a stonefish, but neoprene sides offer limited protection. Northern Diver and Protemax boots are Military issue and might be tougher still. See these for what I'm talking about:
http://www.scubadoctor.com.au/diveshop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=101_141 (last three products. The last one is what I wear)
and
http://www.protemax.info/product_category_com.php?cid=37
Glenn Moore
Curator of Fishes
Western Australian Museum
twitter @WestOzFish