by Aquamundo is a brand specifically selling water gears for scuba divers, free-divers and swimmers. Last August of this year, I was blessed enough to be given the chance to try Aquamundo’s freediving gears – Aquamundo Lalum Long Blade Fins and Neoprene Dive Socks, for my recently discovered addiction for the underwater world. From the word itself “aqua” which means water, we already know that this brand is specifically for water-related activities. If you are planning to learn the basics of scuba or freediving, suit up with Aquamundo Sports for quality and long-lasting products/gears.
Table of Contents
Who is Aquamundo?
Mission and Vision
“Aquamundo Sports envisions everyone being given the chance to enjoy scuba diving and water sports through its products by enhancing their performance and providing them with a better experience in the water. With consistent growth, Aquamundo Sports will be one of the most sought-after brands of scuba diving equipment in the country, as well as overseas. “
“Aquamundo Sports aims to equip its customers and let them see, experience , and appreciate our waters and its inhabitants better. With its years of experience, Aquamundo Sports will distill its knowledge to further improve its products, as well as develop new ones to continually expandits lineup of products. In the process of doing these, Aquamundo Sports will strengthen its ties with its clients and create customer loyalty. “
About Aquamundo Sports
Did you know that Aquamundo is the first ever Philippine-based water sports brand owned by a Filipino? YES, you read that right. Using and supporting a product owned by our fellow Filipinos makes me even more proud to be a Pinay freediver. Wearing Aquamundo’s items gives me the confidence that can make me say “I’m freediving with the best brand from my country”.
Who started Aquamundo?
Aquamundo is the fruit of all the hard-work of Ralph Espino, a scuba diver and intructor, and his daughter Adie Espino. It opened its first door during the month of July back in 2002 and served as a one-stop shop for anything related to scuba and freediving. Up until this day, the brand proved its success by expanding branches all around the country.
What does “Aquamundo” mean?
Ever wonder why the name “Aquamundo”? Adie Espino, owner of Aquamundo is half spanish and used the word “Aquamundo” which is Spanish for “water world”. It all makes sense since aqua is related to water and anything liquid.
Aquamundo’s Products
When the brand started in 2002, they offered basic products and gears for scuba like mask, wet suits, snorkels, fins, scuba regulators, etc. Later on, its success brought the company to a bigger expansion. It opened products and gears to surfers like surfboards and other related equipment. They also provided gears and customized wet sits for international competitions and training schools/dive schools.
Some of the featured items includes: dive watches, training swimsuit, training fins, dive alarms, neoprene dive socks, silicone ear plugs, Lalum fins, and many more.
Location and Branches
The main branch or head office of Aquamundo is located at:
- G/F Vernida 1 Building, 120 Amorsolo Street Legaspi Village, Makati City, Philippines 1229
- G/F Robelle Hotel, 877 JP Rizal Street Poblacion, Makati City, Philippines 1210
Other branch expansion in some of the famous dive sites in the Philippines opened its door to scuba enthusiasts:
- CEBU BRANCH – Unit 105 Lucky Plaza Building, North Reclamation, Ouano Avenue, Mandaue City, Philippines
- BOHOL BRANCH – Barangay Tawala Panglao Bohol, Philippines
- DUMAGUETE BRANCH – South Road Calindagan, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, Philippines
Why do Freedivers use long fins?
Freediving is a sport where your breath-hold is your timed ticket that will allow you to explore the world underneath but only with a particular time depending on your apnea. The energy you use to paddle and sprint through the waters affects your breath-hold. This is why freediving fins are long because longer blades displace more water per kick. Which means with a long blade fins, you’ll exhaust lesser energy while covering more distance. Hence, why freedivers use long fins than shorter fins.
In addition to that, the recommended fins for scuba divers and snorkeling is the same which is small to medium sizes. Scuba doesn’t need longer fins underwater since the oxygen is already provided in a tank so they’ll have more time to appreciate the scenery under the ocean. And for snorkeling activities, shorter fins makes it less awkward to go to the snorkeling sites and maneuver.
For scuba diving fins and snorkeling fins, you can check it our here: Shop Aquamundo Scuba Diving and Snorkeling Fins.
Freediving with Aquamundo Lalum Long Blade Fins (Honest Review)
We all know that a brand is just a brand until you wear and use it and get to know the product’s quality and characteristics, right? After an actual experience with Aquamundo’s Lalum Long Blade Fins, I immediately fell in love with the brand and its mission and vision about the water world and sports.
Aquamundo Sports boasts off its top selling freediving fins which is the Lalum Long Blade fins. What I love more about their fins is that it comes with a free fin bag. The fin bag provides the best protection since the material is thick.
The material used (Aquamundo Freediving Fins)
The Lalum Long Blade fins is made out of plastic and rubber, therefore, making it a light-weight fins for freediving. There are 3 levels of stiffness you can choose from: Flex200, Flexibe and Medium rigidity. Depending on how strong you paddle and kick, these 3 types of rigidity defines the level of stiffness you should choose for your fins.
If you’re a beginner, I would highly recommend Flex200 (which is what I also use). But if you’re a spear-fisher or you’ve been freediving for a very long time now, you can choose the hardest type – Medium rigidity. Still, that depends on how you freedive.
The Foot Pocket
Sizes are from extra small, small, medium and large. My foot is sized 5 and the XS fits for me. I can choose to wear a dive sock or not but it still fits fine. As mentioned above, I was supposed to choose the white fins, it’s just that I didn’t have a size. Well the white fins’ smallest size is (S) small, which is why even if I wear a dive sock it’s still big enough for my feet.
The blade
The blade of the fins is made out of quality plastic that is perfectly engineered to withstand a strong kick or paddle in the waters. It’s also wider in its width which allows the freediver to exhaust lesser energy while covering more distance.
The Colors and Design
There are 5 colors you can choose from – camo brown, red, green, blue and black. The top selling colors that most free-divers choose are: black, red, and blue. For the disgns, they have plain black and the remaining 4 (red, blue, green, brown) are camo prints.
They also have the newest color that was just added this year of 2019 which is the all white colored fins. Its foot pocket and blades are white so if you’re looking for that kind of fins, Aquamundo got you!
When I came to the main branch of Aquamundo in Poblacion, Makati, Sir Francis who came to assist me told me that this new white fins is super bright underwater. This was my first choice when I saw the white fins. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a size, so I just chose the black instead since I’ve been longing to be a black-finned siren.
Overall review: Aquamundo Freediving Fins
If I am to judge the Lalum fins overall quality, I can say that it’s super light weight and durable! This is a highly recommended freediving fins especially for beginners. Last September 17, I was able to try my Aquamundo freediving fins for the first time in Samal Island, Davao. The experience in totality was just super chill as I was able to gracefully swim through the waters and my finning was just super light and comfortable.
Overall, I did not worry if I’ll get blisters in my feet because even without a dive sock, the foot pocket is soft and it did not damage my skin. My only side comment is that I wish the blade were a bit longer for 2-3 more inches because I’m a real fan of super long fins. Overall, I rate the Lalum fins from 9 out of 10 as the highest! I would definitely recommend this to beginners and other freedivers.
Using the Neoprene Diving Socks (Honest Review)
What is the importance of wearing a dive sock, you may ask? Dive socks do not only serve as a protection to your feet from getting blisters but it also reduce the chances of getting leg cramps as it provides additional comfort while wearing swim fins or full-foot fins.
The material used for Aquamundo’s dive sock is neoprene. Neoprene socks creates a comfortable seal around your ankle while enhancing heat insulation. Just like aqua shoes, it also provides better protection to your feet when walking around on sand or small stones.
Other Useful Information
- Click here for Aquamundo’s Official Website
- Click here for Aquamundo’s Official Facebook page
- Contact Information:
(+63) 817-2782, 813-2782
techsupport@aquamundosports.com - Auamundo participates in the annual DRT show held in Manila where most of the products are on sale. For this year it was held last September 6-8 in SM Megamall. Watch out for the DRT show next year!
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Thank you for a very detailed and honest review, tips and all ??
Beautiful review! Actually thinking of buying this fins next week. Thank you very much mermaid!!:)
Hello Michael! 🙂 Thank you so much and if you’re going to buy, I really suggest the red or black color. 🙂 Good luck picking!