First of all, as a person who always wears heels, sandals or flip flops, I wasn't thrilled with having to buy water shoes to get started lol but I knew it. One day in Costa Rica we were close to a waterfall and I didn't want to ruin my only pair of Nikes. The thought of spending money on chacos (which are gross) was gone so I bet on them. These were amazing. I was seriously impressed with the quality. They are very light but the base is really strong/thick. We climbed the rocky part to the top of the falls (wet so far) and didn't slip or lose traction on the way up or down. They dried up very quickly. To be honest they are now my travel favorites which says a lot. Highly recommended and would buy them again if anything happened to them. I also like the colors on the bottom and they can't be seen from the top/side - a previous review said you can, but that's not the case.