I see there have been two votes FOR Patagonia's Marlwalkers. Unfortunately I have had problems with mine. I have had two pairs (now on my third) and in each case the soles have fractured and broken apart - particularly the area under the heel. To be fair I am using them on hard (dead) boulder coral and despite these tough conditions the good folks at Patagonia replaced them. Patagonia have acknowledged "some" quality and design issues with them and perhaps they are not good for particularly tough substrate. But full credit to Patagonia for standing by their sales policy.

For wading flat sandy bottoms I use KEEN sandals. I like them as they are tough, with toe protection and are comfortable. Even when I hit some sticky clay-like substrate they held firm and I could drag my foot out without them pulling apart. The KEEN sandal features have now been copied by other companies and are selling at much lower prices i.e. $US30-$US40 verses $US70-$US95.