I wear my crocs and use the strap behind my heel when I am wading in the water. I wear them hiking too and like how give support.They wouldnt be much good for actual swimming but they may be great for water aerobics. I bought my crocs to wear canoeing and ended up wearing them for walking, gardening, wading in the water, heck almost anywhere I could! I have a fused bone in my big toe and do not go barefoot ever. maybe this will help.
just had this thought when my DD went to PR for class, she needed water shoes and got them at a dive shop as she also needed snorkeling gear. You may want to check one they may be sturdier than usual brand names.

That's what I was going to suggest - dive boots.

I use my old pair of running shoes -for that matter you could use a new pair. Most of them are so light they are not going to weigh you down in the water, they let the water through, and you'll get great support. I use them on all our river trips, where we are picking our way through a rocky river bottom -they are perfect.

I teach aqua aerobics. I would recommend Merrel for the average person, but I do not know the severity of your plantar fasciitis and you may need to tape the foot for exercise.

I found the "perfect" pair of Merrell aqua shoes but they do not make them anymore. They are similar to this pair below but not the Mary Jane style. Merrel is known for having wider widths and good support with interior padding.

What you could do, and many of the other instructors do this, is to find a good, light weight athletic shoe with an open mesh top and drill a couple holes in the sole for water to drain out. I haven't been brave enough to try this with a new pair. I plan on drilling an old pair of athletic shoes when they are just about worn out to test my drilling skills.

If you get blisters from the webbing or seams, wear a 100 percent nylon sock with the shoes.

With your plantar fasciitis, are you doing calf and arch stretches before you began your routine? Even though the aqua instructor does warm-up stretches with the whole class, if you have a unique medical condition you may have to do some extra personalized stretching before your class.

http://www.merrell.com/US/en-US/ViewProduct.mvc.aspx/17212W/0/Womens/Circuit-MJ-Breeze?galleryId=W-F

Here is a link that might be useful: Merrell Water

Chacos or Keens ... they are nasty expensive, but looks like you've spent even more money already on shoes that didn't work. Chaco soles are endorsed by the American Podiatric Medical Association ... they have great support.

Mari, I recently bought a pair of Keens at our local Bass Pro Shop, which are working pretty well for me. It was explained to me when I bought them, that the shoes can be worn in the river. (Not being a hunting/fishing type of person, I'm taking her word for it.) They do breathe, there's a nice toe covering and they are starting to mold to my feet. On the con side, they are expensive. I just happened to be at the Bass Pro Shop to pick up some Aqua-Tainers to use as a traveling water reservoir. There may be other places on-line to get these for less. I haven't worn them all day yet, so they are fairly new to me.

Regarding your plantar fasciitis, my physical therapist tipped me off to an inexpensive therapy which really works. Freeze a disposable water bottle mostly full with water. While watching television or reading a book, roll the frozen water bottle underfoot, 5-10 minutes. Switch feet and roll. The frozen bottle helps alleviate inflammation, and the rolling also helps stretch the ligament in your foot. It really works. After 10-20 minutes of rolling my feet, I can walk much more easily and without pain. I do this every day, just to keep myself walking. Since we're taking our dog swimming today, I need to do this myself! HTH.

Here is a link that might be useful: Keen Sandals

Here's another option I found on the same website.

Here is a link that might be useful: Teva water shoes

Crocs and I just don't get along, they slip and chafe - I bought a pair back before the fad began and they ended up at Goodwill. They're VERY popular for going back and forth from the locker room to the pool and as shower shoes (you could not pay me to go barefoot in there). I went to a scuba shop but while dive shoes are great for swimming and pushing away from rocks they didn't have enough padding for the pounding I put them through.

Thanks for the reccomendations for Merrell, Keens, and Teva. I didn't know that Keens other than the Hood River were more amphibious than "they won't fall apart if they get wet", and it's good to see that Teva is branching out past those awful webbing sandals (which is all the local shoe stores carry). I've never seen any of those at local stores so I think my credit card is going to get a real bruising at Zappos. :-)

dilly, I'm not in a formal class - I'm in an independent program continuing my aquatic physical therapy since my insurance company won't pay for it anymore. I'm waiting for a slot in the arthritis class even though I'd be about 25 years younger than the rest of the participants, but it's hard to get time in the warm pool. (The regular health-club pools are too cold for me.) You betcha I stretch before and after, as well as before bed and when I get up. Normally the PF behaves itself pretty well, I've just been abusing my feet with the pounding on concrete in lousy shoes. I haven't taped in over a decade, I'll have to see if I can schedule a session with one of the sports PTs to refresh my memory of how to do it. I've been putting in about 3 miles a week of walking and variations thereof like duck-walking and high kicks (I resist the urge to channel Michigan J. Frog) plus strength training - often at the same time as yet more walking! - and a little bit of deep-water work with a float belt but Doc says the weight-bearing exercise is more important. It's taken me over a year to progress that far, when I started I could manage about 15 minutes total, with at least 2 rest breaks, now I can work hard for an hour. I'd tack another 15 minutes on if I could but my timeslot is only an hour.

I can't ice though, cold = severe pain. I had minor surgery a couple of weeks ago and the site swelled rather nastily (no infection though) so I had to ice it for a few days. VERY unpleasant. I like to roll a tennis ball under my foot instead, I've even mastered doing both feet at once. :-)

I'm a huge Keen fan. They never seem to wear out and I've had mine since they first started making them. They are great slippers. Hehehe. I wear them all year round in the house.