Biggest thing killing dive shops?

[Brandon]

That's easy to solve. Just show the certification of the air quality and provide carbon monoxide testers.

That's what I did when I suspected a rumor would start. Biannual OCA tests kept in a log , in line moisture and CO monitoring, and about 6x the filtration capacity of either of the local dive shops. Maintenance is roughly twice as often as recommended. People can throw all the shade they want, but at some point they just look stupid.

 

[boulderjohn]

One of the things that impacts shops promoting dive travel within the USA in general is the reliability of the weather. If people are going to dedicate vacations to dive trips, they want to have some sense of the reliability of the plans. I asked the people in the first dive shop at which I worked about it when I wanted to dive some wrecks in the North Carolina area, and that is what they told me. Shortly after that, they broke that rule and planned a "heavy metal" trip focusing on the wrecks in the Florida Keys. They had to cancel at the last minute because of a hurricane.

If you searched ScubaBoard, you would find a thread from two years ago in which I was desperately looking for a dive site. I had two trimix students flying in to meet with me in Florida and do all their certification dives. We had the boats all chartered and ready to go. The week before the scheduled trip, the ocean was like glass. The week after the scheduled trip, the ocean was like glass. The week of the scheduled trip, we had gale force winds throughout the state.

 

[yle]

For those reading this not from California there is some diving out of San DIego other than wrecks. Was in San Diego on business and took a boat to the Pt. Loma kelp beds. An enjoyable day. Short boat ride. Modest depths. Viz around 20 ft. Water in the low 60s. Plus hot food on the boat.

Sorry... didn't mean to imply that San Diego had nothing to see but wrecks. I was responding to the idea of marketing California for diving, so I was imagining how it would look through that lens. That is "Come to San Diego and Dive Wreck Alley!"

The kelp beds off Pt Loma, as all the locals know, are definitely worth a look also.

 

[drrich2]

4. If you want decent viz (but still cold water...) you have to hop over to the Channel Islands, which typically means a two-hour ride on a dive boat from Long Beach to Catalina Island. The kelp forests and giant black sea bass there are cool, and there's a fair amount of sharks in the neighborhood... but it would take a lot of creative marketing to convince people to travel to So Cal just so they can spend two hours on a dive boat (each way!) and bundle up in 7mm neoprene for a chance at seeing some giant sea bass drifting through the kelp.

Appreciate the insights! I chose the Channel Islands (southern limited-load 5-day trip out of Santa Barbara about Truth Aquatic's boat the Vision). Viz. was indeed better (still not Bonaire or Belize good), water expected to be a tad less cold than the northern islands (we hit 1 northern & 3 of the southern), and going the live-aboard route let me cut trip cost way down vs. staying land-based, and avoided those long, tedious boat rides. I was careful about my time of year; definitely seasonally variable, unlike Bonaire (where March, April, December, it doesn't matter all that much).

Richard.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Check out Alec Peirce's video on regulators:


He points out that the low-end regulator does everything you would need. The high-end ones provide extra bells and whistles, which may be worth it for some people, but not necessary to do a safe dive.

One thing he forgot to mention was that the 2nd stage on the MK2 was an unbalanced reg but also had a venturi vein, and the chrome 700 was a balanced 2nd stage.
Unbalanced/unbalanced vs balanced/balanced, big difference.

 

[KevinNM]

One of the things that impacts shops promoting dive travel within the USA in general is the reliability of the weather. If people are going to dedicate vacations to dive trips, they want to have some sense of the reliability of the plans. I asked the people in the first dive shop at which I worked about it when I wanted to dive some wrecks in the North Carolina area, and that is what they told me. Shortly after that, they broke that rule and planned a "heavy metal" trip focusing on the wrecks in the Florida Keys. They had to cancel at the last minute because of a hurricane.

If you searched ScubaBoard, you would find a thread from two years ago in which I was desperately looking for a dive site. I had two trimix students flying in to meet with me in Florida and do all their certification dives. We had the boats all chartered and ready to go. The week before the scheduled trip, the ocean was like glass. The week after the scheduled trip, the ocean was like glass. The week of the scheduled trip, we had gale force winds throughout the state.

An Abq dive shop tries to run a flower garden trip every year, but the way the boats run it it’s risky. You are driving through Dallas or San Antonio by the time the go/no-go decision is made.

 

[TMHeimer]

An Abq dive shop tries to run a flower garden trip every year, but the way the boats run it it’s risky. You are driving through Dallas or San Antonio by the time the go/no-go decision is made.

Are you coming from NM? If so do you just turn around in TX if it's cancelled?

 

[KevinNM]

Are you coming from NM? If so do you just turn around in TX if it's cancelled?

I’ve never made it on their trip, done it myself twice without issues. The shop had a backup plan involving driving to Corpus Cristi iirc, but so far my understanding has been that the trips have either been cancelled early due to obvious problems or have gone.

 

[markmud]

Appreciate the insights! I chose the Channel Islands (southern limited-load 5-day trip out of Santa Barbara about Truth Aquatic's boat the Vision). Viz. was indeed better (still not Bonaire or Belize good), water expected to be a tad less cold than the northern islands (we hit 1 northern & 3 of the southern), and going the live-aboard route let me cut trip cost way down vs. staying land-based, and avoided those long, tedious boat rides. I was careful about my time of year; definitely seasonally variable, unlike Bonaire (where March, April, December, it doesn't matter all that much).

Richard.

Hi Richard,

Truth Aquatics is a good dive operator. Vision is their best vessel. Did you make it to San Clemente? If so, what part of San Clemente did you dive?

Tanner Bank/Cortez Bank?

thanks,
markm

 

[drrich2]

We spent 2 days at San Clemente. Per my dive log, dive sites included Sun Point, Pyramid Rock, China Point, Bliss, Pyramid Cove.

Richard.