looking to dive

[tigercrane]

hello-

I live in SF and I'm ready for some diving. Just got back from belize and have the jones. I researched the dive spots but know I want to know which dive shop to rent some gear through and get a guide. I'm also concidering taking some more classes, NITROX, dive master , etc. Any recomendations? Should I use a shop down in Monterey or up in SF?
thanks

 

[melfox26]

When I was still renting gear, even now when I rent tanks, I find it easier to rent close to home in the Bay Area rather than get it down there. Most of the shops have 5-7 say rental periods so you can head down to Monterey for multiple days of diving. Esp. if you want to take some classes, doing it at a local shop makes more sense, you won't have to drive all the way down just for the classroom part of it.

As for the dive shop, it depends on location as well as agency preference.

Bamboo Reef (San Francisco) = SSI = www.bambooreef.com

Wallin's (San Carlos) = SSI = www.wallins.com

Captain Aqua (Hayward/Dublin) = SSI = www.captainaqua.com

California Dive Center (San Bruno) = PADI = www.cadive.com

Diver Dan's (Santa Clara) = PADI = www.diverdans.com

Any Water Sports (San Jose) = PADI = www.anywater.com

I've used Diver Dan's for classes, as I've stuck with one great instructor, as well as gear rental. I've rented tanks from Ca. Dive Center and Capt. Aqua's before too.

Hope this helps a little,

Mel
PADI Rescue Diver/Nitrox

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

In SF proper you have two choices: Bamboo Reef, and
the YMCA SCUBA program.

If you want a guide, set it up through one of the Monterey
shops -- I don't think the Bay Area shops do many guided
dives, but the Monterey shops do it regularly. Bear in
mind that Monterey isn't Belize: The water is colder, the
kelp is thicker, the vis is worse, the critters are better.
Some special training is required.

As far as renting goes: I'd establish a relationship with a
shop and stick with it. You don't want everything
different each time you go diving.

I've got about 900 Monterey dives and about 75 Belize
dives, so the sample size is > 1.


Chuck

 

[tigercrane]

where can i get a good guide in Monterey?

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

For a guide, contact any of the Monterey dive shops.
There's a listing here. My usual is Manta Ray, mostly
because I can usually park my truck (with boat trailer)
there while I'm getting fills. Both Aquarius shops (they
have different ownership BTW) and MBDC are good
too.

There's a list of shops at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ba_diving/links

 

[Brian Gilpin]

hello-

I live in SF and I'm ready for some diving. Just got back from belize and have the jones. I researched the dive spots but know I want to know which dive shop to rent some gear through and get a guide. I'm also concidering taking some more classes, NITROX, dive master , etc. Any recomendations? Should I use a shop down in Monterey or up in SF?
thanks

Have you done any Norcal diving? If not you may consider doing a AOW and drysuit class combo. Diver Dan rents DUI drysuits at a reasonable cost and offers classes as well. When I switched back to cold water itwas quite literally a shock. Good Luck.

 

[Divemonkey]

Have you done any Norcal diving? If not you may consider doing a AOW and drysuit class combo. Diver Dan rents DUI drysuits at a reasonable cost and offers classes as well. When I switched back to cold water itwas quite literally a shock. Good Luck.

You might try down in Monterey, I find it a good place to get back into the cold water concepts and a relatively easy dive in most areas. If your looking for True North Coast, I would look around Ft Bragg, I know there are a couple dive shops there. They should be able to steer you right.

Be sure not to grab any abalone with tanks, you will get hammered (which you should) by either SCAN (Sonoma Coast Abalone Network) or Fish and Game. You can not even have tanks on the boat with you when you grab Ab's.

There are some excellent books on North Coast diving, you should buy one and do some reading, they rate the difficulty of the dives and what your likely to see.

I am not a guide, or an instructor, but I do ocassionally dive on north coast. Weather is the key there, some places are sheltered when the weather is up, others are down right dangerous in anything but a flat calm. Use common sense, ask at the dive shops and objectively and carefully survey your dive site.

Matt