Moving to SF -- LDS and DM Course?

[dreifish]

Hi guys,

After enjoying some lovely Pacific diving for the past two years, I'm going to be moving to San Francisco in November. I have ~150 dives at this point, mostly warm water.

I would love to continue diving while I'm there. I have ~150 dives at this point, mostly warm water. I'm going to need to get some drysuit training for the local diving and eventually invest in a drysuit (dived Point Lobos once last summer with a 7mm -- not an experience I want to repeat).

Does anyone have recommendations for an instructor/dive shop in the area who could teach a drysuit course?

The other thing I'm considering is to start a DM internship with a local dive shop/instructor. So I would love suggestions in this regard as well.

Of course, I'm also looking forward to meeting some of the local divers!

Cheers!

 

[Jak Crow]

I got my drysuit cert at Diver Dans in Santa Clara, and the instructor was fine. The class and check out dive were uneventful. There are very few places in the area you can go wrong with.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk 4

 

[Vegan Shark]

(dived Point Lobos once last summer with a 7mm -- not an experience I want to repeat).

Have you thought about just adding a hooded vest? I was getting chilly past 60ft with a 7mm, so added a 7/5mm hooded vest and am nice and comfy now. Doesn't limit mobility since the extra neoprene is all on the core, and at $100 or less is way cheaper than a drysuit. Semi-drys are even better, Lobos felt almost as nice as Cancun when I tried a Mares Isotherm.

 

[zf2nt]

The problem with adding neoprene to get warmer is that you then have neoprene compression with increasing depth. It doesn't matter what brand, what style, or how much (or how little) it cost, the air bubbles in the neoprene are still going to have to obey Boyle's law. At 99 fsw, for example, the neoprene will be only about 64% the thickness it had on the surface. Yes, you can wear enough neoprene that even at depth you have enough of a thermal blanket around you to avoid chilling. But then you have to add more lead to counteract the increased buoyancy at the surface. The virtue of a dry suit (assuming you have a good one, which is NOT made of compressible neoprene) is that you have the same thermal blanket around you irrespective of the depth.

IMHO, wet suits are fine...for one dive of the day and provided you don't want to go very deep.

 

[Vegan Shark]

For a drysuit, especially with heavy undergarments, don't you have to add substantially more weight than if you were using even a farmer john?

It is amazing how much cold tolerance varies between individuals; I've seen instructors in a one piece 7mm without a hood or gloves, diving 4 times a day, and thought they're insane. But they probably look at my hooded vest and think I'm a wimp Anyone ever seen someone diving in Monterey in a 3mm shorty, or just a swimsuit? I wonder what all those crazy swimmers who swim miles in SF Bay wearing just a speedo would wear if they went diving

 

[tracydr]

For a drysuit, especially with heavy undergarments, don't you have to add substantially more weight than if you were using even a farmer john?

It is amazing how much cold tolerance varies between individuals; I've seen instructors in a one piece 7mm without a hood or gloves, diving 4 times a day, and thought they're insane. But they probably look at my hooded vest and think I'm a wimp Anyone ever seen someone diving in Monterey in a 3mm shorty, or just a swimsuit? I wonder what all those crazy swimmers who swim miles in SF Bay wearing just a speedo would wear if they went diving

No,not necessarily. I actually use almost the same weight that I used with a 7 ml when diving my drysuit. It really depends on your undergarments and how much air you like to use in your suit.

 

[dreifish]

Have you thought about just adding a hooded vest? I was getting chilly past 60ft with a 7mm, so added a 7/5mm hooded vest and am nice and comfy now. Doesn't limit mobility since the extra neoprene is all on the core, and at $100 or less is way cheaper than a drysuit. Semi-drys are even better, Lobos felt almost as nice as Cancun when I tried a Mares Isotherm.

Vegan Shark, I was diving with a 7MM farmer john, hood, gloves, everything and still pretty cold -- perhaps my cold tolerance sucks, or I'm just too used to warm water. But the semi-dries might be worth looking into. I rarely dive deeper than 70-85ft. Is there a lot to see deeper than that in the NorCal dive sites? If not, perhaps I'll investigate a semi-dry option first -- almost bought a scubapro semidry for Japan diving before, but the water around here is 65F+ even in winter

Any thoughts re: DM course/internship?

 

[Vegan Shark]

Was it a poor-fitting rental suit? A good farmer john is usually rated for temps as low as 45, so if you were cold in that a semi-dry probably wouldn't help much. I'm going to have the reverse problem: will likely be moving to Japan next year so have to figure out how to dive there

Are you going to be shore or boat diving? Other than North Monastery none of the shore spots in Carmel and Monterey drop down too deep. Most of the marine life is found in the shallower waters, but some deep boat dives I've seen have gorgeous rock formations if you're into that. I'm still a newbie, so best for the Monastery scuba masters to chime in.

 

[Paco II]

So many factors come into play, but at the end of the day comfort is all that matters. When I started diving Monterey about 13 years ago, a 7mm wetsuit was fine. About seven years ago I added a hooded vest. About two years ago I realized that I was getting so cold I was starting to not enjoy diving, and it was either going dry or no longer dive. The decision was easy and I've been dry suit diving for about two years now. I enjoy Monterey diving on a whole new level now. There is no reason to tough it out when it comes to diving and the cold.

 

[Sunnie Rai]

Hi ,
Im Sunnie , I also just moved to the Bay Area 5 months ago. I found some really great folks at a place in San Mateo 20min from SF Called Scuba Fusion, they are a dive school. I moved here from the VI and they took me right in. First as a Volunteer but then they found me a paid admin position. They have been really nice and inviting. Always inviting me to sit in on classes or join their weekend Monterey dives, on the house cause i'm working or volunteering my own time.(which I do a lot for fun) The owners are amazing and everyone seem really cool. We are always on the look out for possible instructors (which are paid positions), Bill (owner) has helped many of his volunteers and staff get the certs they needed so that they can become DM. Im sure he would be happy to have a new addition to our little dive community. In fact they are helping me and I plan to take as many courses as I can and maybe become one of their instructors. Lots of dive love in this shop! It was a great find and I couldn't be luckier. Hope this is helpful, you should come look us up. Let me know and I can introduce you.