new diver, some questions

I am a very very new diver with only 13 dives, got certified while on vacation and dove mostly in tropical and temperate climates.

Now I am back home and looking for a dive shop/instructor that I can train with and 'grow' as a diver for a long time.

My goals are to EVENTUALLY certify up to divemaster with PADI (right now I am AOW) and also EVENTUALLY to get into some deep/wreck diving.

My immediate next steps are to take a dry suit class and get acquainted with shore diving in Monterey. In the summer a gue-f class perhaps, meanwhile get some nice gear together. I live in SF but work in Cupertino so any shops in this area are fine by me.

Any advise?

thanks!

ps. I searched this forum but couldn't find an answer to what diveshop would fit this the best, so please bear with me!

First off, read the two sections that begin "Information ..." in this:
http://www.garlic.com/~triblet/ba_diving/ Diving here is different from the tropics (mostly
colder and poorer vis, but that vis supports world class invertebrate life).

There are a number of good shops around. There's a list of shops in the link above.
I don't think there are any really bad shops. In Silicon Valley, I usually use Any Water
Sports.

In SF I have heard that Bamboo Reef is good (SSI), they also have stores up north and in Monterey. I was certified through Wallins in RWC (SSI as well) and have had good experience, and presently working through my AOW with them as well. Have a pool on site which is helpful.

I will say this, I generally find Wallins' store staff to be a bit elitist sometimes. I usually buy my gear at a smaller store in Novato.

I am, however, a relatively newer diver (as you can see). Chuck is very knowledgeable and I would be interested in hearing what the draw to Any Water.

Thanks,

I was actually reading your site just after posting this - lots of usefull information here. Diving here seems much different so I want to go into Monterey for the first time in a drysuit as part of a class/with an instructor to learn the ropes.

If you plan on going the GUE route I would start getting your gear ready for Fundies... no sense buying stuff just to ebay later on.

Any Water Sports is where I frequent for most of my dive needs. The staff whom I've encountered are often helpful when making decisions without putting pressure to buy anything. Frank Barry owns the store and is an instructor that tries to cover all bases and also makes the class an interesting place to spend time in. I don't know if he teaches any of the lessons out of his store because I took the SCUBA class at SJSU a few years back, but I've heard his staff instructors are good as well. If you ever get to talk to him, he's got a lot of interesting stories to tell.

There's also Diver Dan's in Santa Clara. I've gone there maybe twice to get things AWS didn't have and to save a dive because AWS closes earlier than Diver Dan's. My experiences here have been good, but I don't have a lot of personal experience with this store. I have heard good things from other frequent customers.

I think you should also try to get some more dives in before you get more certifications so that you can sharpen skills you've already learned before trying to learn new things.

called any water sports and they don't offer the dry suit class. I guess I will have to try wallins - I don't really care what agency, etc as long as someone rents me a dry suit/gear and shows me which way is up both in the pool and ocean.

sandapanda7:

called any water sports and they don't offer the dry suit class. I guess I will have to try wallins - I don't really care what agency, etc as long as someone rents me a dry suit/gear and shows me which way is up both in the pool and ocean.

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Good luck with Wallins. Let me know who your instructor is.

You can try Pacific Coast Scuba for drysuit classes.

I took the drysuit class at Wallins. It seemed like a good operation. It's hard to tell because a drysuit class isn't exactly a complicated course. It seems like it all could have been condensed in to a single day. That said, I've always had very good experiences with the staff at Wallins.