San Francisco Bay Area Divers?

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danhool34

Registered
Scuba Instructor
Messages
21
Reaction score
2
Location
San Francisco
# of dives
200 - 499
Just posted in the Intro forum, and some very helpful people redirected me over here. New to the forum, looking for a dive group to carpool down to Monterey or possibly other good dive sites within reasonable driving distance of SF.

I've done almost exclusively tropical diving (I know, I'm spoiled), having worked in OZ on the GBR and checked out Thailand and Honduras. Headed to Belize in May for a bit too.

I have a 7 mm with hood, gloves, booties, etc. Is it just stupid to NOT dive with a drysuit out here? I've only done a couple dives in Monterey while assisting an OW course, so I haven't had an opportunity yet to experience the deep cold water. Thoughts?
 
Nope, not crazy at all. 7mm, 8mm, 10mm(crazy folks at Heatwave & Otter Bay), lots of people do it in fact, proves you're manly :D
I dive a 7mm farmer john that was custom altered by Otter Bay Wetsuits. Nice and comfy.

If you wear a one piece 7mm and get cold I would recommend investing in a 5mm or 7mm hooded vest before purchasing a dry suit. Especially if you're planning on being more of a vacation diver.
I'm currently living in Santa Cruz now for school, but in the summer I'm back in the East Bay. Shoot a message on the board anytime you want to dive, and I'm sure you'll get plenty of response.

Monterey has a lot of nice dive sites. I would start at Breakwater (AKA San Carlos Beach/Coast Guard Jetty) first to get situated to the conditions and vis here.

Welcome to the Norcal forum :wink:
 
I couldn't dive wet here, not even in a custom wetsuit. Then again I get cold easily, and move slow or use a scooter that chills a person quickly. Best way to save money on a wetsuit is to buy a drysuit. Other than a few die-hards, most of the regular divers use a drysuit. Especially when doing over hour long dives. My last dive was just over 80 minutes.

North Coast Divers is holding their club dive this weekend at Fort Ross. Not sure if I am going as I have been sick lately. Anyone is welcome to join in the fun! There are no dues, meetings, or other hoopla. North Coast Divers March 5th club dive at Fort Ross

The only thing is this weekend is looking ugly and the North Coast is more exposed to swells.

PZZ540-545-032330-
POINT ARENA TO POINT REYES TO 10 NM-
POINT REYES TO PIGEON POINT TO 10 NM-
845 AM PST THU MAR 3 2011
SAT
S WINDS 10 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS.
W SWELL 6 TO 8 FT AND S 3 FT. CHANCE OF RAIN...
 
I couldn't dive wet here, not even in a custom wetsuit. Then again I get cold easily, and move slow or use a scooter that chills a person quickly. Best way to save money on a wetsuit is to buy a drysuit. Other than a few die-hards, most of the regular divers use a drysuit. Especially when doing over hour long dives. My last dive was just over 80 minutes.

Peter makes a good point I always forget. My usual dive times are 40mins, 56min tops. I too don't do a lot of moving, but I also don't use a scooter, so I'm always swimming in a sense.
I dive single cylinders between 50-80cu. ft, 2 dives usually for every dive trip.
If you plan on doing longer dives or very deep dives (past 70ft)
and you're unable to warm up by drinking hot tea in a parka during your SI
then a wetsuit would be a pretty crummy choice of attire.

Since you already have the gear, definitely give it a try first, to see how you feel.
 
Since you already have the gear, definitely give it a try first, to see how you feel.
There is the best advice!

Just plan on keeping your dives shorter and shallower. Suit compression is an issue, unless you have a suit made of Rubatex or Yamamoto. If you can easily squish the suit between your fingers...it will crush to 50% of it's thickness in recreational depths. Most of your dives will probably be shore dives for a while and you will be above 65 feet for most of them. Unless you head somewhere like Monastery Beach (Go with someone experienced on a calm day, as many people have died there) or Lobos.

Gearing up here with all of our equipment is such a challenge, and energy expense, I prefer to spend more time underwater on each dive. Sometimes we will only do one long dive. We dive bigger tanks (120's-130's) or doubles. I have a set of 100's as singles and never use them. I use my HP130's for most shore diving on the North Coast. Of course I tend to also come up with plenty of spare gas. *shrug* I would rather have extra than not enough.
 
Thanks for the good info everybody. Once I finish up the ski season in tahoe and get back from Belize in May, I'll be looking to head to Monterey a few times per month during the summer. Hope to get some good diving in.
 
I did 100+ dives in my 7mm Aqualung in Monterey with no issues for 45-50min dives, I have to admit when water gets 45F it's a bit on the edge, but it's pretty rare (we got 52F water last weekend).

I totally agree, try it once, if you get cold then get Farmer John or a skin under your wetsuit.


at the same time, I am sissy and would not got back from dry to wet :coffee:
 
Hi

Glad you came over to our forum!

I did almost 200 dives in Honduras and SE Asia before dipping into our local cold water. My one and only wetsuit dive lasted 12 minutes - since then I've happily been diving dry :).

But YMMV.
 
Just posted in the Intro forum, and some very helpful people redirected me over here. New to the forum, looking for a dive group to carpool down to Monterey or possibly other good dive sites within reasonable driving distance of SF.

I've done almost exclusively tropical diving (I know, I'm spoiled), having worked in OZ on the GBR and checked out Thailand and Honduras. Headed to Belize in May for a bit too.

I have a 7 mm with hood, gloves, booties, etc. Is it just stupid to NOT dive with a drysuit out here? I've only done a couple dives in Monterey while assisting an OW course, so I haven't had an opportunity yet to experience the deep cold water. Thoughts?

Welcome to NorCal!

Over the last year, I've been diving a bit in our brisk NorCal waters. I've only dived wet -- I have no drysuit experience. I wear a 7mm wetsuit with a 7/7mm hooded vest (a Henderson -- Diver Dan's in Santa Clara carries them, and I highly recommend it). In general, I'm *okay* in the water, even in dives up to 75 minutes on the second dive. The surface interval is the real killer, particularly this time of year when there's little sun and heat to warm you up between dives. I try to mitigate those problems by bundling up really warm with a beanie during the SIs. So far, it's manageable.

That said, I plan on buying a drysuit soon. As I said, diving wet around here is okay and manageable; it's not, however, anywhere near as enjoyable as I imagine it would be in a drysuit. And if you'd later like to dive doubles or move into tech, a drysuit is a essential.

Good luck! If you'd ever like to head down to Monterey and get cold together, send me a PM.
 
Breakwater is a great place for divers of all levels. Yes, it is the place where people go to get certified and will muck up the visibility. But there are some really good sites to be had. A buddy and I were diving the middle reef area on Sat and had an unheard of 30+ vis! It was totally awesome! On our second dive along the wall, we got dive bombed by a bunch of curious harbor seals. They were more interested in showing off for my buddy's camera than mine. Must be the bigger lens port that he had :wink:

Nope, not crazy at all. 7mm, 8mm, 10mm(crazy folks at Heatwave & Otter Bay), lots of people do it in fact, proves you're manly :D
I dive a 7mm farmer john that was custom altered by Otter Bay Wetsuits. Nice and comfy.

If you wear a one piece 7mm and get cold I would recommend investing in a 5mm or 7mm hooded vest before purchasing a dry suit. Especially if you're planning on being more of a vacation diver.
I'm currently living in Santa Cruz now for school, but in the summer I'm back in the East Bay. Shoot a message on the board anytime you want to dive, and I'm sure you'll get plenty of response.

Monterey has a lot of nice dive sites. I would start at Breakwater (AKA San Carlos Beach/Coast Guard Jetty) first to get situated to the conditions and vis here.

Welcome to the Norcal forum :wink:
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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