looking for san diego hotel & dive shop advice

I am looking for a nice FAMILY hotel to stay at in aug 05. If any one knows of a nice smoke free place that costs up to $150.00 a night I would appreciate any help. We are going to be going to legoland and sea world while there as well as trying to get in a dive with a local shop that has good rental equipment if you could send some links for them as well. looking forward to trying the pacific ocean and thank you much.

Steve

Are you an AAA member? If so, pick up a SoCal book - helpful on the hotel and locations front, and maybe some discounts. I'm thinking "hotel circle," but there may be some better options...

I personally use DivePro as my dive shop, but I own all my gear.Sports Chalet and Aqua Tech rent gear of good quality. I don't know about hotels! Legoland is 30+ miles north of Seaworld...I believe Aqua Tech could help you with the guided tour. There is also a place called OEX which has equipment and guided tours...

Divebums.com has the links for the shops:

http://www.divebums.com/Links.html#anchor23612

Hmm well if you want to stay up north the Hilton Garden Inn in Carlsbad is nice. Not sure about smoke free though. If you are AAA you can get half off at Sea World and the zoo. Check out www.gottadive.com if your thinking boat trip. Have a great stay!

Go the websites of the various hotel chains. Often they will have prices that beat the official AAA discounts. Friday, Saturday, and sometimes Sundays are the best bet for hotel prices in most places.

Expedia, Orbitz, etc. usually can't beat the individual hotel websites but sometimes you can get good package deals if you combine airfare car and hotel.

If you're a bit of a gambler you may want to try Priceline.com.

As stated above Legoland is in Carlsbad which is to the north of San Diego. What activities do you want to do? If most are in San Diego proper then get a hotel down that way. There is a cluster of hotels along "Hotel Circle" which runs along both sides of I-8 northeast of downtown. There are also many hotels along I-5 north and south of town, and in downtown itself (though quite pricey).

As stated above, Sport Chalet rents good quality equipment. They are a chain store and have stores all over the state including 3 in the San Diego area alone. You cannot reserve rental equipment online but you can find a store nearest to where you'll be and call them directly for prices. http://www.sportchalet.com/corp/index.jsp?page=storeLocator&state=CA You can also get their prices online http://www.sportchalet.com/corp/index.jsp?page=rental_rates_scuba

Thanks kelpmermaid for the AAA advice it worked great. We found a place on shelter island. Next is to pick a shop to rent gear from and check out guided shore dives. I will be there aug 9th through 14th so I will be diving wed , thurs, or fri. thanks for the heads up on sports chalet I'll put them at the top of the list. sjspeck thanks for the pm it helped alot. divebuddysean that link is awsome. serapis i'll keep that charter outfit in mind if there are not any interesting shore dives.

bhapps24:

i'll keep that charter outfit in mind if there are not any interesting shore dives.

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There's plenty of great shore diving out here but be sure to go with someone who knows the area. You could post on San Diego Divebums to find some buddies who are willing to take you out. There are plenty of stores in San Diego from which to rent your gear in addition to the ones already mentioned. There is Ocean Enterprises on Balboa, and Scuba San Diego (Mission Bay I believe), Diving Locker, etc. I haven't been to all of them and I have never rented gear so my helpfulness ends at just naming some stores

Good luck!
Paul