New to the scene, just got certified seeking buddy(s)

[myriad50]

Hi all,

I was re-directed to this forum to make my posting, say hi and put it out there that I'm looking for a buddy or some buddies to dive with.

I just got certified, loved it so much that I'm going to buy all my gear (minus the cylinder) this week and would love to test my non-rental gear out down in Monterey this upcoming weekend....but I don't have a buddy to dive with.

I live in San Francisco and whilst I have a friend who is (slowly) going through the certification process he doesn't feel he's gonna want to go more than a few times a year.

After doing my open water dives this last weekend I'm inclined to say I'd prefer to make day trips down to Monterey (or other areas within reasonable distance to SF) 2-3 times a month, esp. once I have my own gear. It seems quite reasonable to make day trips down given that it's only 2 hours away (vs. Tahoe for snowboarding.

As noted above, I live in SF, I have a car and am looking for some dive buddies. If anyone wants to head down to Monterey this weekend send me a message. Edit: This weekend or any other - I can also, on occasion, take mid-week days off too with some advanced notice.

My dive buddy this last weekend was female and we did awesome together, so male or female doesn't matter to me. Just looking for fun, safe diving buddies. Oh and I'm 33 yo if that matters.

Eagerly looking forward to responses,
-Eric

 

[bbianchi]

Welcome!

Normally id say come meet us at the next meet and greet, but the currently planned one is a boat dive, and the boat is full.

However, If you are interested perhaps someone not going out on the boat would be willing to lead some shore diving plans that day?

Either way welcome to some of the best cold water diving in the world. For some good information resources here is what I can pull up:

Monterey Bay Conditions
Monterey Sea Conditions at a Glance
http://dev.stormsurf.com/4cast/graphics/enp.46042.bull.2.png

In a nutshell: larger swells are bad. West winds are also bad news for monterey/carmel diving, NW is the "normal". Generally if there are large swells it takes a few days with calmer seas for the water to settle out. If we have constant winds for a few days that can create an upwelling current here that brings colder but much clearer deep water into the bay and greatly improves visibility. Also aside from the buoy data I linked (20 miles off shore) check the NOAA in bay forecast:

NDBC - NWS Forecast
(Monterey is near the bottom)

If you want a little more information on how to interpret this data read this page:
Monterey Bay Sea Conditions - Some Examples

Also as a note to get the wind forecast images to load, you will have to install the DoD Root CA
2 cert. This is signed by DISA and is just hosted by the Navy as its the cert they are using to encrypt their data.

Point Lobos
If you wish to dive the world famous Pt. Lobos you will have to have a buddy before entering the park. They will permit teams of 3 USUALLY but the standard is a 2 man team, with a max of 15 teams in the park at any given time. Generally you can dive any non-holiday weekday without a reservation, however thats not always true for the sunny hot fridays. You will always need reservations on the weekend... or at least if your driving from SF dont plan to dive lobos on a weekend w/out them.

Dive Calendar/Reservations:
Point Lobos State Reserve - Dive Calendar
http://pt-lobos.parks.state.ca.us/scuba/divereserv.htm

A good alternative is South Monastery but DO NOT dive there your first time w/out someone that's familiar with the site. You can do some searches on the forums here to learn why.

New Monterey Diver
Also, Chuck Tribolet has a good, "New Monterey Diver" page, that I also would suggest reading. However some may be a little repetitive for you depending how much your instructor already taught you.

New Monterey Diver Information

 

[fisheater]

Another alternative is to go north a bit and dive along the North Coast (Sonoma and Mendocino).

Give our dive club, North Coast Divers, a try.

We have no meetings, dues or officers. We DO, however, dive. At least once a month. Newbies are especially welcome and it's a great way to meet other divers who can become dive buddies.

Welcome to The North Coast Divers!

 

[Baconated]

I just got certified, loved it so much that I'm going to buy all my gear (minus the cylinder) this week

Welcome!

I would suggest renting different types of gear a few times in order to get a better idea of what works well for you. It gets expensive if you have to buy your gear twice.

Nathan

 

[fuggler]

Hi all,

I was re-directed to this forum to make my posting, say hi and put it out there that I'm looking for a buddy or some buddies to dive with.

I just got certified, loved it so much that I'm going to buy all my gear (minus the cylinder) this week and would love to test my non-rental gear out down in Monterey this upcoming weekend....but I don't have a buddy to dive with.

I live in San Francisco and whilst I have a friend who is (slowly) going through the certification process he doesn't feel he's gonna want to go more than a few times a year.

After doing my open water dives this last weekend I'm inclined to say I'd prefer to make day trips down to Monterey (or other areas within reasonable distance to SF) 2-3 times a month, esp. once I have my own gear. It seems quite reasonable to make day trips down given that it's only 2 hours away (vs. Tahoe for snowboarding.

As noted above, I live in SF, I have a car and am looking for some dive buddies. If anyone wants to head down to Monterey this weekend send me a message. Edit: This weekend or any other - I can also, on occasion, take mid-week days off too with some advanced notice.

My dive buddy this last weekend was female and we did awesome together, so male or female doesn't matter to me. Just looking for fun, safe diving buddies. Oh and I'm 33 yo if that matters.

Eagerly looking forward to responses,
-Eric

Hi Eric. My bf and I will be at Breakwater this weekend for our Advanced class, but we'll be available after next weekend. We just got certified 3 months ago and have been driving to Monterey to dive almost every weekend. If you're gonna be there this weekend, let me know what you look like/what car you drive so we can get acquainted. I'm 24 and he's 29, if that matters.

Also, like you, we were eager to buy our gear ASAP when we first started. Rental gear sucks for the most part so I wouldn't advise renting a bunch of different crappy stuff. I mean... if you know you hate cumberbunds or the feeling of getting squeezed by jacket style BCs, why would you want to keep renting it? (and most of the time, that's what shops carry for rental) Just do your research on the gear you want and try to build a relationship with your LDS so they can hook you up.

 

[myriad50]

Thanks for all the replies!!!

I'll def. read through the links provided and check out the north coast divers as well.

Nathan: My ex girlfriend is a dive instructor and I asked her what she thought about the Legend regulator and the Vyper Air computer - she said the local LDS was correct and I would not be disappointed with either of them (she and all her dive buddies, male and female use the Legend or Legend LX and they all love theirs). The Vyper Air I can't see really how wrong I can go there since it's a pretty good computer and I believe I'd prefer a wrist vs. gauge for the computer.

Kinda hard to say as they won't rent me a Vyper Air wrist but based upon my convo with my ex she said she really prefers to just be able to glance at her wrist for all her data vs. pulling out a gauge.

That really just leaves the BC and wet-suit. They have a special on if you buy all 3 components from Aqualung (BC, computer & reg) so while I'm torn between the Balance and the Knighthawk (they won't let me try them in the pool first, sadly) I've read great reviews on both of them so I'm leaning towards the Balance to get the Aqualung special.

And since I can't afford a dry suit after all the above I'm gonna run with the SolaFX semi-dry suit, which again, you cannot 'rent' - sadly enough. But it seems to have great reviews and two people at the local LDS use it and claim it's a great suit.

Hopefully I won't regret the decision to buy this particular set of gear, however I've tried to do as much research as possible (i.e. calling my 'ex' ((haha)) just to 'confirm' what the LDS personnel were telling me about each item etc. and scouring around online for product reviews).

I hate to say this, but given this economy - if Aqualung wasn't running this special I'd probably but some of the gear online. I could save ~$500+ if I did. But they are running the special and I want to support my LDS (as much as possible....).

Fuggler:

I will be down in Monterey this Saturday (had to pay a dive master as I couldn't find a buddy and wanted to dive again, esp. if I have my own gear) so I'll be there from 7:30 til whenever we finish. I'm not sure what spots he's gonna take me too but I drive a white Subaru Outback Impreza with a mountain bike rack on the top. As to me, 5'8", white boy with a shaved head lol.

If you want, lemme know what color/kind of car you guys will be in and what the two of you look like so maybe we can meet after our dives to say hi. I can also send you a private message with my cell number in case we can't find each other.

 

[mofongo_max]

Hey Eric... I'm Fuggler's significant other. We'll be driving my blue Hyundai Sonata. She'll be the Filipino chick that looks Chinese (sorry babe, had to ) and I'm also a white boy with shaved head. We usually score a spot in the lower lot. If we're not in the water, we're probably shooting the ***** in Glenn's or hanging by the car.

I also have the Legend LX. Since we're so new, I haven't gotten a chance to abuse it too much yet, but so far I'm happy with it.

Hope to see you down there Saturday.

 

[babyjoe75]

hey eric, i live in S.F. also and i'm always looking for new buddies. i own all the gear (dry suit also) i can also drive. i was thinking of heading down on sat. let me know if your down, we can car pool.
joe