Hello from Arizona!

[Rob9876]

Welcome to the forum! Blackbeard's will be a good experience for you. You may want to consider getting your AOW while there -- the pricing is good, and it allows you to do 5 more dives with an Instructor while you get comfortable diving.

 

[Gnarcosis]

Welcome to the forum! Blackbeard's will be a good experience for you. You may want to consider getting your AOW while there -- the pricing is good, and it allows you to do 5 more dives with an Instructor while you get comfortable diving.

Thanks for the tip! I signed up for all the onboard certs for that exact reason.

 

[Gnarcosis]

Space on a live aboard is at a premium. Especially when everyone is gearing up. Plan and pack intelligently,

One of the biggest mistakes I see new divers make is that their gear spreads out into way too big a footprint.

Yes! I’ve read this over and over. I’m thinking I should be alright. Aside from my gear I’m bringing very little.

Have you considered scuba in Puerto Penasco? Would it be anywhere near a day or 2 trip for you. Haven't done it but hear it's not bad. There is a charter boat I think.

Looks like almost 6 hours for me. But I live in the northern part of the state. If the diving is good it would be worth the trip I’m sure!

 

[JohnnyC]

Rocky Point isn't great. Generally to be avoided.

However, plenty of Arizona shops head to San Carlos for their check out dives. Worth going.

 

[Sam Miller III]

@Gnarcosis

I wasted what little time I have remaining by posting the following to welcome a mid westerner to the far west where men are men and recreational diving began
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Over 65 years ago, during and after Korea I was stationed at Luke AFB in Glendale, Arizona .
Lead by the late Christopher "Kit" Horn, who had briefly worked at Rene Sports (US Divers -now Aqua Lung) we made Bill Barada designed CO 2 spear guns from surplus items. ( I still have the spear gun and authored an article "The Magnicent Gas gun" in my dedicated column "The way it was" in the now defunct Discover Diving about 30 years ago-- time flys by )

Ernesto Zarasota had promoted the first and only "Inter American -Mexican spearfishing meet" at San Carlos Bay in 1955 - won by John Gaffney of NADS fame. We heard about it and Zoomed off to San Carlos bay to spear fish.

In retrospect we were the first divers in Phoenix and all of Arizona and the first out side of the competition to dive San Carlos

So many memories of dives and good and great friends long gone
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Del Mar dive shop in Mesa has a dive operation in San Carlos- including a boat ! They also have periodic trips from Mesa via bus to San Carlos...Check out Del Mar

While in the shop there is a rare gold plated JBL spear gun high upon the wall....under it in a frame is an article I authored once again for Discover Diving titled "The Man with the Golden Gun." in case you happen to visit Del Mar -- and I hope you do .
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
@JohnnyC
So many years ago ...

I have had so many good spearfishing trips to Puerto Penasco aka Rocky Point . It is very shallow with a huge tidal change.

With the shallow water and tidal shift along comes fish ! Big fish !

I have so vividly imbedded in my memory of a trip with my best friend - My self ! I would go out in AM shoot some fish trade/give to the locals in exchange for meals. One meal was a fish stew So rich and savory - I still recall it after all these years !

Rocky point is no longer the area I once knew but now over run with the trappings of modern society
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And those were tha dazz of our dives

Sam Miller, III

FYI all the persons mentioned in the above post are now diving on the big reef in the sky--sad !

@Marie13 CE
@MAKO Spearguns
@Scuba Lawyer

 

[Silvertip57]

Have you considered scuba in Puerto Penasco? Would it be anywhere near a day or 2 trip for you. Haven't done it but hear it's not bad. There is a charter boat I think.

Last time we made that trip we were fortunate enough to see a pod of Orcas on our way back to Puerto Penasco! The diving is great and the crews on the boats are really good.

 

[Gnarcosis]

@Gnarcosis

Del Mar dive shop in Mesa has a dive operation in San Carlos- including a boat ! They also have periodic trips from Mesa via bus to San Carlos...Check out Del Mar

While in the shop there is a rare gold plated JBL spear gun high upon the wall....under it in a frame is an article I authored once again for Discover Diving titled "The Man with the Golden Gun." in case you happen to visit Del Mar -- and I hope you do .


Sam Miller, III

FYI all the persons mentioned in the above post are now diving on the big reef in the sky--sad !

@Marie13 CE
@MAKO Spearguns
@Scuba Lawyer

What an amazing story. Thanks for sharing! I’ve got to go to San Carlos and see the gun now! Would love to pay my respects to the trailblazers, and check out some cool dive history in the process.

 

[Gnarcosis]

Rocky Point isn't great. Generally to be avoided.

However, plenty of Arizona shops head to San Carlos for their check out dives. Worth going.

I checked out with ”Phoenix Scuba.” Seemed like a really fun group. I’ve been wanting to join them for one of their trips south, just been working too much and diving too little.

 

[diversteve]

Sam does this - it's El Mar not Del. LOL

They own/run the Piesquita dive boat that lives there. Several times a year they charter a greyhound sized bus that leaves from their parking lot but it's pretty early.

522 Diving in Tucson also runs Ocean Spirit there. Gary's Dive Shop also has a fleet of old, slow boats. Most dives go out to the island (San Pedro) which is uninhabited except for a big sea lion colony. They will be waiting in the water for you (leave the snorkel on the boat if you like your maak) On the ride back to town (under an hour) watch for pods of dolphin - we see them every time. Also there's an older Youtube video of an orca playing in a boats wake - that was shot there.

Due to it's location it stays colder there longer than you would think. In winter you might want a dry suit - even in spring a 5mil or more. There's often a thermocline at 60-80' and it's cold below it.
Late summer/early fall it heats up - I've comfortably dove in a t-shirt/board shorts the 3rd week of October but it will be cold in November again.

In October the shops go down for the Scalloped Hammerhead migration. Sometimes they get the right week - otherwise it will be an o/w dive with the fish. Most of the regular boats won't do it on their typucal weekend trips as they also do certs off the boat and the area is deeper/rougher. Also you need to be good on air as you moor a distance away and sneak up on them hugging the bottom. They're pretty skittish.

We stay at Marina Terra it's slightly faded but on the marina all the dive boats leave from. And there's about 4-5 restaurants within walking. A couple pools, nice grounds and a beach club across the street - ask and they'll run you over. I actually rent a condo on one end and I get resort privileges.The condo agent is in the hotel so call them and ask for his number if interested. He doesn't want money there so you do a transfer to his bank here.

San Carlos is a sleepy little ex-pat town on the pharmacia circuit - there's probably a dozen there. Nice beaches. It's a $20 cab ride from Guaymas if you want to fly from Phoenix - I have, small turboprop (American) and it was around $250 r/t a decade ago.
San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico

hth, check out El Mar's San Carlos page for details - I'm pretty sure they dive all year just less in winter. They have a sister shop there - we've used them for tank rentals for local dives.

Do you dive with Summit? We've got a cabin in Elk Park Meadows a few miles south of Flagstaff on Lake Mary road. I've heard there's decent diving in Lake Mojave when the river is higher..

 

[diversteve]

I don't know when/where the above poster dove Puerto Penasco (call it Rocky Point locally) but it's always been too murky - due to the tidal exchange as it's about as far up in the Sea as you can get. I believe there's one shop there now, I've seen several fail.

The Rocio Del Mar LOB leaves out of there in summers and dives the Midriff Islands in the Sea of Cortez,Nice boat and really nice people own it - their offices are about 5mi. from my house. They have a paid shuttle from Sky Harbor Airport on Saturdays that drops you on their dock. It's clear where they dive, my buddy has dove with them.