Glad you posted. My 2015 scuba dance card is full, but Lord willing and providing, I hope to get in a couple of trips in 2016. One solo 'dive-dive-dive,' one 'Scuba trip disguised as a family vacation' (per wife) with me doing 10 dives & wife, toddler & mother-in-law out entertaining themselves elsewhere.
I'm mainly a warm water diver (e.g.: mostly Bonaire, but also hit Key Largo, Jupiter & a smattering of other places). But I'd like to try California some time. I've been checking into the matter, and perhaps other 'California curious' potential dive tourists may share some of my issues with it. So asking here might help.
General Considerations for a potential California Trip:
1.) Shore (Mainland or Catalina Island)? From what I understand, the shore diving can be daunting; Monastery Beach is nicknamed Mortuary Beach, and has run up a body count. Getting a local guide or group is highly advisable. And while Catalina has that location with the stairs, I can't see flying round trip just to do that.
2.) Boat (Day Boat vs. Live-Aboard)? From what I understand, if you're going to make one trip to California, and you want boat diving (which is probably easier to get into right off that shore?), the Channel Islands are the destination to hit. Somebody may argue with me about this. A live-aboard would offer the most dives, and cover housing & food for those days.
Seems to me boat diving, ideally by live-aboard, would be best.
3.) Who to dive with? Truth has a fine reputation from what I'm turning up online; California Diving Magazine online has a Dec. 2014 article
Diving Aboard The Truth: California Diving At Its Best. You're not the only op. in California, but you seem to be a good choice.
So, let's say someone wants to fly out to Santa Barbara (or elsewhere?) and spend a week diving the Channel Islands via a Truth live-aboard. But there are issues; remember that many people like 'turn key' operations like Buddy Dive in Bonaire, or Jupiter Dive Center in Florida. You show up, and equipment rentals, tanks, weights, dive boats, etc..., it's all there. Plus guides on boat dives. But California isn't all like that...
1.) Your business tends toward 2 or 3 day trips, yes? Bit short for paying to fly out for a week. I asked someone with another live-aboard operation elsewhere some questions once; from what I understand frequent deep diving can add up to heavy nitrogen loading & DCS risk as the days add up, and boat crew are often volunteer & easier to get if you're not gone too long. Plus you can host more people if it's for a shorter time. To help people plan, why don't you do 7 day trips? What if someone wants to do 2 trips back-to-back? Is that a problem?
2.) You don't do direct gear rental; even tanks. Your site links to SEA Landing Activities. Which says it links to Sea Landing Dive Center Services, but that seems to link to one of those 'not a real site, give you miscellaneous headings & keep you clicking' sites. That's a problem; unlike researching trips with Jupiter Dive Center (Florida) & Olympus Dive Center (Morehead, NC), I can't find the gear prices. In this age of internet browsing, I'm not keen on phoning when in the early stages of research. So...
-----A.) Do they have 120 cf tanks? Cold water, maybe deep, strange place, thick exposure protection, do they rent big tanks? How much for a pair per day? Or do I just need one?
-----B.) Got nitrox?
-----C.) Since a 7mm wetsuit is said to be necessary for those of us who don't use drysuits (and aren't inclined to train with one for a one time trip), what sizes? I wear a 3x Henderson Thermoprene 5 mm full wetsuit, and it's okay but I wouldn't have smaller. Does this dive shop have such? Price/day?
3.) Seems like you do a lot of group charters; outside of these discovery offerings, do you do much 'open seating' where people who, say, want to come dive in September or whenever just e-mail or call you directly & book? Or must people mostly go through 3rd party dive shops who've booked the boat?
4.) For people doing day trips, or leaving non-diving family on shore, what are the closest, 'easiest' mainstream hotels to you that divers often stay at & have good experience with?
5.) California dive boats don't offer free dive guide service, for the most part. That's also true of Olympus Dive Center in Morehead, N.C., but for $35/day I can get a private one (for 2 tanks). Do you offer a paid private guide service? When I travel, I want to enjoy myself, not play with the compass, and especially not while swimming through a kelp forest hoping to avoid entanglement.
6.) For a solo traveler just doing a live-aboard trip, any idea whether the airport is close enough for a cab ride to & from your shop to be cost effective, to avoid paying to rent a car or for a hotel room? Sort of the like the Caribbean live-aboard trips sometimes work.
A lot of questions I know, and I'm not the most adventurous, independent tool in the shed; more a mid-40's chubby comfort-zone love'in 'I hate surprises' kind'a guy, but if I need to know that stuff, probably some other people do, too.
Richard.
