Florida girl moving west!

[OrlandoRogue]

Hi, all-

As seen in the title, I am a Central Florida diver who is moving to the Bay area. I will be moving west in just 2 1/2 weeks, so thought I would get some advice and suggestions from the locals before getting out there. I would be sincerely grateful if you all could answer some of the below questions or just give me some local tips for California diving. I have never been diving out there, but am definitely looking forward to new experiences!

1.) Do I need to invest in a dry suit or is a 7mm enough for the summer? Remember, I have become a thin-skinned Florida diver!

2.) Are there any monthly dive club meetings in the Bay area? ( I will be living in Emeryville)

3.) Any recommendations for a LDS near Emeryville? (somewhere they offer Nitrox fills as well)

4.) Any suggestions for my first few dives out there?

I think that is the extent of my questions...for now. Thank you all in advance for any information you can share.

Best Regards,
Rebecca

 

[Doc Intrepid]

Plan on getting a drysuit. Trust me on this one.

(You'll want to take a look at a DUI 350 as a benchmark...)

Here is one local group: (there are a few others)
http://www.baue.org

Dunno about local logistics, but others on SB will be along shortly with LDS input.

Best with the move,

Doc

 

[Jim Ernst]

Hi, all-

As seen in the title, I am a Central Florida diver who is moving to the Bay area. I will be moving west in just 2 1/2 weeks, so thought I would get some advice and suggestions from the locals before getting out there. I would be sincerely grateful if you all could answer some of the below questions or just give me some local tips for California diving. I have never been diving out there, but am definitely looking forward to new experiences!

1.) Do I need to invest in a dry suit or is a 7mm enough for the summer? Remember, I have become a thin-skinned Florida diver!

2.) Are there any monthly dive club meetings in the Bay area? ( I will be living in Emeryville)

3.) Any recommendations for a LDS near Emeryville? (somewhere they offer Nitrox fills as well)

4.) Any suggestions for my first few dives out there?

I think that is the extent of my questions...for now. Thank you all in advance for any information you can share.

Best Regards,
Rebecca

i have to say that i am the biggest COLD SISSY on the west coast, and i have a very good 7mm wet suit and it does just fine but after 1 1/4 hour under i do get slitley chilled, down the road i will buy a dry suit, as for your first dives i would recemend monterey ca, and break water cove (san carlos beach) great place to start, good luck

 

[melfox26]

1.) Do I need to invest in a dry suit or is a 7mm enough for the summer? Remember, I have become a thin-skinned Florida diver!

Water temps are usually in the low 50's pretty much year-round. If you're used to diving in warm(er) water, I'd suggest a drysuit. Many people do just fine in a 7mm Farmer John/Step-in combo, essentially puttting 14 mm over your torso.

2.) Are there any monthly dive club meetings in the Bay area? ( I will be living in Emeryville)

Sorry, can't help you there, as I'm not a member of any. Most of the dive shops I list below are associated with a dive club though.

3.) Any recommendations for a LDS near Emeryville? (somewhere they offer Nitrox fills as well)

Emeryville is tough, I don't know of any LDS in that immediate area.

California Dive Center, San Bruno (near SF Airport): www.cadive.com
Captain Aqua's, Hayward/Dublin (East Bay): www.captainaqua.com
Diver Dan's, Santa Clara (South Bay): www.diverdans.com
Bamboo Reef, San Francisco: www.bambooreef.com

They're all local to the Bay Area, all pump Nitrox, but also are out of your immediate area. There are plenty of good dive shops in the Monterey area if you just want to get your air fills there.

4.) Any suggestions for my first few dives out there?

Breakwater (San Carlos Beach) down in Monterey is a great beginner dive. It's where 99.9 % of instructors go to take their Open Water classes for their checkout dives.

I think that is the extent of my questions...for now. Thank you all in advance for any information you can share.

Best Regards,
Rebecca

There's a wealth of knowledge to be found on this board, and in this forum in particular. Ask away, dive safe.


Mel

 

[dlndavid]

Welcome in advance to the Bay Area Rebecca.
I work in Richmond near Emeryville but I'm not familiar with dive shops that do Nitrox fills. I just purchased a 7 mil set up and plan on diving Monterey real soon. (warm water diver so far) Nice thing about Emeryville is you have a great view of San Francisco.
Regards, David

 

[mossym]

most of the south bay shops have clubs, i'm in the Silicon valley dive club, run out of diver dans in Santa Clara. Meetings every two weeks on a wednesday, and one boat dive and one shore dive a month, with reduced rates for the boat dive.

Hey, if you need someone to buddy up with to begin with, let me know, i'm down there most weekends, couple of the people i dive with are pretty new so we do the easier beaches quite a bit, give you a chance to get used to the kelp and the cold, oh yeah and the low viz compared to what you're used to

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I cant elaborate any further on LDS's than what's already been said, but I can make some other recommendations.
As for suits, Most people just use a good 7 mil wet suit. If you can afford it then yah, get a dry suit, but if you look around most divers in this area make due with a W/S.

Emeryville is about right smack in the middle between Monterey and the North Coast.
For your first shore dives I would go to the Breakwater in Monterey. If a weirdo named Fred comes up to you and want's to be your buddy, refuse.
If you need a buddy, there are plenty of people on this board that can help you out, or you could contact a dive shop in Monterey and they may have a guide that could take you out. Monterey also has several dive boats that go out so that would be another option.

After that I would post on this board that you want to shore dive Gerstle Cove up in Sonoma County. There are also many people here who can show you that cove. Where Breakwater has a lot of sand, some filter feeders, a few rocks here and there, and of course the breakwall itself which can be interesting, it is nothing like Gerstle. Gerstle Cove probably has at least 20 times the amount of marine growth and animals to look at. Being a protected reserve it has 10"+ abalone, fish of all kinds, stars, anemones, kelp, crabs, a few harbor seals, and just an overall profusion of life. They also do check out dives in this cove.
Just let us know if you need anything else.

ZKY

 

[OrlandoRogue]

Wow, I like the info I am getting so far. Thanks everyone. I may try and brave the water in a 7mm the first dive or so (or until I recover from the moving expenses!). The lack of an LDS in the immediate area of Emeryville is no big deal. I will be working up and down the East Bay, from Concord and Livermore down to Pleasanton and San Jose, so I can stop at a myriad of dive shops in that area. To me, a great LDS is certainly worth the drive-we have definitely learned that here in Central Florida!

Thanks as well for the dive location suggestions and buddy offers. I will definitely be looking for a buddy once I get out there b/c none of the people I know in California are divers-plenty of camping and hiking buddies, but no divers yet! By mid-June, I'll be settled and eager to get wet again.

Keep the great advice & suggestions coming...
Rebecca

 

[simbrooks]

To me, a great LDS is certainly worth the drive-we have definitely learned that here in Central Florida!

I dont know what you mean

Hope you find some good stuff around there. For those wondering about hardiness, Becky used to dive the 72F springs in a 3mm most of the time, but i am sure the hood, 7mm and some gloves would help out. I was diving SoCal in my 5mm with hood and wasnt too bad most of the time....

I look forward to an invite out to dive some day in the future. Also dont forget to ask Jeff what he thinks/recommends from his time out there, he might be out there again before you know it to see his family.

Sorry to see you go, but looking forward to visiting and diving that kelp again - only this time i will be dry

 

[mossym]

socal tends to be a bit warmer than up here, last dive i did was around 50, before that i had 47 on one of my dives..

if you don't mind driving, Diver Dan's is a great shop, well in my opinion anyway, really friendly staff, and they are always willing to help, course i only live 10 mins from them so i'm a little biased