Some of my old notes in case it helps - My Notes For Researching My California Dive Trip -
http://www.scubaboard.com/community/threads/my-notes-for-researching-my-california-dive-trip.532316/ and a few follow up thoughts:
1.) In a wetsuit, you will have some issues with cold if you're sensitive and diving a lot.
2.) The constant breeze across the water created an evaporative cooling effect; oddly enough, as I'd been warned, it was colder to stand around on back of the boat in my wetsuit than to strip it off. A Vet told me they use water or alcohol to wet over-heated animals to take advantage of this, so the effect was familiar to him.
3.) I grew up hearing horror stories about traffic in L.A. (e..g: the 'freeway shootings,') but Santa Barbara looked like a laid back place I could've drove around.
4.) I did a 'limited load' trip; not much more money, more room on board and from what I read the food tends to get spruced up a bit. It was also a very popular annual trip. Be mindful a trip that doesn't get enough bookings can get cancelled. You may wish to ask the trip provider for a guess as to the 'security' of your proposed trip going.
5.) When I went, of the 3 boats, Truth Aquatic's boat the
Vision has a water maker; the
Conception didn't. Between that and the limited load trip, there wasn't much pressure to conserve water. Not sure what other situations would involve.
6.) Be ready for some lifting. The way the setup worked on the
Vision, BCD/tank/reg. setups were on the 'floor' around a central structure; when ready to don gear, we picked them up and moved to atop peripheral benches, then got them on.
7.) It was a great value. No, it's not 'like an
Aggressor boat,' but a lot cheaper.