Need Advanced Cert tips in San Jose Monterey

[PlayMore]

Poi-- apologies if you've already looked at this option and I missed, but you might check out Diver Dan's dive club. They do a Monterey shore dive every couple of weeks. The dive is accompanied by a DM or Instructor and some seasoned area divers. Nice people, and a great way to build some experience to local conditions. It's all on their website. Single event is something like $25 or join the club for $50 and get the same value back as rental vouchers. In full disclosure, I'll be doing some professional training with them--and it was this type of involvement in the dive community that made me go with Dan.

 

[runsongas]

I used to be a member of the Diver Dan's dive club and they can't always guarantee that there will be someone they can pair you with that has more experience, you have to be prepared to dive as a buddy team with another possibly inexperienced diver depending on the turnout.

 

[kumimonster]

If you're going with the Diver Dan's Discover Local Diving thing, you can always go with the DM/Instructor if you're solo. It's pretty chill.

 

[poifromthebag]

Ok, I got my AOW. For thread completeness, here's my post mortem. All the tips in this thread were helpful, so thankyou.

I was more worried about cold water than I should have been. My rental included a 7mm farmer john + 7mm shorty with long sleeves. So my core was 14mm and felt like it was warm-in-bed cozy. The coldest were my arms but only when new cold water would rush in.

The biggest issue I had was not being at all accustomed to the massive amounts of weight needed to deal with the gobs of neoprene I was wearing, and the buoyancy swings that come with it. I'm used to Hawaii where a 3mm full body and less than half the weight is needed. Now I realized I really didn't know buoyancy control all these years. Very frustrating. It was like a skier of 20 years suddenly trying snow boarding (don't ask me how I know).

On top of that, the vis at Breakwater and the other sites were awful. 5' and your buddy is disappeared in the goop. Some people may like the challenge of bad vis, but that's not where I am right now. That's not to say I'm not glad for the experience. I'm glad I did this. I just hope for better vis next time.

- glad I had a dive light; when the vis was this crappy it was dark below 30' and it helped to mark yourself for your buddy slightly beyond the vis limit
- I'll go for a 7-9mm one piece suit; hoping to cut down on a bunch of neoprene. Plus, when not a "class" there will hopefully be less floating around time to slowly drain your warmth
- pay the $ for a boat trip, since I don't do this very often, it's more worth it to increase the enjoyability and time efficiency.
- I can see that Monterey on a whole is awesome... I'd like to go more

 

[PlayMore]

@poifromthebag, Congrats on your AOW! If you were out this past Saturday, yea, it was nuts with so many students in the water. Great to see the enthusiasm of new divers.

 

[Esprise Me]

Congrats!

You might consider a drysuit. It's expensive, but it's so much warmer than even a really good wetsuit, especially when doing multiple dives from a boat, and makes a big difference when the air is cold. You might even find you only need about the same amount of lead as with a 2-piece wetsuit. Also, if you were diving an aluminum tank, you might consider switching to steel to take some weight off your belt.

 

[kumimonster]

Breakwater and the rest of Monterey can get some pretty low vis. I don't think it's ever bad though as I don't mind it. Some days there's more, other days there's less.I enjoy going out when the sun is down too.
Either way, I go slow.
Hopefully you'll get a buddy that realizes you can see more if you go slow. And in doing so, you'll be able to really dial in your trim and buoyancy because it won't be hidden by the forward propulsion of your flutter kicks.

So cruise a long and notice the little things that are hiding in the sand - there are worms and nudis and octo and all that.

Definitely get your weight dialed in and get used to the differences. Then jump on a boat for a change. Still, most of us are used to the shore entries because it's just more cost effective when one is trying to go out more than once a week!

Congrats on your AOW!