Advice Please

[Mr Carcharodon]

Hi guys, completely new to this forum. I am recently new to diving and love it. I did 40 dives in Thailand and got my rescue about 6 months ago.

I live in LA and have yet to experience the So cal waters. I just went to channel islands (santa Cruz) and did some hiking only drooling when i saw the dive boats.

My questions are:

I've only dived the tropics- would it be advisable to do some very easy shore or catalina dives to acclimate to the conditions here. If the only difference is water temp- then i have no problem just jumping in and doing the channels first.

Since it has been 6 months- do you think i should do a refresher. I actually feel very comfortable with my knowledge, and would rather put that $100 towards dives. I think i would be very bored during a refresher since i've done over 40 dives back in December.

If i do jump in and the Channel Islands- can you please recommend any compaines/ places to rent equipment.

Is it common for a DM to accompany you on a dive? Will the boat provide one if i find a buddy? or if i can't find a buddy- will they pair me up

Thx for your help - much appreciated.

There are at least 3 Southern California beach diving classes you can take for free to get an introduction:

Reef Seekers (dive shop in Beverley Hills) has a beach diving class (I think once a month) at Veterans Park in Redondo Beach.

DiveVets (divevets.com) dives at Veteran's Park on Wednesdays weather permitting (once a week at Veteran's is a bit often for my taste, but to each his own). They had lots of yucky red tide there last night.

The Greater Los Angeles Council of divers does the Rock, Rips and Reefs beach diving course several times during the summer at various locations.

I would think the biggest difference in diving southern California vs. the tropics is the different level of exposure protection required. Assuming you are going to use a wetsuit it will take significantly more weight to stay neutral, and there will be bigger swings in buoyancy with changes in depth. Plan on doing some relatively shallow dives to get your weighting and buoyancy sorted out. After that you should be good to go.

As far as DM's go it depends on the boat. Typically do not expect much, if any, hand holding in Southern Cal. And for beach diving there are no DM's.

A.

 

[pasley]

One word for you - Kelp
Giant Kelp - have you ever dove it kelp? It is fantastic!
But there are considerations in diving kelp. Learning how to do the kelp crawl if necessary and where to go up and down and where not to. Kelp is simple to dive in, but to the unknowing, or those who panic, it is a strong rope wrapping tightly around your lifeless body.

I would agree that a little tune-up might be in order. Witness the death in Catalina this weekend of divers who had not dove in a while and evidently had challenges in the kelp with tragic results.

Beach diving is also something that requires training and practice. Done right it is a beautiful and inexpensive dive and a good way to dive often. Done wrong, and it can be tragic.

In SoCal dive boats do not normally provide guides. The DM is there if something goes wrong and the boat gets you to, and usually, from the dive site, the rest is up to you.

Old rule of mine - If you are asking the question, you yourself have doubts. Those doubts are your common sense talking, listen to that voice. Also when was the last time your gear was serviced? So is you life worth $100.00? Yes, before heading for deeper waters I would do some local dives.

 

[eyasha]

If it is the money that is the hold up for the refresher course - here is an idea that can be win win. I could be wrong, but it is my understanding that Dive Master candidates have to do a "Refresher course" as part of their DM training. Maybe you could hook up with someone who needs to find someone that needs to teach the course - I would guess this website would be a good place to make that connection.

 

[dlt333]

If it is the money that is the hold up for the refresher course - here is an idea that can be win win. I could be wrong, but it is my understanding that Dive Master candidates have to do a "Refresher course" as part of their DM training. Maybe you could hook up with someone who needs to find someone that needs to teach the course - I would guess this website would be a good place to make that connection.

Thanks everyone for all your great suggestions. It's not the $ at all that's the hold up. While the knowelge of a refresher cannot hurt, i just did 40 dives in December, and still am quite confident in my knowledge and skills. I did call a few places and they do this in a pool. My purpose is to acclimate to the different conditions here in SoCal. So from previous postings it looks like the discover local is the way to go. I'll call around now.

I just came across this great site for wrecks- don't worry it's on my future to do list- rather than a new post- Does anyone know of any courses/classes for wreck diving?

Here's the wreck link- fascinating

So Cal Wrecks

 

[headhunter]

Welcome to ScubaBoard! :happywave

If you could get your weighting and trim figured out in a pool and then add a bit more weight for saltwater, one of the free beach diving classes mentioned above would probaby be a good bet.

Sounds like you've gotten some training, but not in the conditions that we've got around here. Some supervision would probably be in order.

If you can make it to our June Wrinkles Dive and BBQ in Laguna Beach on June 11th, I'm sure you'd be able to meet a lot of dive buddies for the future. If you've got your gear and weighting figured out from a pool session in advance, I'm willing to buddy up with you to get you restarted in the ocean. There are lots of really easy dives in that area and it's pretty shallow.

Christian

 

[hermosadive]

DiveVets always has a bunch of helpful divers out on weekend dives, as well as the mentioned Wednesday night dives.

If you want to dive, just post on the MESSAGE BOARD and others will respond. Dive plans usually begin to post around Thurs/Friday for weekend dives. You'll have fun and you don't have to worry about a buddy.

Lots of new things instore for 2005, show up for a dive. No membership cost, and diving with the group had benefits...details to be announced.

 

[Ann Marie]

I would also suggest to check out the southcoastdiver.com website. Great group of divers that are willing to take newer divers (or new to the area) out under their wings!

 

[diveangel16]

We're going on a Channel Islands Liveaboard in the Southern Channel Islands July 22-24. It's 3 dive days. Do you have an interest? It's $450. We have instructors and other staff going. So, we could take you for an orientation dive. We would charge $25/dive that we need to lead. Once you become confident in your diving abilities during the trip, there are plenty of buddies to be found on the boat. You would not need to pay at that point. We only charge for the dives where you're becoming oriented because we'll be asking a DM or instructor to give up a dive.

Let me know if you're interested.
Anita

Hi guys, completely new to this forum. I am recently new to diving and love it. I did 40 dives in Thailand and got my rescue about 6 months ago.

I live in LA and have yet to experience the So cal waters. I just went to channel islands (santa Cruz) and did some hiking only drooling when i saw the dive boats.

My questions are:

I've only dived the tropics- would it be advisable to do some very easy shore or catalina dives to acclimate to the conditions here. If the only difference is water temp- then i have no problem just jumping in and doing the channels first.

Since it has been 6 months- do you think i should do a refresher. I actually feel very comfortable with my knowledge, and would rather put that $100 towards dives. I think i would be very bored during a refresher since i've done over 40 dives back in December.

If i do jump in and the Channel Islands- can you please recommend any compaines/ places to rent equipment.

Is it common for a DM to accompany you on a dive? Will the boat provide one if i find a buddy? or if i can't find a buddy- will they pair me up

Thx for your help - much appreciated.