Did you move for Scuba?

[billt4sf]

Hum...I live 4 hours from the nearest dive site that is more than 6" of vis. I dive about 4 to 5 times a year. It makes me sad thinking of how little I dive and I'm tossing around the thought of moving, but I don't have a particular reason to move any particular place...I just know I want more diving, and warmer weather...

Lots of people move to California for various reasons, (including diving) and if you're young and / or have limited ties then moving can make sense if you can make a "go of it" which includes all relevant concerns, like a job!

Having said that, you have to look at all the relevant concerns, including weather, politics, and cost of living. We live in SF (having moved here a few decades ago), and love it *BUT* the cost of living is very high. The housing crash did not disturb us nearly as much in SF as it did on the outskirts of the Bay Area or elsewhere in the country. Yes, the salaries are higher (depending on what you're doing) but lots of people move OUT of the Bay Area because the housing costs are so high. Lots of others decide it's worth it even though they will never be able to buy a house.

The diving in both N Calif and S Calif is "cold water" -- this is not a bad thing necessarily -- there is more sea life -- S Cal is definitely warmer water and the housing prices are generally lower but there are LOTS of people (and smog)!

Overall I'd say "don't" move somewhere 'just' because of the diving. Move somewhere else if it suits all your relevant concerns, diving being one of them.

- Bill

 

[50Fathom]

Haven't moved yet, but it's going to happen and diving is the "prime mover" on that one, (no pun intended).

Got family in FL, and would love to get a job there. Unfortunately, if there are no jobs, I'll have to follow the money, but I'm trying to lay the groundwork to get to N FL.

 

[FM1520]

On the other side of the question - I haven't moved from San Diego. THe Navy moved me here to San Diego and when I retired I decided to stay - in large part because of the diving. Big active dive community, many places to shore dive, local charters are inexpensive, easy to get to Catalina Island (wow), Monetary Bay is a day's drive....the list goes on.

 

[Vonlick]

Am getting lined up to move to FL after the first of the year to dive. Hope is to get work doing something diving.

 

[robbcayman]

I would love to move to South Forida.... Probably Ft. Lauderdale area. We just can't right now. I have a lucrative local business that is going very well and my wife has a high level executive job. S.E. Florida has great weather and diving, but the job market and economy aren't great.

For now, we try to take 4-5 tropical dive trips a year. We are talking about buying an international condo in Provo or Cozumel, so we can stay 2-3 weeks at a time. This is a compromise my wife is willing to make verses a move.

 

[Vonlick]

Im single and am bored with life. Time to move on!

 

[smellzlikefish]

I have been in Hawaii for 5 years now and haven't looked back.

 

[SoccerJeni]

... I think that unless you got into cave diving, the springs would get old in a hurry ... they're just not that big or interesting.

However, the Gulf isn't that far away, and the diving there's pretty darn good ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Bob's right... the springs are awesome, but the variety isn't there unless you're into petting wet rocks!

As for the Panhandle, you need to define "close". When I lived in Orlando, I had to travel 2-3 hours to get to good diving. It was all around me, if I was ready to travel. Here in Key Largo, the boats are five to twenty minutes away. Now THAT'S close! We have more dive shops here than gas stations... over 30 in our zip code alone.

Isn't the gulf right there on the panhandle? Is there not good diving in the gulf in the panhandle? Believe me, I'm good at looking at pet rocks, that's all I can look at after I make my 4 hour drive to the lake. Well there are a few fish, bass, blue gill and stuff like that. *yawn* good thing I like blowing bubbles!

Hey Jeni,

Beaver Lake was alot better this year. In the spring and fall the visability was around 25 feet.

Was it good? I made it down there a couple of times this year. I'm thinking I want to dive more year round without freezing my booty off getting out of the water! Did you guys go to the Lake house again this year?

If I do move, I will keep diving in mind when choosing the location. But right now I am tied to my location because of work. I also have a 4 hour drive like you do Jeni, to a dive site with good visibility. But I don't consider that such a limiting factor. I try to go for the weekend (to the Red Sea) around twice a month. I can't imagine diving only 4 or 5 times a year when its only 4 hours away!

The tough thing for me is I have commitments every weekend, so going out of town for the whole weekend often is just not feasible very often...if I lived within an hour then I would be able to do a day trip MUCH easier than having 8 hours of driving.

I grew up in KCMO before I started diving. Can't imagine a lot of diving there, unless there is much lake diving to the southeast.

Now I'm in MD, and 2-1/2 to 3 hours to the coast. Do it occasionally, but otherwise its the 6-10' lake/quarry visibility, with 40 degrees at 95 feet when the surface is 95 degrees in July. Real fun in a drysuit. But even that is typically a little over a hour drive. Do have the Chesapeake Bay fairly close- dove it a number of times, but not my favorite venue unless doing an oyster dive.

I retire the end of this month, and will be moving to a waterfront home in Maine, the nearest shore diving being 3/4 mile away (fortunately I enjoy shore diving in the Northeast). My second location will be on the west shore of FL in Sanibel. Not great diving there, but excellent diving 2 hours away on the east coast. Being retired, I can take the time to commute.

Hey good to see another KC person! Yep, you got it, there's about 4 months of diving in the very South part of the state or just over the Arkansas border.

 

[luckydays]

We moved from Chicago to SoCal and diving was one of the main reasons for the move.

Its been 5 months now and I dont regret it one bit. Have not done nearly as much diving as I wanted so far but there are so many other distractions. But 10 dives since we moved and always have more in the plans.

 

[SoccerJeni]

We moved from Chicago to SoCal and diving was one of the main reasons for the move.

Its been 5 months now and I dont regret it one bit. Have not done nearly as much diving as I wanted so far but there are so many other distractions. But 10 dives since we moved and always have more in the plans.

Southern Cal is one of my options...San Diego was awesome when I was there recently!