Dive sites closer to San Francisco than Monterey/Mendocino (don't care about sightseeing)

[BeeBrown]

Wow - thank you all so much for chiming in!

I'd totally be down. Assuming that it isn't dangerous. I have often thought about taking a tank down to the Marina where people swim and try to just explore the area.

Awesome! I'll send you a direct message.

Tomales State Park mentions scuba I thought.

Will take a look to see what's available there!

I've heard about hunters diving in Pacifica. Not sure what they're hunting. You could call Anderson's scuba shop in Pacifica.

That's a good idea - will check into it!

Some loose knit groups of boaters (like the Facebook group "Washed Up Yacht club") in the bay area would be a good place to start, although a 12' Achilles air-floor inflatable with a 9.9 hp Yamaha motor would be something you could store in a closet and take out

I dunno why boat diving didn't occur to me as an option but I'm glad you mentioned it to remind me! Thanks for the tip on the group to check out!

Farallon Islands. Just wade out into the water and swim west. It is a long surface swim. Good luck.

Like most folks, the first thing I think of when I hear "Farallon Islands" is sharks (and I'm assuming that, also like most folks, any fear I might have about sharks is blown waaaay out of proportion). But I can't help myself - is it safe to dive around there?

Thanks again everyone!

 

[BeeBrown]

I'd totally be down. Assuming that it isn't dangerous. I have often thought about taking a tank down to the Marina where people swim and try to just explore the area.

Whoops - looks like I need 5 posts before I can send direct messages. So I'll just post it here instead.

Regarding safety: given my inexperience, I'm definitely not the best person to assess safety, but if we're able to get that question answered adequately then I'd love to do some local/exploratory dives with you! And, given that I don't really care all that much about sight-seeing, I'm more than happy just to follow along while you explore wherever you're wanting to explore!

 

[Scubagolf]

Farallon Islands. Just wade out into the water and swim west. It is a long surface swim. Good luck.

He’s joking. Cage diving for White Sharks in the Farralons. 12 hour round trip. Farallon Islands, California - Shark Dive Adventures
Monterey is your best bet, but buy a good dry suit, as water temps are +- 56 def F.

 

[MichaelMc]

Small sharks are fine and nice to see, but do not pester them, as any animal.

We try to stay out of the big ones waters, and try to ignore the fact that they roam widely along the whole coast. But we are generally noisy clunky creatures underwater that do not look or sound like their normal prey underwater, so not really on their intended diet.

 

[suricatasuricata]

Wow - thank you all so much for chiming in!


Awesome! I'll send you a direct message.

Will try to send you a DM as a placeholder.

So regarding Pacifica, I just talked to someone who dives in Pacifica. It is going to be more often than not 2 feet of viz. So that is there. Just sketches me out to be around someone hunting in that viz. Although I might do Pacifica just to try it out.


Farallon islands is basically private boat diving unless you wanna pony up for the shark cage diving, which seems kinda lame.


One option that might work for you is Stillwater Cove. Seals Watersports does fun dives there where they do urchin cullling, I've not been there yet because I haven't got urchin culling gear yet, but apparently you can just do fun dives with them.