Diving in NorCal

[creamofwheat]

Hi all,
I am tossing around the idea in my head of a road trip to NorCal in February. I would say I'd go to SoCal and dive Catalina Island, but unfortunately, that is quite the drive from British Columbia, and we only have about 5 days. So, where in NorCal do you recommend we head to? What water temperatures should we expect? Shore diving or boat diving? If boat, any recommendations on reputable operators? Any information you could provide me with would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

See http://www.garlic.com/~triblet/ba_diving/

I'd a allow two days on the road each direction. I drove to BC from Morgan Hill this
summer, and the first day was 13 hours and the second one was six. Monterey would
be another hour.

Monterey.

Water temps about the same as BC.

Boat diving is better than shore diving. There aren't any bad boats. The link above has
a list.

Weather is iffy in February, but if it's diveable, it's usually good vis.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I would start with Monterey. Like Chuck said, there are no bad boats and Monterey is more protected than further up north. There is also lots of cool and fun topside stuff to see and do around the water front. There's Fisherman's wharf and cannery row. Don't forget to see the aquarium. You could, in addition to a few boat dives, do some shore diving at the breakwater, and out at the metridium fields. To find the breakwater just ask anyone, and to find the metridium fields just go into Glenn's Aquarius II on the breakwater and someone will take you out to the wall and show you exacly where it is.

If the weather cooperates you could either on your way down or back up check out the North Coast. This would be the section of coastline between Bodega Bay and Fort Bragg in Sonoma and Mendocino counties. The most popular shore dive on the North Coast would be Gerstle Cove, and it is in Sonoma County about 20 miles north of Jenner on Hwy 1. It is a very protected cove and this spot is used as the primary open water class site in our area. It is a marine preserve where nothing can be removed or disturbed and thus it is pristine as far as abundance of wildlife.
Outside of the cove can be interesting too with many very large pinnacles and large anchors. Good navigation skills are a must though if you choose to venture outside of the cove.
The North Coast has no dive operations and dive shops are very scarce so if you do decide to venture up that way you'll need to make sure you're fully self sufficient as far as your dive gear goes and make sure your tanks are full.

Have fun

Eric