Diving near UCSB
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spt29970
Contributor
UCSB has an active dive club, but it tends to be very seasonal. It is a little unfortunate that it tends to go into hibernation during the summer (since most students go home) when the water is the warmest. For diving year round, you are welcome to join the Paradise Dive Club (Paradise Dive Club Santa Barbara, CA). During the off season we have at least one event every month, with more in the summer. We do beach cleanups, camping trips, and beach dives/picnics, as well as trips on charter boats. There is also a group of hardcore divers that do a night dive every Thursday night (weather permitting). The meetings are held on the last Tuesday of each month (except Dec) at Petrini's Family restaurant. At each meeting we have a gear raffle and a speaker. It is a great way of learning about the local dive spots and to meet other divers.
BTW, I am the president
BTW, I am the president
Noboundaries
Guest
Wow, lots of UCSB'ers and no Banana Slugs?! Let me add my Slug slime to the discussion.
My daughters were accepted to both UCSB and UCSC (and others), but chose UCSC for the unique campus setup (college affiliation depending upon major), the beauty of the campus in the coastal redwoods, the quality of education, and the people. It has a very electic mix of students, similar to what they experienced in high school.
They both graduated UCSC in four years (they are twins). Both were Slug swimmers who turned into surfers, lifeguards, swim coaches, and finally gainful employees while at UCSC. One is still finding her niche, the other has settled nicely. The absolutely LOVED UCSC and its rather bohemian lifestyle. Something like 85% of the grads go on to grad school from UCSC. They'll leave Santa Cruz when you pry their cold, dead fingers from the sand. Each will most likely continue on to grad school.
They could have earned their c-cards on campus for peanuts, but nooooooooooo, they were too into surfing, working, and school. UCSC's scuba program has been around for decades. NAUI based and they have an active scuba club. Here's the club info from the school website: The UCSC Scuba Club, "Scuba Slugs", is a recreational club open to all interested scuba divers. Members are allowed to use the recreational program's scuba equipment for their dives provided they are organized club activities and courses. The club offers both skin and scuba diving throughout the year depending on the availability of equipment and dive leaders. The only club meeting occurs the first Sunday of each quarter at 7pm in the Martial Arts room at the East Field Complex. If you can't make this meeting contact the Scuba Office at (831) 459-4518. We encourage club members to come help with our Basic Scuba pool sessions every Wednesday and Thursday (see the current SCUBA CALENDAR for times). It is a good way to log more water time, hone your diving skills, meet new divers and pass on "tricks of the trade" that you have developed or learned.
PREREQUISITES for the club are: You have to be certified as a scuba diver by a nationally recognized agency, have medical clearance from the UCSC Health Center, attend the "skills review" pool session, pay the annual dues of $20 online at Welcome to UCSC Recreation and be able to provide the following equipment for the scuba dives: mask, snorkel, fins, gloves, booties, web weight belt, exposure suit, and cutting device (the club provides tanks, BCs, lead, regulators and three gauge consoles).
One daughter is NAUI certified, the other may take a while. They both now wish they would have pursued their certifications on campus. They would have saved a bundle.
O'Neill's home office is in Santa Cruz and they have a huge sale every year with massive discounts on their wetsuits.
Santa Cruz, Monterey, Carmel, and the North Coast are great dive spots, just a bit colder than our southern UCSB Gaucho breathern.
Decisions decisions. By the way, if UCSC is less than an hour from home, send him to UCSB. That's for you, not your son.
My daughters were accepted to both UCSB and UCSC (and others), but chose UCSC for the unique campus setup (college affiliation depending upon major), the beauty of the campus in the coastal redwoods, the quality of education, and the people. It has a very electic mix of students, similar to what they experienced in high school.
They both graduated UCSC in four years (they are twins). Both were Slug swimmers who turned into surfers, lifeguards, swim coaches, and finally gainful employees while at UCSC. One is still finding her niche, the other has settled nicely. The absolutely LOVED UCSC and its rather bohemian lifestyle. Something like 85% of the grads go on to grad school from UCSC. They'll leave Santa Cruz when you pry their cold, dead fingers from the sand. Each will most likely continue on to grad school.
They could have earned their c-cards on campus for peanuts, but nooooooooooo, they were too into surfing, working, and school. UCSC's scuba program has been around for decades. NAUI based and they have an active scuba club. Here's the club info from the school website: The UCSC Scuba Club, "Scuba Slugs", is a recreational club open to all interested scuba divers. Members are allowed to use the recreational program's scuba equipment for their dives provided they are organized club activities and courses. The club offers both skin and scuba diving throughout the year depending on the availability of equipment and dive leaders. The only club meeting occurs the first Sunday of each quarter at 7pm in the Martial Arts room at the East Field Complex. If you can't make this meeting contact the Scuba Office at (831) 459-4518. We encourage club members to come help with our Basic Scuba pool sessions every Wednesday and Thursday (see the current SCUBA CALENDAR for times). It is a good way to log more water time, hone your diving skills, meet new divers and pass on "tricks of the trade" that you have developed or learned.
PREREQUISITES for the club are: You have to be certified as a scuba diver by a nationally recognized agency, have medical clearance from the UCSC Health Center, attend the "skills review" pool session, pay the annual dues of $20 online at Welcome to UCSC Recreation and be able to provide the following equipment for the scuba dives: mask, snorkel, fins, gloves, booties, web weight belt, exposure suit, and cutting device (the club provides tanks, BCs, lead, regulators and three gauge consoles).
One daughter is NAUI certified, the other may take a while. They both now wish they would have pursued their certifications on campus. They would have saved a bundle.
O'Neill's home office is in Santa Cruz and they have a huge sale every year with massive discounts on their wetsuits.
Santa Cruz, Monterey, Carmel, and the North Coast are great dive spots, just a bit colder than our southern UCSB Gaucho breathern.
Decisions decisions. By the way, if UCSC is less than an hour from home, send him to UCSB. That's for you, not your son.
OP
fisheater
Contributor
Thanks for the info and advice, everyone.
I've planted the seed with my son. If he wants to take up diving, I'll support him. If he doesn't, no worries.
In any event, sounds like I'll be bringing my dive gear along when I visit. (Though to preserve family harmony, I'll reluctantly leave it at home weekend after this when we do a campus visit for the Spring Open House for prospective students.)
Thanks again.
I've planted the seed with my son. If he wants to take up diving, I'll support him. If he doesn't, no worries.
In any event, sounds like I'll be bringing my dive gear along when I visit. (Though to preserve family harmony, I'll reluctantly leave it at home weekend after this when we do a campus visit for the Spring Open House for prospective students.)
Thanks again.
OP
fisheater
Contributor
Thanks again everyone. It looks like I'll be taking advantage of your advise, as my son fell in love with the campus this weekend. He ended his search and signed up.
red_infinity
Contributor
Which one?
OP
fisheater
Contributor
Santa Barbara. It won hands down over Santa Cruz for academics, setting, campus feeling and - um, err, the "study body."
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