Diving near UCSB

[fisheater]

I'm a North Coast Diver and my son is evaluating his college options.

So far, the leading candidates are UC Santa Cruz (near Monterey and all those great dive spots) and UC Santa Barbara.

Now, I'm not familiar with the diving in the Santa Barbara area, other than most of the Channel Island charter boats run out of Santa Barbara and environs.

I'm hoping to get him certified, so that we could go diving during parental visits to campus. I figure that it would be a good way to note the maturing of the father-son relationship by doing something we're both new at and would be a mutual challenge where we could teach and watch out for each other. Besides, that way I wouldn't be embarassing him around his new friends.

Before I advise him on which campus to chose, I'd like to know how to compare the diving opportunities.

(No. I'm not so shallow that I'd base the recommendation solely upon diving. But, it'll make a difference. Gotta be honest.)

Thanks.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Scuba Shore Diving Site Listing for: California Mid, USA West

 

[TroupH2O]

Ironically I too used some of the same self serving criteria. I would had chosen UCSB but it is way to close for my daughters. They wanted to get away from home. So one is going to San Diego and the other is heading to Monterey. I figure it's the best of both worlds.

Most of my diving has been south of Ventura but I know the point that UCSB is located on has some good diving. There is a dive club on campus that sponsors some great events. So your son could get some dive time when Dad is gone.

Good luck on the decision!

 

[covediver]

I lived near the campus for several years and did my graduate work there in the 90s. The beach diving is fabulous right off the campus (as is the surfing when the waves are up). The kelp beds are thick, so thick that it scares some people from diving in the area. One drawback is tar from the natural seeps in the area (it is called Coal Oil Point for a reason) although the seepage does not seem to be as bad as it once was. (When I was a kid we kept a basket full of tar covered sneakers in the garage as our beach walkers and woe to the kid that tracked tar onto my mom's avocado green shag carpet (this was the 70s).
UCSB has a real active dive community with a very popular dive club on campus. What more could you want? Oh yeah, it is a great school as well.

 

[Clammy]

There's a lot of places to shore dive at UCSB and I think there's a few spots you can dive from the campus itself!

 

[drbill]

Did my PhD and taught at UCSB, and was a member of the UCSB SCUBA Club. Most of the diving I did while there was on the Truth Aquatics boats. However, you might look at the club web site or the Paradise Divers club websites to see if there is any info there.

 

[red_infinity]

I am an undergrad at UCSB studying aquatic biology right now.

Places to dive? There's a bunch! We have a lot of beaches that are awesome for diving, even right off the campus itself.

Here's my videos if u'd like to see first hand, one of the videos is at Campus Point, which is at the very edge of the campus.

YouTube - redinfinity01's Channel (Underwater Logs #1 is Campus Point)

Here's a list of other beach dives around here:
Santa Barbara Diving :: View Forum - Dive Spots

I hope this helps.

Oh, and I'm sorry to say but the UCSB Scuba Club has been disbanded (administrative problems - forced to pay 2 grand + for insurance, couldn't raise the money). Paradise Dive Club is around though, if you're interested in a club. There are many many divers here.

What is your son majoring in by the way?

 

[fisheater]

Thanks for the responses everyone!

He's not sure of what exact major he wants to declare. He's very interested in debate (he got one of very few, highly coveted spots to represent his league in the State Parlimentary Debate Championship), history and communications. He wants to later go to law school. So far, it appears that UCSB has excellent humanities programs that would make a good background for law school.

Good to know that there's good shore diving in the area.

I don't know about whether the club still exists or not, but there is a UCSB scuba program. UCSB SCUBA Diving

We'll see how this all works out.

Thanks again.

 

[red_infinity]

I have a few friends here who are planning on law school afterward, one political science major and another who is aquatic bio as well.

That link that you posted is just for the certification class on campus, not an actual club. Read my post above about the dive club's status.

Good luck!

 

[Grounded]

WD-40 takes the tar right off.

I used to live on the the 6600 block of DP (Del Playa). There was a staircase down to the beach three buildings down. When we didn't want to have to get in the car to go to the good spots, we just walked from the apartment fully geared up for a shore dive.

I can highly recommend UCSB as an academic institution (I think they got some nobel prize winners to shift the focus away from halloween), Playboy magazine's #2 party school, and a great place to shore dive.

Unfortunately, with my History degree, my only choice was to go to law school (half my friends and my girlfriend all ended up heading to law school from UCSB- there's a lot of pre-law resources). Being a lawyer has not been nearly as positive an experience as attending UCSB.