Dry suit class availablility in Monterey?

[Jax]

My hubby has a business trip to Monterey July 15th. . . we'll be staying at

Portola Hotel & Spa
2 Portola Plaza
Monterey, CA 93940

I know nothing about this area, but he has to work through the weekend. Therefore, I'm thinking it would be a good time for a dry suit class and to demo a dry suit. It would be Friday the 16th and Saturday the 17th, I believe.

Any recommendations? Thanks!

 

[aquaregia]

One of my instructors can teach drysuit. He's a barrel of laughs until it comes to him putting his name on someone's C-card, then he gets into no-nonsense mode pretty quickly. PM me if you want his info.

 

[pacificgal]

She's going to need to rent one somewhere. Not sure any Monterey dive shops rent drysuits. Will you have a car?

 

[aquaregia]

AquaSafari in Santa Cruz rents them for I think $35/day.

Edit: I agree that isn't exactly walking distance

 

[pacificgal]

Wow, it would be $70 at my LDS.

 

[aquaregia]

I could be wrong. I'm not DS certified, but I looked at them with my gf (who does do DS) for a trip we were going on. They might have quoted her a multiday rate or something, not sure. I love my LDS though because they rent steel cylinders quite cheaply -- I only use my AL80 for night diving.

At $70/day, it doesn't really make financial sense not to own, eh? I'm guessing it's just for people who are traveling and don't want to haul theirs?

 

[Jax]

Yes - ouch on the drysuit rentals! Plus the class prices -- whoa! I was seeing $225 per class online.

I think I'm going to take the padi certification class in Phoenix, and then run around Monterey to see if I can rent one of my top three:

DUI TLS350
Bare NextGen
White's Fusion

I want to rent to try one out. Anyone know of any demo days?

 

[aquaregia]

I've got 9/11-12 marked on my calendar as DUI's Monterey weekend. I missed the White's earlier this year.

 

[fobturbo]

It's not per day, but per week or so.

Wow, it would be $70 at my LDS.

 

[rdjiv]

If staying in downtown Monterey as stated, try a local Monterey dive shop.

Aquarius Dive Shop
Bamboo Reef
Glenn's Aquarius II

Do a quick google search from "Monterey Scuba" to get the complete list but these are the major players who might be able to help. I know a couple of these shops do dry suit specialty classes.

If looking for a demo, try some of the above suggestions.