First Time Diving Anacapa

[geoff w]

Yes, that was my first thought as well. You can join a dive tour at Catalina Divers' Supply, they are used to people coming from all over, without cold water experience. But that's a long day, even from Ventura. I looked around briefly and it seems like there is not a lot of shore diving in the area, due to the cliffs. So a drive down to Laguna Beach or up to Monterey is not that convenient.

Near Ventura, Deer Creek was the most convenient dive spot for a shore dive, but with the big surf a couple of months ago the stairs collapsed and no longer reach PCH. County Line beach is next closest to the south, but you'd have to find a calmer day there. In Malibu a few minutes down PCH there are lots of spots for an easy beach dive where you can get your weight dialed in, as well as experience diving in a thicker wetsuit than needed for FL waters.

I usually take beach dive virgins to either Escondido Beach or Malibu Rd in Malibu, as both are easy shore entries with convenient free parking. And are good for local checkout dives. Or Leo Carrillo north parking lot once it reopens after the flooding a couple of months ago. There are other spots as well if all you want to do is get in the water, do weight checks and blow some bubbles under water

You should definitely get your wetsuit, gear and weighting sorted out before spending $$ and a day on a boat trip. This past weekend, shore diving was really good

 

[geoff w]

Hi Everyone!

I just moved to Ventura County last October from South Florida. I haven't been able to dive yet because I have been traveling for work, but I was wanting to go out on the Raptor to Anacapa either this or next weekend. I don't really know many other divers out here and was hoping to find someone I could tag along with. This will be my first time diving in the West Coast, so I'm not used to diving in a 7mm. Hopefully someone will be patient with me while I work out how much lead I need to have with me. Other than that I am a pretty confident diver (about 100 dives). I dive fairly conservatively and just take it as a relaxing time.

Also, In Florida I usually dove with 10 to 12 lbs. in a 3mm an an aluminum 80. I heard the raptor lets you use their steel 80s. Any Idea how much weight I should initially adjust for?

You didn't say anything about your experience level, height / weight, type of BC, tank you're normally planning to dive, etc. Even which 7mm wetsuit you're diving makes a difference, as does hood or hooded vest, glove thickness, type of booties. All those factor into how much lead weight you'll need