Florida girl moving west!

[renpirate]

1.) Do I need to invest in a dry suit or is a 7mm enough for the summer? Remember, I have become a thin-skinned Florida diver!


The water temperature doesn't really vary a whole lot along our coast and averages around 50 degrees. As other people have stated, a dry suit is really prefered. The advantage is that you can increase or decrease the thickness of the undergarments to what works for you. A dry suit is expensive and a good one will run $1500 or more.


2.) Are there any monthly dive club meetings in the Bay area? ( I will be living in Emeryville)


Can't help you there, but I would recommend joining the ba_diving group on yahoo to connect with more people in the area.

3.) Any recommendations for a LDS near Emeryville? (somewhere they offer Nitrox fills as well)




4.) Any suggestions for my first few dives out there?

I think that is the extent of my questions...for now. Thank you all in advance for any information you can share.

Best Regards,
Rebecca

I second the recommendation of the Breakwater at Monterey. It's a great acclimation dive with an easy entry and things to see.

In addition to being colder, the vis is usally less here that in Florida. This adds more stress to diving, which usally results in high air consumption. Beach diving entries are usally more difficult and can involve hikes over rocks. Good booties are very helpful for this. The other thing to beware of is kelp. It is easy to get tangled in it and should be avoided during surface swims. Kelp is easy to break, so if you do get caught just snap it in half. I mention this one, because an experienced dive instructor from Hawaii came here to dive, got caught in kelp and drowned.

It shouldn't take you too long to get used to the differences and then you can enjoy the wonderful diversity that we have here.

 

[liberato]

One thing I might add is to be willing to go through any initial disappointment at diving California cold water especially since you will be arriving during pretty much the worst season as far as visibility and temp goes. The kelp forests are awesome in their own right, just very different from and probably more difficult than what you are used to.

 

[triton94949]

Hi, all-

As seen in the title, I am a Central Florida diver who is moving to the Bay area. I will be moving west in just 2 1/2 weeks, so thought I would get some advice and suggestions from the locals before getting out there. I would be sincerely grateful if you all could answer some of the below questions or just give me some local tips for California diving. I have never been diving out there, but am definitely looking forward to new experiences!

1.) Do I need to invest in a dry suit or is a 7mm enough for the summer? Remember, I have become a thin-skinned Florida diver!

2.) Are there any monthly dive club meetings in the Bay area? ( I will be living in Emeryville)

3.) Any recommendations for a LDS near Emeryville? (somewhere they offer Nitrox fills as well)

4.) Any suggestions for my first few dives out there?

I think that is the extent of my questions...for now. Thank you all in advance for any information you can share.

Best Regards,
Rebecca

Rebecca, you will be surrounded by dive stores and dive clubs, once you arrive in the SF Bay Area.

Yes the water here is really cold. You will definitely want to invest in a drysuit and a drysuit class when you get here.

You can save your Florida wetsuit for dive travel, or you can sell it before you leave Florida. Most of your dive travel from California will be to locations which will warrant a 3mm wetsuit. But when you dive here, you will be happiest in a drysuit.

Emeryville is near Berkeley and San Francisco. Each of these cities has dive shops that offer nitrox. You can also get nitrox in Monterey, which is where most of our local divers go scuba diving. It is a 2 hour drive from Emeryville one way to Monterey.

Our vis is not as good as your vis in Florida, but we have magnificent kelp forests, which are like underwater parks and trees. Its beautiful. Vis here is best in the spring and fall, right now, and then clouds up in summer due to the longer days and the algae/plankton blooms. Right now the diving is quite good, by our standards, but as was said above, you are probably really spoiled by Florida vis and by Florida warm water.

As for where to dive, here is a list of beautiful beginner sites:

Point Lobos Reserve, Carmel
USCG Breakwater, San Carlos State Beach, Monterey
Lovers Cove, Pacific Grove

And remember, when you come, since you are going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair!

 

[dannobee]

You can save up for a drysuit, but you'll be fine in a 7mm with a hooded vest or a farmer john setup. You do have thick gloves and boots, right?

There's a Sport Chalet in Pleasanton, but they don't do Nitrox. Also, Captain Aqua's is in Dublin, and IIRC, they do Nitrox fills.

As for your first few dives, stay warm, watch the kelp, and when you shore dive, walk carefully into the water.

Welcome to the left coast! Ask one of us if you need a dive buddy.

 

[triton94949]

You can save up for a drysuit, but you'll be fine in a 7mm with a hooded vest or a farmer john setup. You do have thick gloves and boots, right?

...

I would not recommend the super-think double layer wetsuit approach. You are much better off in a drysuit. Less buoyancy issues, and definitely warmer.

 

[OrlandoRogue]

Ahh...Don't think you have escaped so easily with this post, I'll surely be picking your and Jeff's brains before heading west.

You know there will always be a place on the couch for you if you head out that way (which means you have to come out of the caves!)...This girl might even cook up a hearty breakfast just for the pleasure of diving with her favored dive buddy.

I dont know what you mean

Hope you find some good stuff around there. For those wondering about hardiness, Becky used to dive the 72F springs in a 3mm most of the time, but i am sure the hood, 7mm and some gloves would help out. I was diving SoCal in my 5mm with hood and wasnt too bad most of the time....

I look forward to an invite out to dive some day in the future. Also dont forget to ask Jeff what he thinks/recommends from his time out there, he might be out there again before you know it to see his family.

Sorry to see you go, but looking forward to visiting and diving that kelp again - only this time i will be dry

 

[OrlandoRogue]

Well, there seems to be quite the difference of opinion when it comes to Dry Suit vs. 7mm. So far as cold tolerance, don't let the "Florida" girl thing throw you off, I did grow up in New England so I have atleast had a taste of cold. But, it does sound like I will prefer the Dry Suit in the long run. The determining timeline will be when I have settled down financially out there. Hopefully by the fall, I can make the investment. Until then, I might just battle buoyancy and wear the wetsuit (and perhaps become accustomed to shivering....a lot).

Thanks for the advice, folks. It really is a huge help. And, I look forward to meeting some of you when I am out there.

 

[BrianM]

Welcome to California!!!

Emeryville is a decent place...there's lots of redevelopment going on to clean up a "once-blighted" industrial based city which is trying to change it's look.

As you make your way around the bay area, you will encounter a lot of dive shops. I would highly recommend stopping by Advanced Diving Technologies in Pittsburg, CA, which is about 15 miles east of Concord on Hwy 4. They are all cave divers and pump trimix and banked nitrox... so you will feel right at home. Their website is www.adtscuba.com

There is only one shop in the area that I refuse to go into anymore and that is the big one in Concord, I won't whine about the reasons but I am sure there are others who have had the same experience there...

As for the wetsuit/drysuit issue, I would go with a 7mil wetsuit until you can afford a high quality drysuit. There is a bulletin board type website out here with great deals on scuba gear, especially womens wetsuits that were only worn for certification and then left in the closet for a year or 2.... it's called craigslist, the link is www.craigslist.org

Have fun!!!

Brian

Well, there seems to be quite the difference of opinion when it comes to Dry Suit vs. 7mm. So far as cold tolerance, don't let the "Florida" girl thing throw you off, I did grow up in New England so I have atleast had a taste of cold. But, it does sound like I will prefer the Dry Suit in the long run. The determining timeline will be when I have settled down financially out there. Hopefully by the fall, I can make the investment. Until then, I might just battle buoyancy and wear the wetsuit (and perhaps become accustomed to shivering....a lot).

Thanks for the advice, folks. It really is a huge help. And, I look forward to meeting some of you when I am out there.

 

[mweitz]

Isn't there a shop in Oakland called Steele's? I did a quick Google on it and found an address but not a site. Are they still around and if so are they any good?

Mark

 

[BrianM]

Hi Mark,
I have heard lot's of good things about them but I still havent been there. I think the full name is "Original Steele's". I notice they are listed in the Concord directory too but just the phone number. I heard they are a smaller shop with a limited selection but they make up for it in customer service.

Isn't there a shop in Oakland called Steele's? I did a quick Google on it and found an address but not a site. Are they still around and if so are they any good?

Mark