Greeting from Oakland!

[Blastermags]

Hello!

My husband and I were recently OW certified in Maui as a birthday gift/trip for the both of us! (both Feb b-days) we did the online e learning, and were certified with an incredible instructor at Maui Diving SCUBA & snorkel shop. I'd always wanted to learn to dive, but was always kind of afraid of open water and very afraid of having to do to mask flooding, but I worked through it all and feel like I may be hooked. After too many ski/snowboard injuries and near-injuries, we wanted some new way to have adventure in our life, and I'm very excited we tried Scuba!

Now that we are home and live in the Bay Area, I'm very curious on how we can keep diving and learn more skills since learning in Maui was basically like learning in an aquarium. I'm intimidated by the water (visibility, temp and the sealife to an extent) around here, but I assume with the right gear, I can do it? I would love any advice from locals or folks who have visited the area on how we can continue this journey!

Thank you!
Maggie

 

[wnissen]

Welcome to the Bay Area diving scene! Certainly I dream of diving in Maui some day but people come from all over to dive the Monterey area. I've done a number of dive tours and having someone from another country is the norm. For a quick introduction to what's there, the current issue of DAN's Alert Diver magazine is an excellent introduction:
Getting Centered - Divers Alert Network
I won't deny that it is more cumbersome and uncomfortable to dive here. I don't know anyone who dives with less than a 7mm, and everyone wears a hood, gloves, and boots. At least pre-Covid it was not unusual to meet divers in the Bay Area who only dove warm water, so it's not for everyone, but it is a great way to keep up and increase your skills.

This site has a great thread on local conditions:
Monterey conditions. (let's keep it going )
Not many posts lately, even though diving is technically still permitted. Presumably if cases continue to go down and vaccinations continue to go up there will be a lot more activity. I am just on the cusp myself of thinking about restarting.

I'd book a dive tour with one of the Monterey shops. Here's a thread with some recommendations: Recommendations for Monterey guided shore dive
They can rent you the cold-water gear you'll need and you can try it out. It's true that the visibility is essentially never as good as Hawai'i, and the water sure is never as warm. But Hawai'i also doesn't have kelp forests!

I check surf conditions here:
Monterey Bay Swell Forecasts
My general rule of thumb is that if the forecast is showing green, I'll be green too. Surf entries can be challenging, even in the sites that are typically protected, but no more than Maui. I was in calf-high water with only swim trunks and a snorkel and still got thrashed.

What did you enjoy seeing on Maui?

 

[Akimbo]

I won't deny that it is more cumbersome and uncomfortable to dive here.

Agreed. But when conditions are great, Carmel Bay is the best diving I have done anywhere in the world. Maui is a desert in terms of the density of marine life compared to the coast between Big Sur and Cypress Point.

 

[Chavodel8en]

As the you may see from the link above on Monterey conditions -- there is a NorCal regional forum here. Most Bay Area divers head to the Monterey/Carmel area. You can shore dive or get on a boat that goes out weekends

In addition to the resources listed above, you can get dives in with a Bay Area or Central Coast based dive club. California Diving News has a listing of them: Dive Clubs - California Diving News If you feel you need mentorship and dont want to pay for guided divs all the time, dive clubs are a good way to go. Maybe pay for an initial guided dive to get the hang of local diving.

You can also just arrange dives informally, on the regional forum here, on Facebook there are several Monterey-focused scuba groups, or on the Meetup app, where folks arrange dives. Folks are often willing to bring new divers along on dives. I will be looking for occasional Thurs or Fri shore diving buddies on the Monterey Scuba Divers Open facebook page.

As wnissen says, its a bit more challenging to dive here, but you will get the hang of it. I do long for the visibility and minimalism of tropical diving, but the local shore diving is very fun and rewarding. Minimum 7mm wetsuit and hood, gloves (I am a fan of attached hoods, they keep the cold water out). Some divers cant do Monterey/Carmel without a drysuit. But I have gone 15 years diving wet.

Get out there and dive!

 

[Blastermags]

Wow thank you all so much! what amazing information. I love adventure, but I'm pretty conservative when it comes to the danger side of it, so I'll definitely be looking to dive with a guide for a while. Part of my wanting to Scuba was to get over my open ocean fear, which has definitely helped, but its certainly not gone yet! I think being able to do a long weekend in Monterey/Carmel and experience some of the diving down there would be an amazing experience. I've seen sea lions and otters Kayaking, but to be able to see the world underwater makes it feel like i've just opened up a whole new world. I think as long as i have professionals helping me with gear, I'll feel good about it. I was worried about needing a dry suit, but if i can at least try it with a wetsuit, I'm excited about it.

As for what we saw and did in Maui, one of the dives we did was too a fallen pier (Mala pier) thats been taken over by coral and turned into a turtle cleaning stations. Dozens of green turtles were coming and going and resting while being cleaned by cleaner fish! there was a white tipped reef shark snoozing under some of the wreckage, and we saw an octopus scurry across some concrete to get in a hidey hole, he was changing shape and color for a while, but then relaxed and was just hanging his tentacles of the hole and stayed kind of red/burgundy. The other dive was by an outcropping called Black Rock. it was a drift dive, which was cool, but took some time for me to get used too and not be swept by everything to fast. We saw a little spotted eel, another sleeping shark and lots of colorful little Nudis. Both sites had lots of the usual tropical fish you see while snorkeling in the tropics too. The outfit was called Maui Diving and snorkle and i would highly recommend them if you ever go.

I would love to see some kept forests and be able to have this as a hobby we do that we can actually keep up with and doesn't require a plane! I'll look into the local shops for clubs too. sounds like a great way to meet new people and you can get much more social distanced that breathing your own canister of air.

Thank you for the warm welcome and information. lots to think about. I excited to learn more and get some experience. Ive attached a pic below of some of the turtles being cleaned at the station. it felt like a scene from Finding Nemo to me.

m

 

[wnissen]

Wow thank you all so much! what amazing information. I love adventure, but I'm pretty conservative when it comes to the danger side of it, so I'll definitely be looking to dive with a guide for a while. Part of my wanting to Scuba was to get over my open ocean fear, which has definitely helped, but its certainly not gone yet! I think being able to do a long weekend in Monterey/Carmel and experience some of the diving down there would be an amazing experience. I've seen sea lions and otters Kayaking, but to be able to see the world underwater makes it feel like i've just opened up a whole new world. I think as long as i have professionals helping me with gear, I'll feel good about it. I was worried about needing a dry suit, but if i can at least try it with a wetsuit, I'm excited about it.

As for what we saw and did in Maui, one of the dives we did was too a fallen pier (Mala pier) thats been taken over by coral and turned into a turtle cleaning stations. Dozens of green turtles were coming and going and resting while being cleaned by cleaner fish! there was a white tipped reef shark snoozing under some of the wreckage, and we saw an octopus scurry across some concrete to get in a hidey hole, he was changing shape and color for a while, but then relaxed and was just hanging his tentacles of the hole and stayed kind of red/burgundy. The other dive was by an outcropping called Black Rock. it was a drift dive, which was cool, but took some time for me to get used too and not be swept by everything to fast. We saw a little spotted eel, another sleeping shark and lots of colorful little Nudis. Both sites had lots of the usual tropical fish you see while snorkeling in the tropics too. The outfit was called Maui Diving and snorkle and i would highly recommend them if you ever go.

I would love to see some kept forests and be able to have this as a hobby we do that we can actually keep up with and doesn't require a plane! I'll look into the local shops for clubs too. sounds like a great way to meet new people and you can get much more social distanced that breathing your own canister of air.

Thank you for the warm welcome and information. lots to think about. I excited to learn more and get some experience. Ive attached a pic below of some of the turtles being cleaned at the station. it felt like a scene from Finding Nemo to me.View attachment 646427 m

Wow, those turtles! That's the sort of thing I would love to see. I lack Akimbo's vast experience but I can guarantee you won't find a collection of turtles like that around here. Like you, I went kayaking in Monterey and it is generally true that it's only more spectacular underwater. The exception is the otters, they don't go underwater when there are divers nearby.

I wouldn't worry too much about the safety issues when you are at the more protected sites. I have made the drive down and found Breakwater, the most protected site, angry and borderline undiveable, but most of the time it's calm. Hope you have a great time.

 

[Akimbo]

The exception is the otters, they don't go underwater when there are divers nearby.

That's where rebreathers shine. I have a friend with some spectacular underwater video of those cute little buggers.

Turtles are fine but some of my most memorable experiences underwater are off seal rookeries on Santa Barbara Island off Southern California. Seal pups will bump and nip at you just to get you to play. Great fun in giant kelp forests, at least until mom intervenes.

 

[Blastermags]

Akimbo, That is so cool! we do lots of roadtrips in Cali and have no problems riving 5 or 6 hours for a long weekend in Santa Barbara to try some diving there. Our anniversary is coming up in May and were debating maybe going to Mexico for it, and if not, Santa Barbara (though going back to HI, isn't out of the question. the pretesting and flight/hotel pricing has been ver affordable and its been nice to go with the crowds down. I think i might tear up if i got to see seal pups while diving!

 

[Akimbo]

Keep in mind that Santa Barbara Island is a pretty long boat ride from the town. It is closer to Long Beach's harbor than Santa Barbara's.

 

[MichaelMc]

Welcome! The breakwater (San Carlos Beach) is the place for sea lion pups. You do want to swim out to the end where the rockery is though. It is also usually the calmest ocean beach. With restrooms and outdoor and heated indoor showers, it is a good spot to start at. It is a nice introduction to kelp with easy navigation from diving along a rock embankment.

Another option is Tahoe, though it has far fewer fish or life. You need to research the differences in altitude diving, but it has pool-like beach conditions that may give you a more gentle intro to cold water if you want that. There are shops up there that teach altitude diving and likely do tours. Though Breakwater on a calm day can be very pool-like as well, with just a modest surge.

Pt Lobos is also sheltered and very rich in life.