Greetings From California- New Guide Service

[Bohemian Coast Dive]

Hello everyone,

My name is Blaine and I own and operate a startup guide service in Northern California. This is my first venture into an online dive community, so I wanted to introduce myself and my business, as well as meet some fellow divers!

I live in the North Bay (Santa Rosa), and this is the first year of operation for my business, Bohemian Coast Dive. I began diving during my Sophomore year of college with my dad, and began pursuing it professionally following graduation in 2010. After a year-long DM apprenticeship, I split time working at a local dive shop and in banking. I knew my future wasn't in finance or the other pursuits I explored, I decided to move out West to pursue my true passion. My time has since been spent familiarizing myself with the beautiful coasts and incredible dive opportunities of NorCal, in addition to building the foundation for my startup. Well this season marks our first year in business, and I couldn't be more excited!

Bohemian Coast Dive is a professional dive guide and adventure travel service operating out of Santa Rosa, CA. We specialize in recreational diving, and our guiding mission and philosophy is to expand consciousness and enhance lives through the underwater world. Our services include: guided local diving, adventure travel and vacation packages, and specialty sales. My passion is in bringing an artisan or craft approach to the classic pastime with a contemporary perspective. To learn more, please visit our website at www.bohemiancoastdive.com and follow our Instagram account.

Anyhow, just wanted to provide a little introduction...I would be very interested in meeting more local divers to get in the water with or just grab a quick beer. I'll try to participate in the forums as much as my schedule allows- please feel free to say what's up and drop me a line here or at bohemiancoastdive@yahoo.com -I'd love to get to know this dive community. Thanks for your time!
-Blaine McFarland

 

[Dive Right In Scuba 2]

Welcome to SB! I like your approach to this business model. I'll look you up when I make it back to the west coast(originally from Santa Cruz), and we'll grab a beer.

 

[drrich2]

Point of curiosity; do you anticipate mainly local diver business, or out-of-state 'dive tourist' business, or a 50/50 mix?

I ask because, when researching a hoped for California dive trip and weighing pro.s & con.s of the options, a few things came to light:

1.) California diving is cold, but northern California is colder.

2.) Shore diving North California can be serious business. I'm glad to see your business giving people a readily identifiable option.

I'm guessing you'd mainly be looking at a mix of local divers, where the area shore diving is a convenient, somewhat cheap option, and perhaps visiting tourists who are fairly advanced divers looking to try the area?

Richard.

 

[Bohemian Coast Dive]

Welcome to SB! I like your approach to this business model. I'll look you up when I make it back to the west coast(originally from Santa Cruz), and we'll grab a beer.

Thanks, man- first round is on me!

 

[Bohemian Coast Dive]

Point of curiosity; do you anticipate mainly local diver business, or out-of-state 'dive tourist' business, or a 50/50 mix?

I ask because, when researching a hoped for California dive trip and weighing pro.s & con.s of the options, a few things came to light:

1.) California diving is cold, but northern California is colder.

2.) Shore diving North California can be serious business. I'm glad to see your business giving people a readily identifiable option.

I'm guessing you'd mainly be looking at a mix of local divers, where the area shore diving is a convenient, somewhat cheap option, and perhaps visiting tourists who are fairly advanced divers looking to try the area?

Richard.

Hey Richard,

I'm still testing the waters (no pun intended) a bit as far as this new business is concerned; however, I've thus far only dealt with local, newly certified divers not yet ready to dive on their own or more experienced divers looking for a tour of a new site. I suspect my primary market will be catering to people in my general area, though if we get some exposure I'd love to serve the non-locals also. In fact, I have a group coming out from Oklahoma this summer, but it doesn't really count because they are friends! Haha

You are absolutely correct concerning the diving out here. It took me a solid 6 months to get comfortable with the cold, kelp, and weird currents and shore entries. I never had any problems, but have to be on top of my game to guide.

Despite already rambling on, the short answer is we hope to be able to provide services to divers of all kinds! One of the real points of difference on both my local and travel options is that it is intended as a full-service experience that includes more than just the diving. Check out my website www.bohemiancoastdive.com and give me a follow on IG (if you have an account) to learn more. If you ever decide to make it out this way, let us know...diving is spectacular and there is plenty of other stuff to do for a complete vacation. Take care, man!

-Blaine

 

[Steve_C]

OK, I travel a bit and try to work in some diving along the way. Generally speaking I will not have most of my equipment with me. I have done guided individual dives in a number of places including Vancouver, Greece, LA, San Diego, Hawaii, Florida (for some deeper offshore stuff).

What I look for is:
1. Pick up and return to the hotel, unless it can be conveniently done with a cab or is withing walking distance of the hotel.
2. All needed equipment provided including tanks, weights, etc. I may or many not have regs/computers/mask/camera
3. I am not a fan of longish surface swims in heavy rubber.
4. One on one. I like to poke along at my pace and look in cracks and corners. Generally not interested in having the guide try to keep two folks happy.
I have no problem with paying extra for extra service like drop off or pick up.

I do not drink coffee prior to going diving or on a boat. Just something that goes back to my times in s small boat. Coffee or beer afterward is great.

I imagine there are other divers like me.

How do you handle rental gear. Sometimes we start from a shop where they fix me up. Sometimes, iike in Vancouver, we visit a shop the day before and then when the guide picks me up the next day he has my equipment with him.

Good luck.

 

[Bohemian Coast Dive]

OK, I travel a bit and try to work in some diving along the way. Generally speaking I will not have most of my equipment with me. I have done guided individual dives in a number of places including Vancouver, Greece, LA, San Diego, Hawaii, Florida (for some deeper offshore stuff).

What I look for is:
1. Pick up and return to the hotel, unless it can be conveniently done with a cab or is withing walking distance of the hotel.
2. All needed equipment provided including tanks, weights, etc. I may or many not have regs/computers/mask/camera
3. I am not a fan of longish surface swims in heavy rubber.
4. One on one. I like to poke along at my pace and look in cracks and corners. Generally not interested in having the guide try to keep two folks happy.
I have no problem with paying extra for extra service like drop off or pick up.

I do not drink coffee prior to going diving or on a boat. Just something that goes back to my times in s small boat. Coffee or beer afterward is great.

I imagine there are other divers like me.

How do you handle rental gear. Sometimes we start from a shop where they fix me up. Sometimes, iike in Vancouver, we visit a shop the day before and then when the guide picks me up the next day he has my equipment with him.

Good luck.

Steve,


Thanks for the message! Let me answer these points one by one-

1. Typically, I meet divers at the dive site, but would be open to any and all arrangements. The only problem is that the dive sites I recommend are a bit remote, so a drive out of SF would be about an hour or more. Still, it can be done!

2. Equipment is no problem. Again, usually I only worry with tanks and weights, but do have access to rentals. There is a small additional fee on that though.

3. This is an interesting point- I have grown very weary of surface swims. That said, these days I try to descend asap and navigate towards the site. It is really the best option here a lot of times, as it helps one avoid wrestling their way through the kelp.

4. My ratios are 2:1 with a max of 4:1 under certain circumstances; however, I am always open to special arrangements. If you wanted the gear ready to go, dropped off and picked up, etc... we could def make everything you mentioned happen!

All dives are followed by lunch with cold cervesas. Coffee is available pre-dive for those who want it. Anyhow, if you are ever in the area, give me a shout. Thanks for writing!

-Blaine

 

[3D diver]

Interesting...you should post in the NorCal section too.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Hi Blaine,
First, welcome to the board.

I'm very glad to hear about your venture and that somebody is starting a dive guide business up here, I think it's high time.
I've been diving this area for a long time and at one point back in about 2000 tried really hard to get a dive charter boat (joint venture) started out of Bodega Bay to head up the coast and dive points north. After investing a lot of time and money (mostly time) into the venture, the owner of the charter boat got cold feet and unknown to me booked the boat for salmon fishing instead on the day we were supposed to make our first dive trip. We even had paid sign ups which all had to be refunded which became a nightmare and made me look like an idiot. Some people had come from afar to do this. Oh well, that was a long time ago and long forgotten now. One thing I did learn from that is never trust any of the scumbag fishing charter guys out at Bodega Bay, their word is about as worthless as a turd.

I remember when I took a trip to Australia with my family, we wanted to do an all day adventure through the jungle in north Queensland. A chap picked us up in a van and we drove for a good hour and a half up into the mountains into the rain forest. The guide lead us on paths through the rainforest and explained many things about the jungle and showed us many points if interest. The day included being picked up at our hotel, a lunch, a snack (with vegemite), and even a swim in a river pool at one point. We were dropped back at the hotel in the late afternoon and I'm going to say it was close to $150 -$175 each. I thought it was worth every penny, plus it was his own gig so I was glad to support him.
I could see something along those lines for you.
I'm with the others, it would really help to pick people up at the place they're staying. You could even have some suggestions on your website as where to stay in Sonoma County. You have to remember, a LOT of tourists come here already for the wine, shopping, galleries, and the sights. Just look at Healdsburg and the river.
Sending them out to meet you at the site with rented gear would be a deal breaker for me if I was a tourist, I'd much rather be driven and have many of the sites on the way pointed out and explained to me (history, the area, etc).
You would need a multi seat van that you could put all the gear in back or a small trailer and seat your 4 divers plus some taggers along if they want to come along for a day on the beach. You have to remember, tourists from somewhere else in the world aren't going to know where to go on the coast to meet you and it could become a goose chase and put them in a bad mood. Plus you know where all the potty stops are and the good coffee/pastry shops are on the way. They will be relying on you to handle all this for them, they're tourists on vacation, they don't want a hassle and are expecting to spend money for this, and to them it's worth it.
The other thing you might want to consider, which would be simpler gear wise, would be to do abalone trips. Do an intro to ab diving course step by step right then as you are gearing up and snorkeling out to get a few abs. They could get a one day licence with instructions on the report card send in (or you could do that for them).
You could even bring all the stuff you need to do a beach BBQ and cook up some abalone for them as part of lunch right there on the beach, they would love that! Abalone is revered as one of the worlds most coveted delicacies and people travel from all over the world to come here to attempt to get them, in sometimes very intimidating and foreboding conditions, because this little stretch of coastline we have is the only place in the world which you can still find them and legally harvest them. They need guidance to be able to be safe, to know what is a good day or bad day to go out (they don't know) and to avoid getting killed. Like those three that had never even been diving in the ocean before, rented a bunch of freediving gear, and decided to try ab diving. The swells were 15 - 18 feet that day and they didn't know it was suicide. They had never been diving before, they just heard this is how you do it, so they jumped in off a rocky point and all three were killed in a matter of minutes. They may as well have just jumped into a river of lava thinking they could swim, not knowing they would instantly explode and burn.
So there is a need for a guide service to coach people and take them out to decent spots on decent days and show them how to do it.
I would also hook up with a dive shop and get a good repore started like maybe with Scott at Seals Watersports so he can rent them all the gear they would need, or Sonoma Coast Divers?, either one. Then there's also Sub Surface in Mendocino.
This is also drysuit territory for most people. Yeah we might be used to it and scuba dive 50 degree water wet, but most won't. They'll do one dive and want to go home and feel a little ripped off, so that's something to consider too.
As it progresses look into doing kayak dive tours too, especially for freediving. You could throw in a little kayak diver training while you're at it.

I think $100 is a little light. there might be plenty of times you'll only have one or two guests. Are you going to work a whole day plus fuel, plus lunch/snacks for $100 bucks?

I wish you the best of luck, I really truly mean that.

 

[Bohemian Coast Dive]

Hi Blaine,
First, welcome to the board.

I'm very glad to hear about your venture and that somebody is starting a dive guide business up here, I think it's high time.
I've been diving this area for a long time and at one point back in about 2000 tried really hard to get a dive charter boat (joint venture) started out of Bodega Bay to head up the coast and dive points north. After investing a lot of time and money (mostly time) into the venture, the owner of the charter boat got cold feet and unknown to me booked the boat for salmon fishing instead on the day we were supposed to make our first dive trip. We even had paid sign ups which all had to be refunded which became a nightmare and made me look like an idiot. Some people had come from afar to do this. Oh well, that was a long time ago and long forgotten now. One thing I did learn from that is never trust any of the scumbag fishing charter guys out at Bodega Bay, their word is about as worthless as a turd.

I remember when I took a trip to Australia with my family, we wanted to do an all day adventure through the jungle in north Queensland. A chap picked us up in a van and we drove for a good hour and a half up into the mountains into the rain forest. The guide lead us on paths through the rainforest and explained many things about the jungle and showed us many points if interest. The day included being picked up at our hotel, a lunch, a snack (with vegemite), and even a swim in a river pool at one point. We were dropped back at the hotel in the late afternoon and I'm going to say it was close to $150 -$175 each. I thought it was worth every penny, plus it was his own gig so I was glad to support him.
I could see something along those lines for you.
I'm with the others, it would really help to pick people up at the place they're staying. You could even have some suggestions on your website as where to stay in Sonoma County. You have to remember, a LOT of tourists come here already for the wine, shopping, galleries, and the sights. Just look at Healdsburg and the river.
Sending them out to meet you at the site with rented gear would be a deal breaker for me if I was a tourist, I'd much rather be driven and have many of the sites on the way pointed out and explained to me (history, the area, etc).
You would need a multi seat van that you could put all the gear in back or a small trailer and seat your 4 divers plus some taggers along if they want to come along for a day on the beach. You have to remember, tourists from somewhere else in the world aren't going to know where to go on the coast to meet you and it could become a goose chase and put them in a bad mood. Plus you know where all the potty stops are and the good coffee/pastry shops are on the way. They will be relying on you to handle all this for them, they're tourists on vacation, they don't want a hassle and are expecting to spend money for this, and to them it's worth it.
The other thing you might want to consider, which would be simpler gear wise, would be to do abalone trips. Do an intro to ab diving course step by step right then as you are gearing up and snorkeling out to get a few abs. They could get a one day licence with instructions on the report card send in (or you could do that for them).
You could even bring all the stuff you need to do a beach BBQ and cook up some abalone for them as part of lunch right there on the beach, they would love that! Abalone is revered as one of the worlds most coveted delicacies and people travel from all over the world to come here to attempt to get them, in sometimes very intimidating and foreboding conditions, because this little stretch of coastline we have is the only place in the world which you can still find them and legally harvest them. They need guidance to be able to be safe, to know what is a good day or bad day to go out (they don't know) and to avoid getting killed. Like those three that had never even been diving in the ocean before, rented a bunch of freediving gear, and decided to try ab diving. The swells were 15 - 18 feet that day and they didn't know it was suicide. They had never been diving before, they just heard this is how you do it, so they jumped in off a rocky point and all three were killed in a matter of minutes. They may as well have just jumped into a river of lava thinking they could swim, not knowing they would instantly explode and burn.
So there is a need for a guide service to coach people and take them out to decent spots on decent days and show them how to do it.
I would also hook up with a dive shop and get a good repore started like maybe with Scott at Seals Watersports so he can rent them all the gear they would need, or Sonoma Coast Divers?, either one. Then there's also Sub Surface in Mendocino.
This is also drysuit territory for most people. Yeah we might be used to it and scuba dive 50 degree water wet, but most won't. They'll do one dive and want to go home and feel a little ripped off, so that's something to consider too.
As it progresses look into doing kayak dive tours too, especially for freediving. You could throw in a little kayak diver training while you're at it.

I think $100 is a little light. there might be plenty of times you'll only have one or two guests. Are you going to work a whole day plus fuel, plus lunch/snacks for $100 bucks?

I wish you the best of luck, I really truly mean that.

Eric,

Thanks so much for the support and the excellent ideas! I don't have much time to write now, but I'll def get back with you soon- sounds like you have some great insight. Thanks again for the awesome feedback!