Intro + questions

[fuggler]

Hi everyone. A recent trip to Puerto Rico inspired my boyfriend and I to become certified. We live in Daly City (the next town south of San Francisco). I've bookmarked a handful of diving schools around us and narrowed it down to Mitchell's Scuba College and San Francisco Scuba School. Haven't had the chance to talk to the instructors yet but I've read a few reviews on Yelp. After reading a thread here about choosing an OW course, I'm a little worried that SF Scuba's structure might be too fast. Before the check-out dives, they only require 1 pool training for 5 hours after 10-12 hours of home study. I'm a fast learner but I'm also more of a "hands on" person. Mitchell's, on the other hand, has a 4-hour registration/snorkel class, followed by 2 8-hour pool and class training. Do any of you have experience with these schools/instructors? What should I expect from our check-out dives in Monterey? (aside from cold water)

My plan is to get certified this month so we can dive in the channel islands next month. This brings me to my next question... when you first became certified, how soon did you start going on unguided dives? I know it all depends on your knowledge and comfort level which I can't assess right now without a certification. I just want to know if it's a totally bad idea.

Lastly, when it comes to gear, I've been advised that as a newbie, I should rent to try out different brands so I can figure out which ones I like best. Aside from basic snorkel, mask, fins (which I already own), what's the next important gear that beginners should look into buying?

Thank you in advance for tips/advice. I look forward to diving with you guys once we get certified and comfortable.

 

[rhlee]

There are a number of reputable shops in the area. A few that are closest to you that I've heard of that come to mind are BBReef in SF, Wallins in San Carlos; I haven't personally heard of the two that you mentioned.

It's hard to say what amount of pool/prep time is the right amount, as that varies from person to person. If it is of utmost concern to you, and you have flexibility in your schedule, you could look into a private OW class; which will ensure that it is tailored to your pace. Regardless, a completely appropriate and reasonable question to ask the prospective instructor (or the shop organizing the class) is what happens if you feel that you need extra time in the pool before the OW checkout dates. Some shops have pools on-site, which can make it easier to get extra time in.

OW checkouts *should* be simply a repeat of the skills that you did in the pool, but this time in real-world open water. In theory, nothing new (skills-wise) should be introduced in OW, but rather you're just repeating stuff you did in the pool, plus getting some experience with the new environment (e.g. surf entries/exits, surge, current, lower-viz, etc...)

In theory, after OW, you (and a buddy) should be capable of planning and executing a dive in similar conditions and complexity as what you were trained in (e.g. 30' for 30min at the breakwater or whatever). If you leave class feeling unprepared to do this, it's probably something to address with the instructor.

I'd recommend deferring any purchasing for as long as possible. Beg, borrow, rent, whatever, until you really know what it is you want. Speaking from experience, I have replaced almost every single piece of gear that I originally purchased. IMHO, if you decide that you are serious about local diving, your first purchase (brace yourself) should be a drysuit. Doesn't do much good to have other fancy pieces of kit if the thought of diving wet makes you too cold to use them.

Have fun and good luck. I personally found the pool and classroom work to be somewhat ho-hum, but had a blast on my OW checkout dives.

Hi everyone. A recent trip to Puerto Rico inspired my boyfriend and I to become certified. We live in Daly City (the next town south of San Francisco). I've bookmarked a handful of diving schools around us and narrowed it down to Mitchell's Scuba College and San Francisco Scuba School. Haven't had the chance to talk to the instructors yet but I've read a few reviews on Yelp. After reading a thread here about choosing an OW course, I'm a little worried that SF Scuba's structure might be too fast. Before the check-out dives, they only require 1 pool training for 5 hours after 10-12 hours of home study. I'm a fast learner but I'm also more of a "hands on" person. Mitchell's, on the other hand, has a 4-hour registration/snorkel class, followed by 2 8-hour pool and class training. Do any of you have experience with these schools/instructors? What should I expect from our check-out dives in Monterey? (aside from cold water)

My plan is to get certified this month so we can dive in the channel islands next month. This brings me to my next question... when you first became certified, how soon did you start going on unguided dives? I know it all depends on your knowledge and comfort level which I can't assess right now without a certification. I just want to know if it's a totally bad idea.

Lastly, when it comes to gear, I've been advised that as a newbie, I should rent to try out different brands so I can figure out which ones I like best. Aside from basic snorkel, mask, fins (which I already own), what's the next important gear that beginners should look into buying?

Thank you in advance for tips/advice. I look forward to diving with you guys once we get certified and comfortable.

 

[Gombessa]

I agree with rhlee's advice. Also, my very first post-certification dives were in fact a 3-day liveaboard in the channel islands. However, I did those dives with experienced divers who served as my mentors; I wouldn't necessarily want to do it with another newly-certified buddy.

Also, I rented gear for a full year after certification and was quite glad that I did. During that year, I went through several cycles of wanting gear X, then later wanting gear Y. I'm happy to say that waiting to purchase allowed me to be one of the few divers I know who hasn't gone through the expensive cycle of buying and replacing everything they have.

Congrats on the decision to get certified, and good luck!

 

[kyle winberg]

i work on a live abored that does trips to the channel islands and if you are just becoming certified the channel islands is prob not the best place to be getting some of your first dives in!...esspically during the winter months!!...if you choose to go make sure you are diving with someone that has dove the islands before or has alot of exsperance!! its not a place you want to get into trouble!!.....but i dont want to sound negative its and amazing place to dive and make sure you do dive there just be careful and know your limits as a new diver!!
cheers and maybe will see ya on the boat!

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

I haven't heard of either of those schools either.

I think more in-water time is best.

The first big piece of gear to buy is your suit. That way your weighting
isn't varying up and down each time you go.

Find a dive club near you and join. There's a list here:
http://www.garlic.com/~triblet/ba_diving/

I agree that the channels might not be the best place for a couple
of newbs. Get some easy experience first. Breakwater or Lover's
is a good choice.

 

[fuggler]

i work on a live abored that does trips to the channel islands and if you are just becoming certified the channel islands is prob not the best place to be getting some of your first dives in!...esspically during the winter months!!...if you choose to go make sure you are diving with someone that has dove the islands before or has alot of exsperance!! its not a place you want to get into trouble!!.....but i dont want to sound negative its and amazing place to dive and make sure you do dive there just be careful and know your limits as a new diver!!
cheers and maybe will see ya on the boat!

Thank you for the advice, Kyle, but can you explain why it's not a good place for newbs? I'm glad I mentioned channel islands because I already started looking into plane fares/guided dives. You've saved me some money.

 

[Anti-Hero]

The Channel islands are a great dive, like mentioned they're not really a place to learn, rather they are a place to hone skills you've already learned. Depending on the dive site, you can encounter variable currents, depths outside of a new divers comfort zone, and open water issues like navigation and ascents.

Practicing new skills on a sloping bottom such as an easy beach dive like the breakwater or lovers is a much better idea for a new diver.

 

[kyle winberg]

No problem!.....during the winter months the weater can be pretty bad and it can change during your dive!! it might be 30 feet of vis and drop to 10 in just mins!! also depending on what island you are on... the current can pick up without warning and thats not something you want to have to deal with on some of your first dives!!.....like everyone is saying....start with your gear and get some diving in then start with the trips...not reverse order!!.....plus if your more exsperanced in the islands it makes it more fun because there are alot of deeper dive sites you wouldnt be able to see as a new diver! hope this helps!! Happy Bubbles!

 

[davidbaraff]

Let me put in a recommendation for Dennis Miralda: DennisDives.com.
He and his staff work out of Anderson's Scuba shop, in Pacifica, and do their O/W checkout dives in Monterey. I got certified through him this past June, and have gone back to dive with him and his current "class" a few times since then.

He and his staff are just, absolutely, fantastic. Feel free to PM me if you'd like further details, but I can't imagine going wrong with him. (I was also happy with Andersons's shop as a place to buy equipment -- i got all my own equipment for the class, which most people don't, and all of Andersons's recommendations were spot on, with what i would say were pretty good prices too.)

 

[rstofer]

You will always be better off with the longer program. More time in the pool will result in more confidence for the open water dives.

The typical open water dive at Monterey consists of a beach entry, a kick-out of 100 yards or so, a dive to something on the order of 30' performing some set of skills, a swim back and a beach exit. Depending on the surf conditions this can be trivial - it was last Friday (01/02/09).

The checkout dives are nothing to be concerned about. In fact, the entire program is nothing to cause concern. Thousands and thousands of new divers have been certified at Monterey. Probably tens of thousands over the years. On any summer weekend you can see perhaps 40 or 50 students doing their open water dives. Every one comes back just fine.

I would think you would want to do a bunch of beach dives at Monterey and perhaps a couple of charter boat trips around Monterey before venturing off to the Channel Islands. Not that I have ever been to the Channel Islands, the closest for me would be Catalina (beach and boat dives). It's just that 4 OW dives aren't very many and diving with another newly certified diver might be a really bad idea. More practice at Monterey will smooth out the process. That's the nice thing about beach dives: you are always near shallow water and an easy escape.

Maybe you would consider taking Advanced Open Water and Rescue before venturing out on your own. I did the old NAUI sequence of Open Water I, Open Water II, Advanced Open Water and Rescue with only 2 recreational dives in the middle. I wanted to learn as much as I could about diving before I charged ahead. It is a concept I highly recommend.

Enjoy your class!

Richard