Kayak diving buddy - Santa Cruz

[Robert.Field]

I love kayak diving -- no stinky boats, your own schedule, great hard-to-get-to sites, and more of a wilderness experience. If you are an competent diver but have gone kayak diving, I can teach you -- there really isn't that much to it. I even have an extra dive kayak.

I'm an experienced diver with 200+ dives and a bunch of certifications. All the details and much more can be found on my diving web page:

http://robert.kayakdive.com/​

Unfortunately I haven't updated this in almost two years (yet) -- so it doesn't show any recent dives, but I have been diving (actually went last weekend).

A typical dive for me: paddle the kayaks out in Carmel bay; slowly check out nudibranchs, tunicates, and anemones on colorful walls 70-90ft deep. Dive would last about an hour (I use HP 120 nitrox tanks). Have a nice lunch on the beach and do it again.

That's just to give an idea, I'm flexible.

-Robert

 

[scubasean]

I love kayak diving -- no stinky boats, your own schedule, great hard-to-get-to sites, and more of a wilderness experience. If you are an competent diver but have gone kayak diving, I can teach you -- there really isn't that much to it. I even have an extra dive kayak.

I'm an experienced diver with 200+ dives and a bunch of certifications. All the details and much more can be found on my diving web page:

http://robert.kayakdive.com/​

Unfortunately I haven't updated this in almost two years (yet) -- so it doesn't show any recent dives, but I have been diving (actually went last weekend).

A typical dive for me: paddle the kayaks out in Carmel bay; slowly check out nudibranchs, tunicates, and anemones on colorful walls 70-90ft deep. Dive would last about an hour (I use HP 120 nitrox tanks). Have a nice lunch on the beach and do it again.

That's just to give an idea, I'm flexible.

-Robert

Welcome to Scubaboard!

So, if I'm understanding, you launch somewhere near Monestary?

 

[Brian Gilpin]

Welcome to the Norcal forum. I have been interested in short haul kayak diving for a while. Going to the Sea of Cortez tommorrow to take my wife warm water diving so I cant go right away. Keep posting and maybe we can do something later this fall.

 

[Robert.Field]

Per where I dive: that was just an example. Some specific examples:

Carmel River State Beach (north side) lots of sites: from straight out from the beach, to around to deep Butterfly House.​

South side of Monastery Beach out to Mono-Lobo wall.​

Lover's Point out to deep lovers.​

Pacific Grove out to Eric's Pinnacle.​

Stillwater Cove out to Pescadero Rock.​

Keep posting and maybe we can do something later this fall.

You and other's who are interested can send me an email at robert@kayakdive.com

-Robert

 

[Ben_ca]

What kind of Kayak do you use? I have a freind who has one who's been bugging me into getting one... Any suggestions? The kayak diving site hasn't been updated in a while

 

[Robert.Field]

What kind of Kayak do you use? I have a freind who has one who's been bugging me into getting one... Any suggestions? The kayak diving site hasn't been updated in a while

Right. I haven't updated my dive web page in almost two years. The kayak info though (in the equipment section) is still accurate:

Kayaks:

(2) Wilderness Systems "The Ride" (great dive platform)
(1) Ocean Kayak Scrambler (too small/unstable for me to dive with)
​

"The Ride" is wide and has a catamaran-ish underside so it is really stable. Because of this, it has more water resistance than narrower boats and doesn't track as well. For me, the trade-off is worth it.

 

[scubajunkee]

What kind of Kayak do you use? I have a freind who has one who's been bugging me into getting one... Any suggestions? The kayak diving site hasn't been updated in a while

Hey, Ben would that buddy be me? lol.

My kayak is an Aquaterra "Big Kahuna". It's an older discontinued model purchased from another kayak diver. I tested out the Wilderness Systems "The Ride" and would have bought it if I didn't find a great deal on the "Big Kahuna". Another recommendation is the Cobra "Fish N Dive". It's so stable and wide and tracks well. It was very hard to flip and a I tried to flip it when I was testing it out.

If you want to test out kayaks, the Monterey Bay Kayaks charged me $20 to test all of their "dive" kayaks. They let me load up my scuba gear and putt around Del Monte beach, and try to put on my dive gear, but they won't let you dive off the kayaks though. It was a lot of fun and really helps select the right kayak.

-eR

 

[Ben_ca]

Yup that's you Erickson... I might have to check that out next time... 20 bucks sounds reasonable

Hey, Ben would that buddy be me? lol.

My kayak is an Aquaterra "Big Kahuna". It's an older discontinued model purchased from another kayak diver. I tested out the Wilderness Systems "The Ride" and would have bought it if I didn't find a great deal on the "Big Kahuna". Another recommendation is the Cobra "Fish N Dive". It's so stable and wide and tracks well. It was very hard to flip and a I tried to flip it when I was testing it out.

If you want to test out kayaks, the Monterey Bay Kayaks charged me $20 to test all of their "dive" kayaks. They let me load up my scuba gear and putt around Del Monte beach, and try to put on my dive gear, but they won't let you dive off the kayaks though. It was a lot of fun and really helps select the right kayak.

-eR

 

[fishnchips]

Thanks Robert for starting this thread. Great info. I've been planning on buying a Kayak and was searching the Web for a used model.... Perhaps we can dive together when I get a Kayak.

 

[Robert.Field]

Thanks Robert for starting this thread. Great info. I've been planning on buying a Kayak and was searching the Web for a used model.... Perhaps we can dive together when I get a Kayak.

I'd love to go for a dive -- but you don't have to wait until you have a kayak -- as mentioned -- I have two, actually three, dive kayaks. It would be a fine way to check out "The Ride" (I have two of these) or if you are smaller and a really stable kayaker the "Scrambler" which is zippy -- this is what Dennis Judson of ASU dives off -- I love it for non-diving kayaking, but the sucker just spins for me in surf with gear on it.

Kayak Connection (Santa Cruz & Elkhorn) will let you try out kayaks for free -- but I doubt they would let you fake dive them.

As to the Cobra "Fish N ...", I've heard bad things about them -- long enough ago that I don't remember what -- but use caution.

-Robert