Moving to the East Bay soon, where to dive?

[fdog]

My god, if we lived in Alameda we'd be at Monterey every weekend. ...ONLY 1 1/2 to 2 hours?!? Wow!


All the best, James

 

[okey]

jridg, welcome to Alameda, Monterey is probably the most popular dive location for the Bay Area with quite a few spots all within less than an hour of eachother. There are also 3 local dive shops in the area (Monterey) that I know of to either fill tanks, rent or pick up that one item you forgot and can't do without. There is diving up north of the Bay Area but I personally haven't gone yet. Some of the Motel/Hotels in Monterey have "diver rates" but you have to watch out for local events Jazz Fest, Car shows etc... they might not offer them then. There is also the Army Base where they have some guest housing for active/res/retired you can look it up online. I like to stay down for the weekend or Saturday night only cause that one day drive, dive and back wears me out and have found myself doing the old headnod on 880N heading home. There are two dive shops on the East Bay that I know of, if there's a third or fourth I don't know them, AAA in Alameda and Steel's in Oakland both are ok depending what your looking for and opinions vary between them. There are some local dive clubs worth checking out depending on your intrests. Again welcome to Alameda. (retired CG GMCS)

 

[mattaphore]

Any recommendations on shops?

First off, Welcome to Alameda! I'm over in Berkeley and my regular dive buddy, Fabs, is in Oakland. As far as shops go, I find myself going to Jim Steele's store, "The Original Steele's", on Telegraph Ave (right about on the Berkeley-Oakland border).

His store can be a little on the disorganized side, but he knows where everything is. He doesn't have the widest selection of dive gear, but he definitely sells equipment that gets the job done and he can provide you with a lot of local dive-site knowledge and very reasonably priced air fills I think his hours are posted on Yelp.

Hope you enjoy the Bay Area and maybe we'll run into you in Monterey sometime.

 

[jridg]

Thanks guys - I will be taking over as the CO of NOSC Alameda and we should be there for at least 30 months. We will have a couple of Drill weekends each month, so I'm not certain on how often I will be able to get down to Monterey. The wife does not dive, so there's that as well.

Thanks for the dive shop info - I'm set for gear and then some - but a good shop is always welcome.

Hoep to run into you all when I get up there and settled.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

You need a good XO.

Since you are military, you should check out:

http://www.pom-odr.com/diveclub.htm

They have access to the military recreation program boats.

75 MPH will by and by get you a ticket. Note that the speed limit drops from 65 to 60
at the beginning of the eucalyptus grove, then goes to 55 on 156, back up to 65 on
Hwy 1.

The best known diver Motel is the Lone Oak. They have great rinse tanks and two hooks
outside the room to hang your gear. Bring a closet pole to put between the hooks and
then you have lots of room. They have a diver rate, but you have to phone to get
it and ask for it. Parking is fine unless you have a boat, then it gets "interesting".