Need some advise for my mom (a real newbie)

[ScubaGir1]

My mom, sister and I all got certified in 2000. I have dove on and off throughout the past 7 years, but more so in the past year. I live 5 mins. from Laguna Beach btw.

My mom decided to come diving with me and my boyfriend off of Shaw's Cove (Laguna Beach) today. Well, I'll admit, we got a late start and didn't get to the sand until 11:30am :blinking: The waves looked a bit rough, but my boyfriend and I got in and did our dive. My mom on the other hand, got to the water (boots barely wet) and called it quits She told us to go on ahead, and she'd just swim around without all the gear and stuff. My mom had some anxiety issues when we got certified, and I guess she still has them. She's probably going to take a refresher course, but besides boat dives (which I LOVE), are there any other local beach dives that may be a better entrance than Shaw's Cove (for those that know that cove)? She says that her main problem with today's dive were the waves and the weight of the gear. She just didn't feel stable enough to withstand the waves and the gear on her back.

Thanks a lot for the advice.

BTW, Shaw's Cove was pretty bad viz, but I half-way expected that lol.

 

[ICY ICE]

Refresher coarse is a good idea, I'm not to familiar with Laguna...sorry. I take my 11yr old to the Catalina Dive Park. it's a simple walk in/out most of the time, we had an average 30ft viz last week. Fish are abundant as well as the kelp, a day there working on her skills will make her feel comfortable in the water.

Get there through Catalina Express, I'm sure "mom" will have a blast!

Here are some images of June 29th: LINK

Have fun!

 

[ScubaGir1]

Yeah, I love diving in Catalina too. I was just there 2 weeks ago. Its always beautiful

I'll see what I can do about getting her out to Catalina, I just hope she doesn't back out once we get there! She's dove off Casino Point before, but I think its just been too long since she's gone diving. I'm starting to think a refresher course would probably be our best bet right now...

 

[CApenguin88]

well you could go to catalina and dive at casino point...or drive down to san diego to a place called mission bay i think if i remember right...i'll check on the name later but there is no surf whatsoever... other than that i cant think of anywhere else in laguna or socal....srry

 

[rakkis]

Why don't you 3 attend this together?
http://lascuba.com/3rs.html

A great opportunity to get more comfortable with waves. No SCUBA gear needed!

 

[JMdiver]

Yes the 3 R's that rakkis sugested is a great course to take to get comfortable with beach entrys & it is totally taught with no scuba gear just mask, fins, snorkel, wetsuit & some weights.

John

 

[headhunter]

The 3R's class by LA County would do a lot for building her confidence.

It's sounds like she's OK without the gear and just needs to get enough confidence to do it with the gear.

I also agree with the suggestion to go in at the Dive Park. Check the tide tables and make sure you're not having her go in and out at an extreme low tide. That's when all of the rocks are exposed and would not do anything to boost her confidence.

Hope that helps!

Christian

 

[kelpmermaid]

Agree on the extreme low tide thing, particularly if Mom is short. See www.saltwatertides.com for Avalon Harbor; I think it's "Santa Barbara Channel Islands."

 

[ScubaGir1]

Why don't you 3 attend this together?
http://lascuba.com/3rs.html

A great opportunity to get more comfortable with waves. No SCUBA gear needed!

Oh wow, thanks for the link. Never heard of it before

EDIT: We're all going to take the class. It looks great! Thanks again!

 

[ScubaGir1]

Agree on the extreme low tide thing, particularly if Mom is short. See www.saltwatertides.com for Avalon Harbor; I think it's "Santa Barbara Channel Islands."

Yeah, being short makes it more difficult. She's about 5'3". I'm almost 5'2" (lol, like I'm gonna grow anymore....).

Thanks for the link!