New Diver looking for buddies in LA area / Catalina

[laikabear]

Hi!

I am new to diving - just got my PADI OW in November and finished my AOW this weekend. A coworker encouraged me to learn to dive and I finally took the plunge and am totally hooked. I have a whopping total of 14 dives now, most of which were in a class.

I live in Pasadena and am interested in doing shore dives in this area as well as boat dives to Catalina and/ or dives at the Catalina dive park. Unfortunately, my couple of diving friends are only interested in vacation diving, not the cold(ish) water we have locally.

I am really interested in Fish ID - I love learning the names of the fish I see, and I am actually pretty interested in wrecks. I would like to work up to diving some wrecks, but before I take any more classes I think I would benefit from just diving and working on my skills outside the class environment.

I have purchased most of my own gear, but I'm still renting tanks. Actually did my first dives with my own stuff this weekend.

So, to reiterate, I'm a beginner. I'm looking for someone to dive with who doesn't mind that. I know it might be hard to find someone who wants to dive with someone with little experience. But, if that sounds good to you, shoot me a PM!

Maureen ~ laikabear

 

[THX723]

Maureen, welcome to the wonderful world of SCUBA! Me, my wife, and a few good friends dive every Saturday morning along the Laguna Coast (anywhere from Little Corona down to Montage). The entire Laguna area (with the exception of Reef Point and north) is marine protected, which makes for incredible underwater sealife and dives. Several of us are from the LA county, but the drive is totally worth it. Feel free to join us.

Cheers,
-Clint

p.s. We will be skipping this week due to family time for Christmas.

 

[wasabean]

Welcome Maureen! My GF (dive buddy) and I are planning on diving locally more frequent starting next year. We were also vacation divers but we decided that we should take advantage of the wonderful local diving we have here. Sure it may be a little more hassle gearing up with the colder water and all but SoCal waters has so much to offer that warm water doesn't have.

 

[drbill]

Welcome to SCUBA and to ScubaBoard. You'll probably find a lot of good advice here (and some you should filter out!).

My suggestion would be to get involved with a dive club in your area that offers an active array of dive events. You can check out dive clubs in the back of California Diving News (should be available at any dive shop as well as on-line).

As for the Fish ID, feel free to check out my weekly "Dive Dry with Dr. Bill" newspaper columns as you'll find lots of information about the various species of fish, invertebrates, algae and other creatures in our waters:

Star Thrower Educational Multimedia (S.T.E.M.) Products: Weekly Newspaper Columns

If you are on Facebook, the columns are also posted there but are not as easy to go through. I also post images of what I film on each dive in my photos albums there and they are public... you don't need to be a friend to view them.

Finally, for real in-depth info on fish, check out Dr. Milton Love's incredible book Certainly More Than You Want to Know About the Fishes of the Pacific Coast.

 

[ChrisM]

Welcome Maureen! I don't know if Clint above dives with South Coast Divers but when I was starting out beach diving I dove a lot with Rich and his crew every Saturday morning, They are a very supportive group and you will learn a LOT about beach diving. I still use those skills today several years later.

Chris

 

[laikabear]

Thank you all for replying! I am going to try to meet up with Clint's group next week. I also checked out the South Coast Divers page and joined their email list. They seem to be very welcoming to beginners also. One of the things I worry about is ruining someone else's dive because I use air faster than they do, so having to turn around early.

I had looked at the LA Dive & Ride group on Scuba Board and also on their website, but they don't have any updates since 2013 so I don't know if they are still active. Some of the other groups I looked into meet on weekday evenings which does not work for me since I work the night shift during the week. At least for the South Coast Divers, a prior attendance of a "dry" meeting doesn't seem like it is required.

And, I ordered Dr. Love's book, thank you for the recommendation Dr. Bill.

Maureen ~ laikabear

 

[Rollenbor]

Maureen, my name is Rob and I dive usually every weekend. I live in the valley and do a lot of both beach and boat. Im going out today as a matter of fact. Im going to Topanga beach. It a good spot of lobster! Lol! Also next weekend The Great Escape (dive boat) is doing a 3 wreak dive. If you have your AOW which I believe you said you have then you will be fine. Its $130 and there is plenty of room. Here's my number 818-370-0398 you can call me or text me anytime. Btw. if you are a early riser like myself and want to come out today text me.

 

[CaptainTofu]

I'm always looking for people to dive with. Unfortunately none of my dive buddies go out regularly anymore. Latelty, I've been thinking about joining a dive club, so I'll definately look into South Coast Divers. Usually available weekdays to dive though, which actually works out well for Casino Point, since it's always less crowded. As far as fish ID, I've found the "California Finfish and Shellfish Identification Book" has been an awesome help. Also, it can be had free of charge by contacting Fish and Game.