New England Divers headed to CA, need suggestions

[paulthenurse]

Alice and I will be heading to San Francisco the beginning of May for a week. We'd like to get a day of diving in, either in the immediate San Francisco area or on the way up to Eureka, where we are going to visit an old friend of hers. It's not a dive trip, per se, so we won't be bringing our gear, we'll be looking to rent when we get there, and we would like to see the kelp forests. We both prefer boat diving over beach diving. Also, how cold is the water out there at that time of year? We're year round New England divers so cold isn't an issue, but just like we don't want to carry a dive bag with regualtors and plate/wing combos' se don't want to bring our drysuits along. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks in advance,

Paulthenurse

 

[dannobee]

Bring the drysuit and undies. Water temps will be 50 deg, give or take a degree or three. The boat ride back to the harbor gets mighty cold when you're in a wetsuit.

There is no diving in San Francisco (ripping currents, poor vis, in the middle of the "red triangle"). Divers either go up to the North Coast (less predictable conditions) or head down to Monterey/Carmel.

If you want to see kelp forests, Monterey would probably be your best bet. You could see some nice stuff shore diving-no boat necessary.

 

[Divenomad]

In terms of infrastructure, Monterey is your best bet. Boats generally go out only on weekends, and drysuits can be rented in Monterey. I know Bamboo reef rents drysuits, and I imagine other shops rent them as well. Bring a cert card for the drysuit, or have some instructor sign off as your being trained. Kelp is most abundant in the summer months, and there should be some growth by May. Monterey is about 120 miles south of San Francisco, so it's a full day trip. If you have the time, schedule two days. It'll reduce your stress levels and Monterey is a pleasant place to spend a little time. Driving to Monterey in the morning, a couple boat dives leaving at 6:00 or 7:00 AM, sorting your gear and driving back up north in a single day can be pretty brutal. Hope this is helpful.

 

[Hinalo]

The beginning of May is during the period of colder water temps here. My logs consistently show 46˚ - 48˚ until the middle of the month. Since you prefer boat diving Monterey has the charter boats, but the Sonoma Coast is very nice (though very little support infrasctucture) and it's sort of on the way to Eureka. Giant kelp is more what you find in Monterey/Carmel while Bull Kelp is more prevalent on the Sonoma Coast. I prefer diving in Giant Kelp over Bull Kelp, but mileage may vary on this.

 

[matt mattison]

If you do decide to dive the north coast meaning north San francisco, the sonoma and mendocineo coast has a lot of great diving to offer, Their are only 2 charter boats that I can think of, Fort brag has one called the telstar charters but need a minuim of 3 divers, also their is one out of pt. Arena called fair chase you can find both of them by gogle searching, Also bamboo reef is a great shop and will carry just about anything you will need as far as rentals and they have shops in Ronert park 707-586-0272 which is right befor santa rosa and the also have shops in san francisco and monteray I do not have their info but call the one in Rohnert park and I am sure they can give it to you. Hope this helps, also I would highly recomend diving the sonoma and mendo coast it is my favoirte diving. take care and have fun.

 

[paulthenurse]

Thanks for the info, guys. We're looking forward to our trip and if we manage to get in ady of diving it will be even better.
PTN