New here and need a suggestion

[Mustang90]

I am new here at Scubaboard.com
I live in a Town called Napa in the Napa Valley (North of SF)
I am a student but love to dive
Are there any places anyone could recommend that I could go out to and get back from within a day??
It would also help if there was a place there that I could rent equipment from for a reasonable price near or at the place
Thank You for any help

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

Monterey is doable in a day, but it's a long day. The North Coast would be closer.

There are at least two dive shops in Napa:
http://www.makodiveandkayak.net/
http://www.napadive.com/

Pick up a copy of Bruce Watkins book: A Diver's Guide to Northern California.

Rental prices won't vary too much (free market).

How much cold water and kelp experience do you have?

 

[Mustang90]

Used to cold Water but no kelp experience
And as I am new to this site where do I go to ask about a dive buddy?

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

You'll need some education on diving in kelp. It's not rocket science, but if you don't
know what your are doing, you can get in deep doo-doo.

Three ways of finding a buddy:

Ask here (you just did).
Join a club.
Ask around at the dive shops.

There's a lot of information at http://www.garlic.com/~triblet/ba_diving/
including a list of dive clubs and dive shops in the Links section
and an article on diving in kelp.

 

[renpirate]

You can rent gear at Pinnacles Dive Shop in Santa Rosa or Pro Dive in Bodega Bay on your way to the coast. They are both fairly reasonable as far as gear, but Pro Dive is cheaper on air fills. I do believe that their is a dive shop with a club in Sonoma. Zinkmaker would know more about that. He is currently in the Phillippines, but you could contact him in a week or so.

About two hours away along the North Coast you can find some decent diving. The vis is not as good as Monterey, nor as accessible, but can be quite nice, none the less. A good place to start is Gerstle Cove. http://www.shorediving.com/Earth/USA_West/CalN/Gerstle_Cove/

The weather has been a bit of a bummer around here with big swells, but you can find some of the best visibility in the winter. Your best bet is to keep an eye on the swell model http://www.wunderground.com/MAR/PZ/550.html

When the swells say 6ft or less post on this board to see who is diving and you should be able to find someone to tag along with.

 

[zinmaker]

Andy, I'm still stuck here in Sonoma :-(
There is a diveshop in Napa, Napa Dive and Sport on 162 S. Coombs street, they have a dive club as well, Napa Valley Divers, they meet on Wednesday nights once a month. Those are both great links, for dive spots especially the shorediving.com site if you have a GPS. Check out Chuck's link as well for the sea conditions forcast and the new to Monterey diving link, he has done an outstanding job.