New to California

[fisheater]

Saturday I was on the Sanctuary with Paula and I was able to see what happens to warm water divers who jump into a place that's cold with kelp.

Do tell.

 

[pacificgal]

Well, Dad got freaked out by the kelp, second site he asked that we go somewhere without kelp. Capt. Mike wasn't sure if he was serious about that, but he certainly was. I think he got into the water, the cold stung his face, he got disoriented and asked to stay on the boat. His 2 boys went down with the DM they brought along and Paula, I kinda got lost from them and sorta did a solo dive, my first, really. Well, solo in the sense I got separated from a pair of them, I surfaced and found the boat, found their bubbles, followed them and descended again, lost them again, decided it was time to get back to the boat.
The second dive it was Paula and I with the 2 boys, and the other DM with their father. The second dive was at Aumentos, no kelp. Paula was adjusting their buoyancy for them, I basically just looked one of them in the eye as we were descending and ascending to ensure he stayed calm, occasionally lifting his elbow to keep him at safety stop depth, tapping them on the shoulder and pointing them in the direction of the group.
They boys did OK, it was the Dad that was freaked out by the kelp and the cold. I really don't think a boat is where you should have your first initiation to cold water Monterey diving, just my opinion though.

 

[parabuzzle]

Well, Dad got freaked out by the kelp, second site he asked that we go somewhere without kelp. Capt. Mike wasn't sure if he was serious about that, but he certainly was. I think he got into the water, the cold stung his face, he got disoriented and asked to stay on the boat. His 2 boys went down with the DM they brought along and Paula, I kinda got lost from them and sorta did a solo dive, my first, really. Well, solo in the sense I got separated from a pair of them, I surfaced and found the boat, found their bubbles, followed them and descended again, lost them again, decided it was time to get back to the boat.
The second dive it was Paula and I with the 2 boys, and the other DM with their father. The second dive was at Aumentos, no kelp. Paula was adjusting their buoyancy for them, I basically just looked one of them in the eye as we were descending and ascending to ensure he stayed calm, occasionally lifting his elbow to keep him at safety stop depth, tapping them on the shoulder and pointing them in the direction of the group.
They boys did OK, it was the Dad that was freaked out by the kelp and the cold. I really don't think a boat is where you should have your first initiation to cold water Monterey diving, just my opinion though.

My first time in the cold of MoCal (and cold water in general) was off the silver prince... It was awesome. My favorite part was the kelp I was in a drysuit though and I have my cavern cert (working on cave) so using a light and feeling like something is above me is like nothing so I guess I don't count

 

[Guy Alcala]

Thanks for all the advice. I think I have done fairly well so far keeping my purchases compatible with my goals but I am sure I will run into issues at some point down the road. I have a dive rite harness and wing (which can be used with either cam straps for a single or a back plate for doubles) and hollis regs (DIN to stay compatible with HP tanks). Dry suit-wise my whites fusion should be delivered this week (pretty excited about it). I am sure under garments are going to need to be tweaked to get right but we will see when I do my first dive. I am also planning on making the switch to a long hose in the near future as I have never much liked the clipped off octo hanging. For the moment I am using a Gecko computer and I realize I will need to change this out eventually. The big compromise I made so far has been pressure and depth gauges. I currently have a somewhat bulky console but I do want to switch this out for a small brass pressure gauge and wrist mounted redundant depth gauge.

Experienced divers feel free to jump in at any time and tell me I am an idiot. In the next year or so I'll probably buy tanks and the plan is to get dive rite's modular valves so that I can switch between singles and eventually doubles. I also eventually want to do a canister light but I have waaay to many expensive hobbies. If anyone has suggestions on future gear purchases I am all ears.

I've been reading up on the area (obviously no substitute for experience) since I found out I was moving a few months ago so I feel like I have some notion of the hazards. That being said boat dives with a shop may be the best way to go for the first few times (although I would really like to get to the point where I don't have to pay boat fees fairly soon).

Also, if anyone if going diving in mid July - early Aug and wouldn't mind showing me some of the ropes msg me, I will buy you a beer or 5 afterwards. I get the feeling there is a lot of overlap between dive nerds and computer nerds so hopefully i'll fit in nicely.

I second the recommendation not to do your first local dives off a boat; there's no need to, as we've got plenty of great shore diving to introduce you to the area (just wait until you get to try Pt. Lobos), and people willing to take you out. Cold water diving is different, and you should get used to carrying a lot more weight than you're used to, dealing with surf entries/exits, surge, kelp, current (sometimes), limited vis, etc. And a drysuit, if the Fusion's your first.

Once you get a little experience, there's a good chance you'll have met someone who has (or knows someone who has) a boat, so you won't necessarily have to pay charter fees to dive the more popular offshore sites. You might also want to subscribe to the yahoo group ba_diving, as the members there don't completely overlap here. Dive reports tend to get posted at one or the other location.

And definitely read Chuck Tribolet's page; the link was given in an earlier post. This article in particular, if you haven't already:

http://www.garlic.com/~triblet/ba_diving/newmontereydiver.html

Welcome to the area; the diving's great if you can handle the temps, and you've already made the commitment to a drysuit to do that.

Guy

 

[pacificgal]

I forgot to add that all the new divers were overweighted by 8-10 pounds and they sunk like a stone, which caused panic because everyone was right on top of each other, bubbles everywhere, couldn't see where we were relative to the bottom from all the bubbles at the end of the anchor, now we got divers fighting to get to the surface, kelp in the way, it was a real train wreck. That was the start of dive 1.
Paula did a great job keeping her two calm and making sure they had a good time. I'd use her as a DM anytime

 

[fisheater]

Thanks for the commentary. This should help new cold water divers, as well as those of us who buddy with them.