New wannabe hailing from the Bay

[dannobee]

Yeah, I'm a "newer" diver too, Don.

Wanna ditch Mike and Hepcat again? :shocked2:

 

[JLowe]

JLowe: I sent you a PM, but I highly recommend Denis Miralda: dennisdives.com.
You *will* come out of his course a safe and competent diver.

He operates out of Pacifica, using Anderson's Scuba for the pool classes. O/W dives are in Monterey of course.

Hm, I didn't get your PM, but maybe I need to configure my inbox or something. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check Dennis out for sure.

 

[JLowe]

Welcome to SB!

I would definitely join in on some SB meet and greets and also look into joining the North Coast Divers for one of our simple beach dives once you get certified.
Go to:
http://www.northcoastdivers.org

I would rent gear for now until you get familiarized with what we use around here.
Just to get outfitted to dive the cold waters of Northern California can cost thousands of dollars.
There are less expensive alternatives for people just starting out such as piecing together gear bit by bit and renting what you don't have, then when you see what people use here and understand a little better, you will be way more informed to make a smart choice and as a result you be saving a lot of money on not buying stuff twice.

The gear typically used in mexico will be slightly different than gear typically used here.

Yeah, I never thought the question of "what to wear" would ever be this difficult to answer. I was in a dive shop the other day and saw some dry suits. I thought, "Cool! I've read about those, I want one." I looked at the price tag and suddenly felt unworthy. Other than the basic snorkeling gear, I'm gonna rent until I know what's what.

Seems like in NorCal there's a good mix of people using both wet and dry suits. I get cold easy and I actually hate being cold, so I worry about water temps a little bit.

 

[JLowe]

Welcome! I think you'll find some gems of info on local diving here in the NorCal section... Hopefully we'll see you in the water soon.

Thanks for the links, I read both "Important Stuff the New Monterey Diver Needs to Know" and "Bitz Scuba Diving Equipment Guide - Equipment Introduction."

The whole Kelp Forest thing is really intriguing to me. Crawling over kelp? The Bitz guide will be a handy referece too.

 

[JLowe]

ae3753, "3 things to tell the new guy (to monterey)." This is a great thread, thanks for pointing me to it. I'm sending you a PM btw.

Thanks everyone for the welcome. I can't wait to meet some of you.

 

[parabuzzle]

I hear diving wet builds character

 

[Peter_C]

"newer" diver in big quotes!

Ben_Ca and I need to coordinate and dive the north coast with you. That's long overdue.

Well I have been diving for four short years and only have a few hundred dives. That still makes me a "newer" diver...compared to some people

The vis has been pretty good on the North Coast lately. A trip to Fort Ross with scooters would be fun!

Yeah, I never thought the question of "what to wear" would ever be this difficult to answer. I was in a dive shop the other day and saw some dry suits. I thought, "Cool! I've read about those, I want one." I looked at the price tag and suddenly felt unworthy. Other than the basic snorkeling gear, I'm gonna rent until I know what's what.

Seems like in NorCal there's a good mix of people using both wet and dry suits. I get cold easy and I actually hate being cold, so I worry about water temps a little bit.

Good idea to rent gear and try many things. You will find the people who dive often wear either completely custom wetsuits, costing as much as a drysuit, or drysuits. I paid $400 for my first drysuit, with undies, and dove it for over 250 dives before putting it into my closet as a backup suit. Pretty much everyone I dive with uses a BP/W aka back plate and wing not a jacket BC. Eric "ZKY" from the post above even builds back plates, check them out here. I use one when diving single tanks.

The whole Kelp Forest thing is really intriguing to me. Crawling over kelp? The Bitz guide will be a handy referece too.

The key is to plan your dive so you never have to do the kelp crawl. Right there is one of the most important reasons for a good instructor like Don. He will teach you gas management and other important things for diving our local waters. I am sure navigation which is extremely important, Don will cover more thoroughly than most anyone else.

 

[mikemill]

TSandM, mikeguerrero, and kathydee - you guys are very kind. But I guess that means I owe you guys a drysuit or a small car?

If I say nice things about you will do you do a scooter dive with me?

 

[Guy Alcala]

Yeah, I never thought the question of "what to wear" would ever be this difficult to answer. I was in a dive shop the other day and saw some dry suits. I thought, "Cool! I've read about those, I want one." I looked at the price tag and suddenly felt unworthy. Other than the basic snorkeling gear, I'm gonna rent until I know what's what.

Seems like in NorCal there's a good mix of people using both wet and dry suits. I get cold easy and I actually hate being cold, so I worry about water temps a little bit.

Welcome to the area. Good idea to rent first and try as much different gear as you can. It's relatively easy around here to pick up good gear used, so you don't have to spend two arms, a leg and several non-essential organs. But your wallet will still look like it's undergone liposuction, whatever you do As mentioned elsewhere, people who dive in the Monterey/Carmel area on a regular basis (which I define as one or more weekends a month, with two or more dives each day) almost all use drysuits, but we all started out in wetsuits until we could afford to switch (and were sure we'd dive enough to make it worthwhile). So don't worry about it, and definitely rent everything you can for your OW class, if it isn't provided.

Guy

 

[Hepcat62]

If I say nice things about you will do you do a scooter dive with me?

@Don - If I say nice things about you will you upgrade to a Cuda and sell me your Sierra?