recommend guided tour of Monterey?

[Joe67]

Hi...

My husband and I just moved to NorCal, and all our previous diving experiences to date have been in the Caribbean. We'd love to check out Monterey Bay and would prefer to do the whole "guided tour" thing I've seen some dive shops in the area offer on their websites. Anyone ever done them? Any reviews? Any one spectacularly better (or dangerously worse) than the others?

We're just not used to the cold, less than 80 ft vis, kelp, thick wetsuits, etc.

Thanks!

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

Monterey diving is great, but it takes some "local knowledge" about handling the
cold, kelp, and such. A tour is a good way to pick this up.

There's general Monterey info here: http://www.garlic.com/~triblet/ba_diving/

 

[coreypenrose]

Contact Bamboo Reef:

http://www.bambooreef.com/contactus.html

Ask for Rob Phillips. He's a great guy who will take good care of you.

 

[zf2nt]

Hi...

My husband and I just moved to NorCal, and all our previous diving experiences to date have been in the Caribbean. We'd love to check out Monterey Bay and would prefer to do the whole "guided tour" thing I've seen some dive shops in the area offer on their websites. Anyone ever done them? Any reviews? Any one spectacularly better (or dangerously worse) than the others?

We're just not used to the cold, less than 80 ft vis, kelp, thick wetsuits, etc.

Thanks!

Go to Aquarius, on Del Monte, and ask for Cecil Claspell. Cecil works there full-time and regularly runs introductory tours of the Monterey area. I'm confident he can tune your dives to your personal comfort level. Most other people in the area have a set routine they follow irrespective of the customer's ability and you just might find that set routine kind of boring.

One other fellow I know who regularly does introductory tours is Dave Todd, out of Monterey Bay Dive Center. Dave spends week days working as a pharmacist, so he only does this on weekends, but I do think he is excellent.

Another suggestion you might consider is enrolling in a specialty course at your favorite local dive shop. (If you don't know one, PM me and I'll tell you where I work!) Specifically, I would highly recommend taking a dry suit specialty course. This normally involves a minor amount of classroom discussion, a pool session to give you a chance to try various maneuvers in a dry suit, and then a couple of ocean dives. Even if you are not interested in a dry suit at the moment, this would at least introduce you to what they are and why so many of us prefer them. I tried for years to get my wife interested in Monterey diving and she just would not hear of it, because of the concerns you mentioned. Then I got her a dry suit and now I can't keep her out of the water! But back to the point about contacting a local dive shop...one side benefit is that this will help you make some local connections that you will find helpful later. There is a very active local dive community which is generally supportive of newcomers. Becoming involved with a local dive shop will help you meet some of that community.

Bruce

Bruce

 

[coreypenrose]

Go to Aquarius, on Del Monte, and ask for Cecil Claspell. Cecil works there full-time and regularly runs introductory tours of the Monterey area. I'm confident he can tune your dives to your personal comfort level. Most other people in the area have a set routine they follow irrespective of the customer's ability and you just might find that set routine kind of boring.

Another great idea. Cecil is a really nice guy who will take good care of you as well.

 

[Joe67]

Thanks for all the good tips! I'm glad to hear its such a good community. We've already got plans to go down there over the holidays!