Restless in Emeryville

[OrlandoRogue]

Hi-

Moved out to the Bay Area from Florida and am staring longingly at my dive tanks stashed away in my apartment closet. Help! Does anyone know of any dive trips planned for the weekend of 8/12-14 or 9/10-12?

Thanks,
Becky

PS-Any suggestions on where I can get a good deal on a 7mm?

 

[dannobee]

Hi-

Moved out to the Bay Area from Florida and am staring longingly at my dive tanks stashed away in my apartment closet. Help! Does anyone know of any dive trips planned for the weekend of 8/12-14 or 9/10-12?

Thanks,
Becky

PS-Any suggestions on where I can get a good deal on a 7mm?

Hit me up a week or two before hand. I'm sure I could round up some other peeps to make a day of it.

As for a wetsuit, have you tried craigslist.org?

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Hi-

Moved out to the Bay Area from Florida and am staring longingly at my dive tanks stashed away in my apartment closet. Help! Does anyone know of any dive trips planned for the weekend of 8/12-14 or 9/10-12?

Thanks,
Becky

PS-Any suggestions on where I can get a good deal on a 7mm?

The best thing for you to do would be to contact people on this board or at Chuck Tribolet's site (ba_diving) and meet people down in Monterey.
If you wanted an introduction to the North Coast in Sonoma County our group of divers could help you out. Don't listen to people if they try and tell you that the diving isn't that good up here because it's fantastic. Many newbies get certified at Gerstle Cove reserve and love it. It has much more interesting life than the breakwater and is not that much further of a drive, except in the opposite direction.
As for suits you will just have to look around at various shops and try on different brands. They all fit different, but you could spend from $200 $400 depending on brand and style. I just got a 6.5 mil 2 piece farmer john as a back up suit and it was just over $200. It's "Scuba Max" brand and I got it at Pinnacles in Santa Rosa. It's not fancy but it works.
Many people will tell you dry is the only way to go, which is fine if you have the money, but I'd hate to see you sit out months of diving because of the prohibitive cost of drysuits. Cheap drysuits BTW are still going to be right under $1000 and some cheapies are not worth anything because you will be chasing leaks and blowing seals constantly.
99.0 % of people I see diving up here dive wet so if they can do it you can do it. It's really not that bad.
Hope this helps.

ZKY

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

Eric (ZKY): you have bigger ones than I do to say that wetsuits are OK.

I did about 400 Monterey dives in a GOOD wetsuit. Bought a drysuit because I was
tired of fixing the The Smurf (wet suit was BRIGHT blue) every Wed. night and couldn't
find a new wetsuit as warm as The Smuf. I'd never
go back. BUT, a wetsuit can provide a good interim solution. Don't buy a nice soft
one. Warm neoprene is a bit stiff. It can't be loose, but it doesn't have to be
GAWD AWFUL TIGHT. It has to be just the very least bit smaller than you are.

A good wetsuit is better than a cheap drysuit.

ba_diving is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ba_diving/

Cold water and kelp is different from Florida. You should read:

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

and there's more good info at:

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

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Eric (ZKY): you have bigger ones than I do to say that wetsuits are OK.

I did about 400 Monterey dives in a GOOD wetsuit. Bought a drysuit because I was
tired of fixing the The Smurf (wet suit was BRIGHT blue) every Wed. night and couldn't
find a new wetsuit as warm as The Smuf. I'd never
go back. BUT, a wetsuit can provide a good interim solution. Don't buy a nice soft
one. Warm neoprene is a bit stiff. It can't be loose, but it doesn't have to be
GAWD AWFUL TIGHT. It has to be just the very least bit smaller than you are.

A good wetsuit is better than a cheap drysuit.

ba_diving is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ba_diving/

Cold water and kelp is different from Florida. You should read:

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

and there's more good info at:

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

The best wetsuit I ever had was a 9 mil Picasso commercial termic. It was completely gold skin lined and had no zippers. It was a beaver tail style with an attatched hood. I used to have to lube it up with a hair conditioner and water solution to get into it. I'll never forget the first time I dove it, we got down to about 117 feet and since it sealed so well I got a major ball squeeze (air tends to get trapped in that area). I couldn't let any water in anywhere because there was no way to get access to the bib! Needless to say it was marked as the most "painfull" dive of my career. I learned to equalize the pressure and avoid that scenario from then on. I wound up selling it to one of my buddies because either it shrunk or I got fatter, but it was the nicest suit I ever owned. I was also $800 but oh well.

After that I got a commercial drysuit that is overkill for most recreational diving which I boil alive in and sweat like a pig (something about me and commercial products). It's made out of 7 mil super stiff and tough Rubatex neoprene and weighs a ton, but it works.
I'm sure eventually I'll get a bag suit like everyone else and call it good.
But I do wear that cheapy wetsuit once in a while to remember what REAL diving is.

What I think is hilarious is when I hear about Socal divers wearing drysuits in 60's to 70 degree water. That would be 5 mil wetsuit water for me.

ZKY

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

February 1997 I went to Crystal Springs, FL to photograph manatees. I was in the
jacket of my 7mm suit. I saw a few people in drysuits. I laughed.

But if I ever go back, I'll take my drysuit. Partly because my 4/3 tropical suit wouldn't be
quite enough, even with a hood, and partly because I'd take my rebreather and just
lay on the bottom waiting for them to come to me.