Hi,
There are a couple of clubs in the Sacramento area. Dolphindivers.org is a club affiliated with Dolphin Scuba Center, and a few friends of ours started
www.saue.org. I don't know much about the Dolphin club although I'm at the dive shop at least twice a week. My wife and I haven't done much with the
www.saue.org site since we lost our forums, but have plans to get things back up and running once our child is born in September.
As for local diving, Folsom is an obvious choice because of its location. I haven't dove there in over a year, and favor driving to Tahoe or Monterey for better viz if I have the time. The locations at Folsom to dive are Granite Bay, Rattlesnake Bar (watch out for the snakes, my wife almost stepped on one last time we were there), Brown's Ravine (watch for boats), Beal's Point, and Dyke 8 (or whatever it's called now). I've dove all of them except Beal's Point (I hear there are cool rock formations) and Dyke 8 (supposedly sandy bottom with better than average viz). There's also the river and Nimbus. I haven't dove the river yet, but many people have and do so every once in a while. Nimbus is a bit dark and oddly rather cold for some reason. It's also a bit weird when the mosquito larvae follow your light through the water. Kind of creepy.
Water temps for Folsom get down to the high 40's in the winter, and close to the 60's in the hot summer months. I'd recommend a 7mm suit with hood and gloves if diving wet, but prefer diving dry myself.
Tahoe is a great location for summer dives starting in May and winding up around September. Water temps at certain sites in the summer are close to 65 degrees, and makes diving wet nice. The viz is always 40' to 60' or greater depending on the water temperature. The best viz is in the winter since the water temps cut down on the algae bloom. Water temps in the winter range from 50 to 39 degrees depending on location, time of year, and depth.
I've dove Commanche a few times, and even did 2 days of a class there. The viz is great in the 0' to 40' range from March to May. The water temps are quite cold, but that helps in reducing the algae. After April the boat traffic and fishermen really pick up, and like most lakes where divers are rather rare, you can get into a sticky situation depending on the attitude of the people fishing over your head.
There are also several other lakes in the foothills to consider as well. The closer you get to Tahoe the better the viz gets. Of course it gets colder too.
Which shop did you get certified out of?
If you're interested in checking out a local site, let me know, and I'll do what I can to be there. If nothing else I should be able to give you some pointers for where to go.
~ Jason
