San Francisco Trip mid July

[snowman102185]

Hi All,

I'm going on a White Water Rafting trip out of Yosemite in mid July and planning on heading over to SF for a few days to explore the city and hopefully try to get a days worth of diving in. Me and my dive buddy are both new to diving and haven't dove in the Ocean before so we would need to find a Divemaster and local shop/boat to head out with to show us the ropes. Any place local in SF or would it be better to go Monterey Bay? What kind of diving should we expect out there? Water Temperatures? Will a 5mil wetsuit be warm enough?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[fisheater]

Monterey is your place. You'll, for sure, need to hire your own guide, as even boat DMs stay dry in Calif. unless there's an emergency.

You'll need hooded 7mm or Drysuits, year around. Water temps will be 50-53 in July.

Diving in a kelp forest is awe inspiring. Three dimensions of marine life, from the anemones, urchins, cucumbers, sea stars and other inverts on the bottom to the bottom-hugging black & yellow rockfish to the mid-water blue rockfish to the buzzing sea lions.

I'll post some helpful links for those coming to dive Monterey for the first time.

Edited to add:

Important Info For New Monterey Divers. http://www.garlic.com/~triblet/ba_diving/newmontereydiver.html

Diving In Kelp
http://www.garlic.com/%7Etriblet/ba_diving/kelpdiving.html

Monterey Sea Conditions
http://www.garlic.com/%7Etriblet/swell/wamglance.html

Monterey Dive Boats
http://www.montereydiveboats.com/



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[g1138]

Adding on
Dive shops w/ guided tours:

Diver Dan's - Santa Clara
Any Water Sports - San Jose
Aqua Safaris - Santa Cruz

Monterey:
Seven Seas
Aquarius
Glenn's Aquarius II
Bamboo Reef

Seven Seas and Aquarius II are right near the Breakwater, which is the go to place for certification and entry dives. Lots to see, and multiple sites to visit. If you go to either two shops you can pretty much walk out the door with your rental gear and go for a dive; so no need to transport gear in your car. I would recommend Seven Seas out of the two because the staff is always a lot happier and friendly.

As with all shops, call ahead of time to setup a dive w/ a DM.

 

[snowman102185]

Thanks for your prompt response, I will look into the places you mentioned.