Santa Barbara

[rpodos]

Hi... my sister is getting married there towards the end of October. My wife and I would like to get some advice on the town/area, and on diving.

Town: The wedding will be at a private home, followed by dinner at the Biltmore. Some people are staying at the Montecito Inn, but we'd like a little privacy. We are into good food, too, so restaurant suggestions would be appreciated.

Diving: We are both fairly experienced (me at about 500+dives, my wife at about 150), although almost all warm water. We have our own equipment (again, appropriate for warm water). I have no *clue* as to what's in the area, and would love some hand-holding from a local SBer or two!!

Thanks!

 

[headhunter]

You should send a PM to sb_diver. Thomas is/was a research diver with UCSB and loves to take people out and show them around to some of the coolest dive spots.

However, he might not get back to you right away, because I think he's our cruising and lounging around Europe right now.

It's a great area to dive in.

I have not been diving up there for a very long time, so I'll let the current locals tell you where to go.

While you're in the area you might want to go wine tasting in the Los Olivos area, if you are into that sort of thing.

Have fun!

Christian

 

[drbill]

Try the Truth Aquatics boats out of SB for a day trip to one of the northern Channel Islands. A lot of their trips are multi-day now, so they may not have any single day trips. Good dive boats and company.

 

[sb_diver]

Well I thought this might be a good opportunity to post on the board.
christian you're right i am still lounging about in europe, Bergerac, France to be exact; and typing on this french keyboard isnt easy.

Santa barbara isnt freezing but it is a bit chilly. Id recommend a 7 mil suit, in the summer you might be able to get away with less in the shallows but if you're going any deeper you might get cold.
Like Dr bill said truth aquatics is a good start, they run out of santa barbara harbor. Beach dives are plenty but theres a bit less to see and summer time in santa barbara waters is green. There shouldnt be much surf because we are pretty well protected by the channel islands but be safe with the entries.

There are 4 dive shops:
anacapa dive center - downtown SB, on anacapa street; 1 or 2 streets from state street.

blue water hunter - in the shops next to the harbor

truth aquatics has some rentals and last minute equipment

santa barbara aquatics - in old town goleta on hollister, off of fairview on the 101

youll probably have to go to one of the shops for air and tanks and any other things you dont have. They should be able to direct you to the sites that are the best at the moment.
Refugio is a good place to go dive, its a campsite about a half hour-45 minutes west of santa barbara on the 101. You can usually see the kelp from the beach so finding the reef shouldnt be too hard. For an easy dive but with not much to see, good for getting used to gear/conditions head to goleta beach. Theres the pier and the sewage pipe thats covered with rocks. When you get tired of that head to UCSB and dive Campus Point. From the 101 take the 217 towards UCSB, when you hit the campus turn left and park on the lot youll see on your left. Head down to the beach and youll see a building in the sand. If you swim out from that building you might be able to find the intake pipes for the campus seawater system for the biology buildings. I usually swim a good 100-200 yards out and try to stay directly straight out from the building. Drop down and swim perpendicular to the beach and you can usually find the pipes; theres 2 single pipes and 1 set of double pipes. If you see small patches of kelp you should be near the pipe as its mostly sand around the pipes.

If I was around Id love to show you around but its a bit hard being in france and all. Hope I could help some.

Thomas

 

[rpodos]

Thanks Thomas... do any of those shops do one-day boat trips that a solo diver can sign up for? It's kind of hard to tell from the websites.

 

[dness33]

Town: The wedding will be at a private home, followed by dinner at the Biltmore. Some people are staying at the Montecito Inn, but we'd like a little privacy. We are into good food, too, so restaurant suggestions would be appreciated.


Thanks!

My wife and I visit Santa Barbara at least twice a year, it's a great little city! If money is not an object to you, I would definately recommend staying at Bacara in the North part of the city. This is really one of the best places I've ever stayed at.

As far as restaurants go, you should try to get up to Cold Spring Tavern up the 154 toward Lake Cachuma. It's about 7-8 miles up the highway. Very unique setup and great food.

If you end up staying in Montecito, try Cava on the East side of main street. Or you can go to the pier on Cabrillo Street where State Street begins and enjoy good food and a great view.

Have fun!

 

[Diver_Jan]

Check out http://www.shorediving.com for beach diving areas along the coast and descriptions.

 

[pasley]

I don’t live there, but I have visited several times. Santa Barbara is a great town, and a great place to run through some $$ in a hurry. But you will have fun. Seriously how can you go wrong, good location, good food, great diving and a wedding (my condolences to the groom, congratulations to the bride).

For the best steak of your life (and for under $20.00 to boot), go to AJ Spurs in Buellton about 41 miles north from Santa Barbara (just off the 101 freeway on the road to Solvang). Their Sirloin steak is superb and their filet mignon is butter in the mouth and also reasonably priced. Dinner before 5:00 is even less with the Filet at $13.00 (2004 price). The price of dinner includes soup (Vaquero and delicious), salad, rice pilaf, fried potatoes and onions, served family style with refills. The price also includes either a root beer float after dinner liquor (schnapps I think, I go for the float) as desert. My wife and I drive from Los Angeles for steak on special occasions. So I think it is worth the drive. Clementine’s in Carpentaria just south of Santa Barbara about 14 miles is good too.

 

[jacek_smits]

I'm a Santa Barbara local and my personal preferences are as follows:

Diving: Peace Boat out of Ventura to Anacapa Island. I was there yesterday (Sunday 8/28): At least 50 foot visibility in clean, clear water on the south side of Anacapa Island. We dove Coral Reef and it was one of the best dives I've had in a long time. Stunningly beautiful with lots to see. For beach diving I'd add Hendry's Beach in Santa Barbara. Fairly easy access, good kelp patches that attract lots of wild life. That beach makes for a good night dive too. Most certainly 7mil wet suits, gloves, hoods, etc. The temperature at Hendry's dropped from 68 to 59 over the past week.

Food: Ca D'ario in Santa Barbara. Italian fare but very nice. Very good flavors and reasonable prices in a good atmosphere. Lucky's in Montecito is a good steak house. Pricy but very good flavors. If you're looking for good mexican flavors, go to the Rose Cafe on Haley Street. It's a little bit of a funky hole in the wall diner style, but the food is good. Their Chicken Mole is the best in town.

As far as places to stay (you want a little more privacy than the Montecito Inn you say), I don't really keep abreast of the hotels and such so it's hard to make recommendations. I had family stay at the Chesire Cat Inn in downtown SB a few years ago and that worked out very well.

You mention wanting some hand-holding. Depending on how much hand-holding you want, you can hire divemasters and above at local dive stores to take you diving and that may be something to consider. Cold water diving in 7mil wet suits with all the added necessary weights is very different from warm water diving, which is most of your diving experience as I understand it from your posting (full disclosure seems appropriate here: I work as an instructor at Anacapa Dive Center).

Santa Barbara is a pretty good town with much more to offer than the few items I listed here, but the list would get too long, so I just posted some highlights.

Feel free to contact me if you have questions.

Jacek

 

[mossym]

Try the Truth Aquatics boats out of SB for a day trip to one of the northern Channel Islands. A lot of their trips are multi-day now, so they may not have any single day trips. Good dive boats and company.

I'll second the recommendation, but i think dr bill is right about not doing say trips. They have a calender available on their website at www.truthaquatics.com