Seeking DM/guide for Monastery beach dive 11/22

[WetCell]

I will be flying out to SJC Saturday (from Houston) and will drive down to Monterey that evening. I have been on the Cypress Sea and Sanctuary on previous trips and am looking to do a beach dive this time on Sunday morning.

I'm PADI AOW, SSI Nitrox.

I'll need a suit, weights and tanks. I have not dove a drysuit, but if you are willing to include that with the dive I am interested.

Please PM with guide offers.

Thanks!!!

 

[Hinalo]

Hi wetcell, hope you have a great time diving here. There are a few DMs and Instructors on this board who might be able to help you. But if I were you I'd start by contacting local shops that employ DMs and have a good line of rental gear. There are a few shops in monterey/carmel you could call.

Aquarius Dive Shop - Your PADI 5-Star Scuba Dive Center in Monterey for Training, Equipment, Service, and Rentals
Scuba dive in Monterey Bay California with Monterey Bay Dive Charters
Scuba Diving lessons, classes, courses - San Francisco, Sonoma Coast, Marin, Monterey, Northern California Bay Area | Bamboo Reef Scuba Diving Centers
Glenn's Aquarius II Dive Shop

To rent a drysuit you will almost certainly need a drysuit cert from some agency. So if you have time to do this before you leave it would expand your possibilities.

Good luck.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Check out Aquarius2 on the breakwater. We used a DM out of there last fall and he did a great job!! And they have all the equipment you need.

 

[WetCell]

To rent a drysuit you will almost certainly need a drysuit cert from some agency. So if you have time to do this before you leave it would expand your possibilities.

Good luck.

Thanks, good suggestions Ocean Boy--I'll make some calls this week if no one responds direct.

As for the drysuit, I may have been unclear. If a DM could certify me I would be willing to do the training with them on these dives. Drysuits are not rocket science, I just don't have a reason to use them in the warm, soupy swamps of Texas or the mildly chilly springs of Florida (my 3 mil is more than sufficient there). It would be nice to be able to rent one when I dive in the ice water of California. I guess if the DM could cert me they would be an instructor; whatever, I am open to discussion here.

 

[WetCell]

Check out Aquarius2 on the breakwater. We used a DM out of there last fall and he did a great job!! And they have all the equipment you need.

Lone Wolf, thanks, great endorsement, I'll call them. I really just need someone to get the wetsuit, tanks and weights for me and then buddy-up for the dive. Sounds like they can accommodate "the accidental tourist" diver that I have become. I always bring my own gear other than the heavy stuff.

 

[Bogie]

Call Bruce at Aquarius on 2040 Del Monte Ave., Monterey, CA 93940
Phone: (831)375-1933 or Keith at Bamboo Reef on 614 Lighthouse Ave, Monterey, CA 93940
Tel: (831) 372-1685. I would go on an easy dive with them and get drysuit certified first. Normally dive shops don't rent dry suits unless your certified. Monastery Beach should only be done on a good day with an experience diver. A good DM won't bring you in on a day when the waves are pounding. Monastery Beach on the north side can bring you on the edge of the Monterey Trench and is beautiful but you must dive smart.

 

[Guy Alcala]

Call Bruce at Aquarius on 2040 Del Monte Ave., Monterey, CA 93940
Phone: (831)375-1933 or Keith at Bamboo Reef on 614 Lighthouse Ave, Monterey, CA 93940
Tel: (831) 372-1685. I would go on an easy dive with them and get drysuit certified first. Normally dive shops don't rent dry suits unless your certified. Monastery Beach should only be done on a good day with an experience diver. A good DM won't bring you in on a day when the waves are pounding. Monastery Beach on the north side can bring you on the edge of the Monterey Trench and is beautiful but you must dive smart.

I'd think no instructor/DM in his or her right mind is going to take a drysuit student who they don't know, on their first dive in a drysuit at Monastery beach (aka Mortuary beach). They'll want to know if the OP has their buoyancy/trim together, as well as being in decent physical shape and has done surf entries/exits, and will probably take them to BW, McAbee or Del Monte for their cert. dive.

If this is the OP's first shore dive out here, they're probably better off just renting a wetsuit. Yeah, they could get a drysuit cert, but if this kind of diving is a pretty rare event for them, why bother? A drysuit isn't rocket science, but trying to deal with one in addition to dealing with cold, a confining suit with a hood and thick gloves, and lots of weight in surf and surge is increasing the complexity unnecessarily. Of course, if they luck out and it's ankle-biters with 50'-100' vis everywhere on the day they dive, it won't matter.

If they had an entire weekend, it might make sense to get a couple of shore dives wet on Saturday, before doing the drysuit cert on Sunday.

Guy

 

[rdjiv]

A divemaster cannot teach a specialty course - or any course that offers a diving certification (w/ exception for digital underwater photography specialty). Recommend you look for an instructor to teach you a Dry Suit Specialty course.

Better yet, just stick with a 7mm wetsuit. Its not that bad; its what I use when I go diving.

 

[bbianchi]

FWIW as a DM I usually take people new to me and or the area to Breakwater or Lovers...

If it was someone who hadn't ever been in a drysuit, it would certainly be breakwater.

Also things may be so-so for Monastery this weekend too as its generally better to go there when your new at it when its calm.

 

[WetCell]

Well, you can keep posting if you like.

I had a great pair of dives yesterday at the "Breakwater" and now have two shore dives in my logbook.

Mom Nature could not have been more accommodating. The weather was flawless and the surf light. The viz was spectacular according to Texas Swamp Diver, which I be, standards. I took beaucoup pictures and movies down along the "pipe". Nudibranch, shrimp, crabs, keyhole limpet--gawd it was great.

For those considering a guided dive in Monterey, call Aquarius Dive Shop on Del Monte and ask to get Perry West as your guide. Five stars out of five, ten out of ten. Just had a great time and Aquarius took care of everything, very smooth and easy--which is what I like.

PM for details if you like, I simply cannot give a better recommendation for this outfit.