SF dives

[MaxBottomtime]

 

[UWPhotoKeith]

Central coast diving has a lot more "good" dive days compared to the north coast (north of SF). Below is a comparison from both locations as an example. The dive at Stillwater Cove (Sonoma County 1.5hrs north of SF) is pretty typical of a "good day" on the north coast. I have dived several locations in SF Bay and after that experience about the only time I would dive in SF Bay is if the Pacific Ocean dried up and SF Bay was still full of water, and there was a shipwreck full of gold that was up for grabs.

Central Coast - Pt. Lobos:

Sonoma Coast - Stillwater Cove:

 

[spoolin01]

You won't get many days of even decent visibility, but the area just outside the outer breakwater at Half Moon Bay, between the breakwater to the right of the harbor jaws and a line between the green can and the beach at Mavericks (under the radar towers) is somewhat protected (there's a 20-30' depth "reef" that runs just inside that line), has minimal boat traffic because it's a cul-de-sac that only a few small still-fishing boats venture into (boats stay to the left of the green can on the way out from the harbor mouth), and has a lot of 30-60ft depths. It's been many years since I went in there, and I recall it seemed a bit barren, but there are a lot of gulleys to explore and out by that reef is a kelp field. You'll need a boat to get out there.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Hehe... I dunno. It was the only shore dive I've ever done, the only cold water dive I had ever done.... I was expecting much denser kelp forest, and maybe more wildlife. The large number of decorator crabs were cool, but there wasn't a whole lot of other creatures.

You never mentioned where your dive was? If it was at the breakwater at San Carlos beach, then there is not much but sand unless you venture out to the metridium fields or stay on the breakwall and get out there a ways. Towards the end there is a pretty healthy kelp forest and sea lions and all sorts of fish. Even with all the dives I’ve done there, and anywhere in MB for that matter, I’ve never had a “boring” dive. Just the fact that I’m getting to dive and blow bubbles is exciting enough for me.

The North Coast north of SF is a lot more rugged and takes a bit of doing to get to. It can be very good diving.
It’s very rocky with a lot more reef structure. A kayak really helps to get out to some of the best reefs since there are not many places to launch boats. A lot of people scuba dive off kayaks up here on the NC.

SF bay itself will be nothing but 3’ or less vis and mud. If you thought your beach dive at Monterey was boring, SF bay would be 10 times worse (and dangerous).

Diving around here takes more motivation than other places. You have to want it. You have to really be into diving, more than just a casual interest, and more than just whether it happens to be convenient at the time. Conditions aren’t always stellar and you need to learn to accept that. If you wait for everything to be perfect then most likely a dive will never happen. It’s a lot of work to plan and execute a day of diving here. You have to learn to appreciate the little things, and you can’t expect it to be something it’s not. You need to learn to appreciate it for what it is.

Look into coming up for an organized urchin gathering and relocation dive through Seal’s Water Sports in Santa Rosa. We’d be honored to have you join us!
We always appreciate the help and you get to do something usefull AND fun!

 

[victor808]

Look into coming up for an organized urchin gathering and relocation dive through Seal’s Water Sports in Santa Rosa. We’d be honored to have you join us!

Thanks for the recommendation! That looks like fun actually.


Victor