... I spoke with someone at a local dive shop, and I'm already scratching the idea of starting with a specialty class. I thought it was a good way to kill two birds with one stone sine I was interested in a couple of certification courses anyways, but I figure it'll be unfair to other students if I require extra attention from the instructor. I'm considering a few different ideas right now...
No offense, but that's pretty boneheaded reasoning! If you're an AOW diver with 30 dives, you're probably at least as capable as a lot of students I see in specialty classes, including rescue diver. The Peak Performance Buoyancy specialty might be a good option for getting your weighting dialed in with colder water here, as well as getting used to diving with a thicker wetsuit. Any decent specialty instructor should be prepared AND take extra time with students that need attention in some areas, and I would avoid any dive shop that told you otherwise
If you've done 30 dives and have been diving relatively recently (e.g., within the past year), you're probably more capable than 90% of So Cal divers. I think the ones you see on Scubaboard are much more active and into the sport than the norm. I've been on beach fun dives with my local dive shop where people show up with less than a dozen dives and do just fine, but have also seen some people who are so out of practice they haven't dived in years, never dived in cold water and weren't even able to descend and had to be helped back to shore
Maybe consider getting a DM from a local dive shop to do a discover local diving (DLD) shore dive with you, and that will give you a good starting point for deciding what to do next. You sound pretty conscientious based on your comments, so you should do fine with that. There are plenty of dive spots with easy entry where you don't have to swim too far to see things, and lots of the dive shops will do DLDs. It's also a good starting point for meeting people to dive with for fun. If you haven't dived for a while (you didn't say), you could always start with a scuba refresher in the pool, then do the DLD
---------- Post added September 19th, 2013 at 12:16 PM ----------
... I could drive up to a Malibu shop if it's much better there, I mean the dive...
Malibu Divers is hosting the coastal cleanup at the Malibu Pier this Saturday, with a big turnout of divers expected (tons of great giveaways), along with half price gear rental and free parking for the event. Since it's an organized event, they will buddy you up with someone if you're solo. You might want to call them and talk about it, although don't expect spectacular diving (it will be fun, though)
