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sontek
Contributor
I live in Redwood City, are there good shops near me or are the best ones down in San Jose like you guys listed?
Where to start?! (just moved here)
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I used to frequent Wallins. They have closed and reopened. Not familiar with their new location.......
Hey, just moved out here from Pensacola, Florida. Have 200+ dives in the gulf and ~50 dives in caves (only intro cave) but have never dove in anything colder than a Florida cave and definitely don't know what to expect for conditions out here in California.
I'm a python programmer for SurveyMonkey.com and can't wait to meet everyone out here!
My base questions are:
1. Do any of you guys dive wet? Or does everyone go dry (I prefer wet, only dive dry on long cave dives, but probably will change my tune once I hit the cold water)
2. What are the recommended dive shops to hit up around here? Especially for getting my regulators serviced.
3. Best shores dives?
4. Anyone spearfish around here?
5. Any monthly/weekly dive meetups?
Any other tips on getting started diving out here would be great!
1. I dive wet with no issues.
2. Seconding Diver Dans
3. Start with Breakwater or Lovers Point. GPS For the Monterey Diver
4. Not sure why andrewy says buy fish at store, I love spearfishing. The only problem is being absolutely certain where you are and where the boundaries for the various SMCA's are. See here and memorize the locations and different regulations: https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=46084&inline=true
5. Start PM'ing people here
3D diver
Contributor
I'm up for a breakwater dive Sunday. PM me if interested.
Eric Sedletzky
Contributor
From Redwood City, Monterey would be the best and easiest option for a day trip.
Most people on this board who contribute to the Norcal forum are Monterey divers.
If you wanted to go north then you would probably want to make a weekend out of it.
You can check out northcoastdivers.org and hook up with that club. They do beach dives on the first Saturday of each month at various beaches in Sonoma and Mendocino Counties. They frequently will camp out at the many campground facilities up north and they have a lot of fun.
There is better spearfishing up north and you can also get into freediving for abalone, which is like a religion around here.
I dive wet for scuba and of course for freediving.
The water temp varies from as cold as 42 up to about 55 but the average seems to be around 50
Welcome!
Most people on this board who contribute to the Norcal forum are Monterey divers.
If you wanted to go north then you would probably want to make a weekend out of it.
You can check out northcoastdivers.org and hook up with that club. They do beach dives on the first Saturday of each month at various beaches in Sonoma and Mendocino Counties. They frequently will camp out at the many campground facilities up north and they have a lot of fun.
There is better spearfishing up north and you can also get into freediving for abalone, which is like a religion around here.
I dive wet for scuba and of course for freediving.
The water temp varies from as cold as 42 up to about 55 but the average seems to be around 50
Welcome!
I did two dives for beach clean up last year under Santa Cruz Wharf. I was super surprised at how much life there is under there. I'd say Monterey in general is better. However I can get down to Santa Cruz after work and fit a dive in (which I have yet to actually do) however I believe it's doable. It helps I start work between 5-6AM and can get out as early as 2:30.
Chavodel8en
Contributor
I dive wet but I am pretty cold tolerant. Dove yesterday and I was ok, but it was still fairly warm air temp. My buddy, however, was freezing.
I generally dive MLK weekend, but rarely dive rest of Jan or Feb locally as the air temp just discourages me. In the water Im fine, it's the SI where I'm shivering. The water temp only varies about 10 degrees F year round, so I don't find that to be a factor.
Pt Lobos is great (reservations needed on weekends). I also like either South or North Monastery, but only on flat days, as the entry/exit is challenging. Best viz for shore dives is at these sites.
I generally dive MLK weekend, but rarely dive rest of Jan or Feb locally as the air temp just discourages me. In the water Im fine, it's the SI where I'm shivering. The water temp only varies about 10 degrees F year round, so I don't find that to be a factor.
Pt Lobos is great (reservations needed on weekends). I also like either South or North Monastery, but only on flat days, as the entry/exit is challenging. Best viz for shore dives is at these sites.
MichaelMc
Working toward Cenotes
1. Wet 20/10 two piece skin in from Heatwave. I like being warm. Rarely cold that way.
2. Anywater sports plus Aquarious, BambooReef and Breakwater in Monterey.
3. Breakwater to start. Pt Lobos is awesome, Tahoe is an option if coast is stormed out.
Welcome to norcal!
(old thread sorry, realized after posting)
2. Anywater sports plus Aquarious, BambooReef and Breakwater in Monterey.
3. Breakwater to start. Pt Lobos is awesome, Tahoe is an option if coast is stormed out.
Welcome to norcal!
(old thread sorry, realized after posting)
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