My band has to travel to San Diego for a gig in May. Tough, right? Well, there's 4 divers in the band, so we're thinking we get the client to pay for a couple extra days hotel stay on either side of the show, and we get to play in the water.
Anybody been there? Dive sites, operators, etc.? What kind of exposure protection do we need? We may only get to do 2 dives, depending on the client's bankroll, so what should we definitely not miss?
Thanks!
Diving San Diego?
Diving San Diego?
I'm going to look like a moose on rollerskates. -airsix
... my Mom caught me fenestrating once. -lavachickie
And I get so tired of fainting and peeing all over myself when the hammer falls on an empty chamber! -Nailer
Want to know where I'm performing? Check out my Facebook fan page!
... my Mom caught me fenestrating once. -lavachickie
And I get so tired of fainting and peeing all over myself when the hammer falls on an empty chamber! -Nailer
Want to know where I'm performing? Check out my Facebook fan page!
We're hoping to get to San Diego within the next year for one of my wife's 13-week travel nurse gigs, so I was checking around for dive info down there. I didn't find much in the way of boat stuff, but I discovered that the most popular places are actually around La Jolla, just north of SD, and some of them are supposed to be really great. I found links to a couple of dive shops down there and can PM them to you if you're interested. They can probably provide more info. I don't know anything about any of the shops, so the links come with the standard disclaimer.
Dave
"Clearly, you weren't listening to what I'm about to say."
--
Check out my Internet show:
http://www.irvingszoo.com
"Clearly, you weren't listening to what I'm about to say."
--
Check out my Internet show:
http://www.irvingszoo.com
By all means, send them to me!dwashbur wrote:I found links to a couple of dive shops down there and can PM them to you if you're interested.
I'm going to look like a moose on rollerskates. -airsix
... my Mom caught me fenestrating once. -lavachickie
And I get so tired of fainting and peeing all over myself when the hammer falls on an empty chamber! -Nailer
Want to know where I'm performing? Check out my Facebook fan page!
... my Mom caught me fenestrating once. -lavachickie
And I get so tired of fainting and peeing all over myself when the hammer falls on an empty chamber! -Nailer
Want to know where I'm performing? Check out my Facebook fan page!
Sent. It's easy to tell I had an insomnia night, because the links I have are actually dive site info and stuff like that, not much on shops at all. Put that one in the "duu-uu-uh" file...
Dave
"Clearly, you weren't listening to what I'm about to say."
--
Check out my Internet show:
http://www.irvingszoo.com
"Clearly, you weren't listening to what I'm about to say."
--
Check out my Internet show:
http://www.irvingszoo.com
My buddy and I dove the East wall of La Jolla Shores two summers ago as a shore dive. There is a nice little dive shop right there on the beach. It is OE Express.
The dive was quite nice. The shore entry was fine, only about 4 foot waves or so. It was quite a swim out to the actual dive site but there were some interesting things to see along the way.
The thing I found most interesting was the water temperature.
I was diving my drysuit, my buddy his wet suit. It was close to 90 on the beach. Not real comfortable for either of us walking across the sand in our gear. I was looking for some comfort when I hit the water, but, no go there. The water at the surface was 78. Not much cooling there. We finned up and ducked under the surf and descended, neither of us like to surface swim. After 5 minutes of heavy finning, we were still only at about 15 feet and I was ready to flood my drysuit, I was cooking. The water temp was still in the upper 70s. At the 10 minute mark we were at 20 feet and the water temp was finally providing some relief it was 64. At the 20 minute mark we were all the way down to 35 feet and the water temp was 59. 25 minutes in and we were at 45 feet and 57 degrees and looking at the trench that we were aiming for.
At this point we spent about 10 minutes exploring the trench. Max depth we went to was 79 feet. Coldest temp was 59 and I was glad I had my drysuit on and that I hadn't flooded it. As we dropped into the trench we saw a beautiful bat ray gracefully swim by. I found a beautiful blue banded goby and a single two spot octo. It was a great dive. And then we realized that we had to make that swim back.
It took us another 20 minutes to make it back and the water temp just kept getting warmer and warmer. We were glad to hit the surface, rip off the hood and trudge back to the car to get the gear off. The shower on the beach after the dive sure felt great.
These pics were taken with my old Sealife 1.2 mp camera.
Would I do the dive again, probably. If I had more money would I have done a boat dive, yep. There is apparently a "Wreck Row" in the San Diego area that is accessible only by boat.
The dive was quite nice. The shore entry was fine, only about 4 foot waves or so. It was quite a swim out to the actual dive site but there were some interesting things to see along the way.
The thing I found most interesting was the water temperature.
I was diving my drysuit, my buddy his wet suit. It was close to 90 on the beach. Not real comfortable for either of us walking across the sand in our gear. I was looking for some comfort when I hit the water, but, no go there. The water at the surface was 78. Not much cooling there. We finned up and ducked under the surf and descended, neither of us like to surface swim. After 5 minutes of heavy finning, we were still only at about 15 feet and I was ready to flood my drysuit, I was cooking. The water temp was still in the upper 70s. At the 10 minute mark we were at 20 feet and the water temp was finally providing some relief it was 64. At the 20 minute mark we were all the way down to 35 feet and the water temp was 59. 25 minutes in and we were at 45 feet and 57 degrees and looking at the trench that we were aiming for.
At this point we spent about 10 minutes exploring the trench. Max depth we went to was 79 feet. Coldest temp was 59 and I was glad I had my drysuit on and that I hadn't flooded it. As we dropped into the trench we saw a beautiful bat ray gracefully swim by. I found a beautiful blue banded goby and a single two spot octo. It was a great dive. And then we realized that we had to make that swim back.
It took us another 20 minutes to make it back and the water temp just kept getting warmer and warmer. We were glad to hit the surface, rip off the hood and trudge back to the car to get the gear off. The shower on the beach after the dive sure felt great.
These pics were taken with my old Sealife 1.2 mp camera.
Would I do the dive again, probably. If I had more money would I have done a boat dive, yep. There is apparently a "Wreck Row" in the San Diego area that is accessible only by boat.
Tim
SSI Dive Control Specialist Instructor
REEF PNW AAT Level 5 Surveyor
REEF Hawaii Level 3 Surveyor
REEF Instructor - PNW Fish, PNW Advanced Fish, PNW Inverts, TWA, HAW, TEP, Cal Inverts and Algae
TimRenz.com creating comfortable, confident, and enthusiastic divers.
SSI Dive Control Specialist Instructor
REEF PNW AAT Level 5 Surveyor
REEF Hawaii Level 3 Surveyor
REEF Instructor - PNW Fish, PNW Advanced Fish, PNW Inverts, TWA, HAW, TEP, Cal Inverts and Algae
TimRenz.com creating comfortable, confident, and enthusiastic divers.
I haven't dived San Diego, but I spent a fantastic week in LA last May. Water temps were in the mid to high 50's, and I used a dry suit and the same undergarments I use in the Sound. Viz ranged between very good and outrageous.
You might consider posting on The Dive Matrix (http://www.divematrix.com). There's an active group of San Diego divers there, some of whom I know -- Good people and good divers, and always up to play tour guide for visiting divers.
You might consider posting on The Dive Matrix (http://www.divematrix.com). There's an active group of San Diego divers there, some of whom I know -- Good people and good divers, and always up to play tour guide for visiting divers.
"Sometimes, when your world is going sideways, the second best thing to everything working out right, is knowing you are loved..." ljjames
I dont know much about San Diego diving but I did consider a trip down last year. At that time I was looking at diving with these guys
http://loisann.com/index.html
I dont know if they are any good but it might be a place to start
http://loisann.com/index.html
I dont know if they are any good but it might be a place to start
Ooohh...kelp beds! I'm going to try to convince my buddies to dive the kelp beds. Looks really cool....
I'm going to look like a moose on rollerskates. -airsix
... my Mom caught me fenestrating once. -lavachickie
And I get so tired of fainting and peeing all over myself when the hammer falls on an empty chamber! -Nailer
Want to know where I'm performing? Check out my Facebook fan page!
... my Mom caught me fenestrating once. -lavachickie
And I get so tired of fainting and peeing all over myself when the hammer falls on an empty chamber! -Nailer
Want to know where I'm performing? Check out my Facebook fan page!
Do NOT... I repeat Do NOT dive with these guys:
http://www.gottadive.com/
Last year I had the worst experience with a boat dive operation ever. I was with my wife who had just recently been certified and this was her very first dive off of a boat. I have probably chartered over 50 different boat dives and this was by far the worst. The whole operation was sloppy and when we got semi near the dive site no one in the crew knew where to dump us in. So, they guessed!!! Then trolled around us to see how far off we were from the ship we were supposed to free decent to. The captain shouted to us, once he found the actual drop zone, to swim toward the boat. It was 100 yards away, there was wind chop, and if I wanted to get all my %&*#in gear on to swim around I would have done a shore dive! You have got me started now.... So, he gathered us all back up on the boat (we all felt like we had just ran a marathon) and then changed his mind on the dive we should make. We all stood there in our gear, baking in the sun, while they ran to the next location. By the time we were back in the water and on a buoy line none of us were feeling to sharp. Not a word was said (by the crew, dive shop owner, or anyone) about the stupidity of dropping 8 divers in the water without a clue as to what they were doing. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest!
The diving on the other hand was very cool. We dropped down on a real neat ship and had a great dive with lots of life and good visibility. We also made a dive in the kelp forests, very cool.
http://www.gottadive.com/
Last year I had the worst experience with a boat dive operation ever. I was with my wife who had just recently been certified and this was her very first dive off of a boat. I have probably chartered over 50 different boat dives and this was by far the worst. The whole operation was sloppy and when we got semi near the dive site no one in the crew knew where to dump us in. So, they guessed!!! Then trolled around us to see how far off we were from the ship we were supposed to free decent to. The captain shouted to us, once he found the actual drop zone, to swim toward the boat. It was 100 yards away, there was wind chop, and if I wanted to get all my %&*#in gear on to swim around I would have done a shore dive! You have got me started now.... So, he gathered us all back up on the boat (we all felt like we had just ran a marathon) and then changed his mind on the dive we should make. We all stood there in our gear, baking in the sun, while they ran to the next location. By the time we were back in the water and on a buoy line none of us were feeling to sharp. Not a word was said (by the crew, dive shop owner, or anyone) about the stupidity of dropping 8 divers in the water without a clue as to what they were doing. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest!
The diving on the other hand was very cool. We dropped down on a real neat ship and had a great dive with lots of life and good visibility. We also made a dive in the kelp forests, very cool.
Matt & Stacy
Do We Dive?... Of Course!
Life Is An Adventure...
It is not the destination that is the most rewarding,
It is the journey along the way!
http://i-rv.net/gallery/main.php
Do We Dive?... Of Course!
Life Is An Adventure...
It is not the destination that is the most rewarding,
It is the journey along the way!
http://i-rv.net/gallery/main.php
I second Coachrenz's recommendation of OE Express. They were very helpful and are I think only about 1 1/2 blocks from the beach. La Jolla is great and not very far from San Diego. I did 2 dives there in January a few years ago. My first dive was a night dive straight out from the street where the dive shop is located. It was great although I didn't see a lot of critters. My second dive was at Marine Room and I saw all sorts of critters although January is not the time to see Leopard sharks-you may see them in May but I think summer is the best time. I did see a very cool Thornback Ray and the Kelp Bass followed us around like puppies.
I also did a boat dive day and dove the Yukon & the Ruby E. Both were fun although I had some buddy issues. There are several charter boats that go out from the harbor right by Sea World. Don't remember the charter company I went with. I think I just found them in the phone book.
Have fun.
I also did a boat dive day and dove the Yukon & the Ruby E. Both were fun although I had some buddy issues. There are several charter boats that go out from the harbor right by Sea World. Don't remember the charter company I went with. I think I just found them in the phone book.
Have fun.
Georgia
NOT diving is NOT an option
NOT diving is NOT an option