Flying to San Diego in 2 weeks, any diving suggestions?

[wolfen42]

Anybody out there in the San Diego area have suggestions on places to dive for a couple visitors with limited time and knowledge of the area? We'll be bringing nice warm wetsuits so water temp shouldn't be too much of a issue...

Any dive shops that are highly recommended? Any we should avoid like the plague?

[ChrisA]

Originally Posted by wolfen42

Anybody out there in the San Diego area have suggestions on places to dive for a couple visitors with limited time and knowledge of the area? We'll be bringing nice warm wetsuits so water temp shouldn't be too much of a issue...

Any dive shops that are highly recommended? Any we should avoid like the plague?

Check out these guys
Scuba Diving San Diego - Dive Boats - Scuba Tours - Daily Boat Dives - Dive Connections Inc. San Diego CA Home Page
I think it is the best place for "out of towners". They have daily charter boats for local site sites Pretty short rides. call them up then book a trip suitable to your experiance level. "wreck allay" is good but not for beginners. Kelp dives are great for all divers.
They are one of the few California dive boats that have tanks and weights too.

If you have more time thaere is loads of good beach diving but you'd need to know something about surf entries and how to pick a beach based on surf reports

Temps have stayed cool. Low 50s os it is 7mm with hooded vest. some divers are diving dry but most are using thick suts and vests.

[booger]

Avoid ocean express dive shop. Very convenient location, but very shody equipment and employees. It's a little bit of a drive from the water, but I would highly recommend going to Ocean Enterprises. Very friendly, knowledgable staff who can and will recommend dive spots according to your dive experience and the weather.

As far as dive spots, we've had some good dives at the "marine room" in La Jolla. It's a very easy shore entry. Just watch out for sting rays. Shuffle your feet when you're walking. There can be quite a few of them around on the sandy bottom.

Have Fun!

[wolfen42]

Originally Posted by ChrisA

Check out these guys
Scuba Diving San Diego - Dive Boats - Scuba Tours - Daily Boat Dives - Dive Connections Inc. San Diego CA Home Page
I think it is the best place for "out of towners". They have daily charter boats for local site sites Pretty short rides. call them up then book a trip suitable to your experiance level. "wreck allay" is good but not for beginners. Kelp dives are great for all divers.
They are one of the few California dive boats that have tanks and weights too.

If you have more time thaere is loads of good beach diving but you'd need to know something about surf entries and how to pick a beach based on surf reports

Temps have stayed cool. Low 50s os it is 7mm with hooded vest. some divers are diving dry but most are using thick suts and vests.

Very cool... thanks... We've both got those Bare Arctic 7mm combos that ST sells so hopefully we'll be good

Thanks a lot for the tip on a boat company with good stuff available.

[wolfen42]

Originally Posted by booger

Avoid ocean express dive shop. Very convenient location, but very shody equipment and employees. It's a little bit of a drive from the water, but I would highly recommend going to Ocean Enterprises. Very friendly, knowledgable staff who can and will recommend dive spots according to your dive experience and the weather.

As far as dive spots, we've had some good dives at the "marine room" in La Jolla. It's a very easy shore entry. Just watch out for sting rays. Shuffle your feet when you're walking. There can be quite a few of them around on the sandy bottom.

Have Fun!

Thanks so much for the warning. It's always nice to know ahead of time when a store will be a waste of our relatively short time in a location.

A very easy short entry sounds wonderful. I'll go check on some of the dive site websites for the area and we'll probably try to check it out...

[Travelnsj]

Spend your time up in Del Mar (Bully's for dinner), La Jolla, PB and some old bars in MB...go to the Zoo...LOL....That water is awful cold to get into....just a thought.

[wolfen42]

Originally Posted by Travelnsj

Spend your time up in Del Mar (Bully's for dinner), La Jolla, PB and some old bars in MB...go to the Zoo...LOL....That water is awful cold to get into....just a thought.

Since we'll be doing our rescue training in a quarry in Ohio in a few weeks I'm figuring there's no way we'll be escaping cold water this year...