'Serenity'
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
opinions on places to get certified?
Belize has a great reef I've heard is to die for. Hopefully not literally. The Bahamas has great diving, and there's nothing like seeing a piranha attracted to your tank. But it's pretty deep which is scary for new divers, I think.
I would say learn in cold water that way anywhere you go will be excellent. Plus you get street cred for being a california shore diver and not some wimpy resort diver.
Pre-trip cert?
My current (very young) plan is to take lessons here, and do the certification dive somewhere warm and not here. Because I am shallow and a wuss. What's the buffer around air travel and diving again?
I got certified in Turks and Caicos. That was cool.
Plus you get street cred for being a california shore diver and not some wimpy resort diver.Yep. Though warm water diving has me thoroughly addicted now. I got cert'd here and then after a few vacations, too cold and shore entries are hell for me.
Diving from Kayaks is the bomb though. There are plenty of great places, esp. south facing beaches like Refugio that are easy entries and exits with swimmable reefs.
ita, at least 24 hours rest before you can fly after diving.
Plus you get street cred for being a california shore diver and not some wimpy resort diver.
Street cred for handling the cold? I bailed on that somewhere during a Montreal winter. I was just slow at committing to it.
I don't like the cold. I can handle summer surfing, and am willing to try winter surfing, but fuck starting (well, re-starting) my SCUBA career in an icebox.
I heard good things about Belize too, but that the reef was dying there.
I think I'm going to have a really long list. Cool!
No, street cred for being able to know how to handle surf entries and exits and for not being generally wimpy. Sure, the cold is part but not all of that. It makes it easier to go out on advanced dives if you know you can handle regular California shore dives. And honestly, diving California is not like diving Ketchican.
I like California diving because otters! seals! sea lions! kelp! garibaldi! nurse sharks! so many cool things to see here without the pesky reef damage.
for not being generally wimpy.
About the cold? But I am! Why pretend? Can't I learn surf entries and exits somewhere warm?
My current (very young) plan is to take lessons here, and do the certification dive somewhere warm and not here. Because I am shallow and a wuss.I'd consider certing beforehand just because there is so much to learn and on vacation you want to enjoy more.
The water, with the wetsuit of course, really isn't bad. I just got spoiled diving in a bikini.
Kat, where do I dive for otters?
And the summer water/winter water thing is something I don't get. Is the summer water really that much warmer? Not so much that I've noticed.
Another good diving/kayaking spot, or so I hear, is the Sea of Cortez.