Posted by Ryan on June 10, 2000 at 12:07:06:
Hi, I'm a new diver in San Jose on an internship for the summer, and I'm looking for cool places to dive. Monterey Bay seems to be the best, in terms of distance and things to see, but I'm open to other suggestions.
In particular, I'm after:
-Kelp forests
-Medium/large marine life
-Cool wrecks and formations
From the web, "[Monastery Beach] features a dense kelp bed with rich invertebrate life. Occasional sightings of whales' dolphin and blue sharks have been reported"
Wow, whales. Is this my best bet for seeing a whale?
How about further afield? I guess Catalina Island/Channel Islands and the oil rigs off Huntington Beach are the big ones? (Is there anything to see in Lake Tahoe?)
My tentative "plan":
-Do stuff in Monterey Bay (Monastery Beach for seals, do the "Call Cypress Charters" thing mentioned back in March, Point Lobos)
-Check out Catalina on a trip down south.
Any recommendations? In particulary, any good wrecks near the sf bay area?
My experience:
I got my Open Water in Cozumel at the end of April. I've done a grand total of 14 dives, including boat and shore dives, high current/drift dives and night dives. Max depth so far is 80 ft :) I had no problems with any of the above. In the interests of seeing some of the deeper wrecks, I'll probably be getting my AOW in the near future.
TIA,
Ryan