Posted by seahunt on July 21, 2000 at 20:52:16:
In Reply to: San Francisco diving? posted by Jill on July 21, 2000 at 14:54:36:
You have a couple of choices. Both are about 120 miles or so. Forget diving San Francisco. Monterey to the south is probably your best bet. There are boats and shops and relatively easy diving. You can go fast inland down the 280 (maybe 680) to San Jose, then take 17 to Santa Cruz and on to Monterey. Or you can take the beautiful scenic route down 1 from San Francisco. It is a bit longer though. The Cypress Sea and the Silvre Prince are both good Monterey boats. Check out the Dive Boat Guide at www.diver.net for more boats and contact numbers.
If you are a bit more intrepid, go north and do some free diving. It's beautiful.
Of course, if you are really seriously intrepid, maybe a bit hardcore, you can always dive Half Moon Bay or Pidgin Point, say 60 miles south of SF, but even I wouldn't recommend that.
I would recommend looking at the coastal guide and some of the essays at www.diver.net/seahunt. They can tell you a lot more about the area and the conditions.
Enjoy the diving, seahunt