Posted by brianc on March 22, 2001 at 11:42:19:
In Reply to: dive sites posted by RaiderKarl on March 22, 2001 at 09:56:58:
It's finally getting to the time of year when the advanced and above classes can be held on the North Coast. I'll finally be getting back on home turf April 7/8 when I'm helping with a DM training session at Salt Point. I haven't been there since early December (a great dive!). It'll be real nice to be able to go home between dives.
I'll be down in Monterey again April 21/22 with OW classes. We have our students at the Breakwater at 7am. I hate that since I'm not a morning person, especially after hitting town at 10-11pm after a 3.5 hour drive Friday night. I know what you mean about student generated silt outs, but the big lawn, tables, the showers to rinse gear, easy fills and food make it the easiest for OW classes. I hate to think of what the student equipment would look like if they had sand instead of grass under them. We have tarps, but the students have enough to remember on these first dives, so we try to minimize potential problems. As it is I often stop students (usually from other shops) from rinsing off regs without the dust cap secured.
For OW dives I and II, I usually place the float not too far from the jetty at about 20ft. That's usually near the back of the head on the jetty. This gives them a short tour dives along the jetty with at least a few things to look at. It makes the dive easier and safer to have the jetty to help keep the class together. It also makes the "tour" part of the return to the shore at the easiest entry/exit point. For dives III and IV, I put the float at the intersection of the back of the head and the concrete steps. That's near some sea grass, burrowing anemomes, and rocks/kelp. It's still in the sand, so the marine life doesn't get thrashed, but it's close to some interesting stuff for the tour. I usually see a school of seņoritas, perch, and some needle fish. The students seem to really enjoy it. I'm a biologist, so I like finding living things to show students. I led an AOW naturalist dive at Breakwater in the Fall. Two of the students said they have been diving that site for years, but never realized that there was so much life around.
I definitely want to check out the places you mentioned for AOW and fun dives. I've really only been able to do boat and dives and Pt. Lobos in that area. I'm trying to set up AOW dives with Dive Crazy in Albion (Mendocino). Hopefully that will work out this year.
I know what you mean on navigation. It's definitely a different beast out here than in Florida. My biggest fault is overshooting the boat on the way back (luckily that can't happen on a shore dive). If I don't see the boat in front of me, it's almost guarnteed to be directly behind. I used to drift dive with hunters in Florida, so I'm used to going fast. Now I buddy with photograhers who let me lead when they don't bring cameras, but they say that I go too fast. That's especially true on the return trip when I get into my own pace and drag my buddy along. I'm working on slowing down and communicating swimming rate preferences underwater, but when I'm not with sutdents I like to swim fast.