Posted by Ken Kurtis on July 10, 2002 at 10:30:40:
Seahunt asked (lower down): "Wait for the good diving that starts in Summer and goes until the Spring winds start again. This is especially true for beach divers. Do you bring this up when discussing beach diving?"
Yes.
And just to be clear, even though our basic OW program does not include a beach dive (because we feel the time can better spent at Avalon and on a boat), we DO have a beach diving module as part of the class where we discuss the seasonality of it, how to assess, differences in beaches, surf zone, entry/exit techniques, etc., etc. We've also got a slide show to illustrate these points, including some shots I took a few years back of an instructor going in with a class at Leo and demonstrating how-NOT-to-beach dive (which included lost gear and a panicky diver).
So it's not like we ignore the subject entirely in our basic class. We're simply saying that let's do a practical application of it AFTER you're certified.
And to stick in another shamless plug, we used to offer (and I was the one who taught this) a two-day Beach Diving class where we did a day of diving PV (Redondo, White's, Malaga, night dive at Malaga or Redondo - and stopping to look over other sites that we pass throughout the day) and then a day at Malibu (Leo, Corral, Las Tunas - also visually scouting other sites we pass). Always interesting to see how the sites change as you move around PV, and also to see how different PV and Malibu are.
Although it's not on our schedule for this year, I'd be happy to organize it again for late summer/early fall if there's some interest here. E-mail me directly if you're interested and we'll work it out.
Ken Kurtis
NAUI Instr. #5936
Co-owner, Reef Seekers Dive Co.
Beverly Hills, CA