In Reply to: Best club near Riverside posted by David on May 12, 2009 at 12:27:02:

David,

A proper, quality but expensive drysuit should solve your cold problems. A pro local dive store, or LDS as we code it would be able to give you good advice on that before calling up your credit card company and asking them to raise the limit to the "stun" setting.

Divers Unlimited International (DUI) has "Drysuit demo days" in Long Beach in a cold water tank. The demo days are free. DUI suits are expensive, and worth every penny, but there are a few other good companies and suits too. Or you can use it as an excuse to dive tropical!

The upcoming Scuba Show in Long Beach usually has a tryout pool 4 or so feet deep. It won't be as cold as San Miquel Island in the winter, but go to the show and talk to everyone about your concerns, divers are a HUGELY helpful bunch.

When I was a kid, we all froze while scuba diving. I couldn't afford a drysuit till I was 18 or so. I used to be the only character on northern Channel Islands dive boats. Now there are more drysuit divers than wetsuit divers for what I see. A warm diver is a safer, happy diver.

If you can make the Scuba Show, see if you can get in touch with the DAN folks. That is Divers Alert Network. They have MD's on staff that specialize in scuba diving medicine and physiology. You want to make sure it is safe to dive with a cervical/spinal or musculature condition.

Scuba Schools of America has a Riverside store: http://www.openwaterhabitat.net/