Silicon Valley

I am heading over to the US for a few weeks on work and will be based in Sunnyvale just outside San Jose and San Fran.

I was wondering if anyone knows a good boat or shop that hires full kit and runs day trips at the weekend.

Also what is the water temperature/conditions are like at this time of year.

Finally what sort of creatures are about at the moment?

Cheers,

The best site/list for local info is

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ba_diving/messages

Look through the Links and Database sections also.

Cheers Herb,

Monterey looks like the place to head to.

Does anyone have any recommendations ?

I am considering trying to squeeze my drysuit in to my luggage, is it needed ??

thanks

Yes. Monterey is about 1.5 hrs from Sunnyvale and is the closes nice diving.

Definitely bring your dry suit. Water temp is typically 50F.

I've had some wonderful diving on the Cypress Sea, and shore dives can be fun depending on conditions and what you're looking for.

Thanks again Herb,

I will be buddyless so will have to rely finding a buddy on-board.

As for what I am looking for anything interesting ! I was planning on only bringing my 60mm and flat port although beginning to think I might be better of with my 18-35 and the Dome port.

I will research a bit more and see what the likely photo opportunies will be.

Here are a few samples of photo ops. You can get good WA shots on a good day.

http://www.theshootout.org/monterey/results/index.htm

http://ncups.org/bdpc2004/cbdpc2004win.html

Looks good!

I think I will squeeze the WA in if I have any space. Definitely bringing a hood though after seeing the diver photos!

Great recommendation the boat and Captain were fantastic. Diving was pretty good, if a little cold. We saw Orcas from the surface and a few sea otters too all very exciting for a tourist.

Thanks again, I will try and post a couple of images for critique.

Cheers,

Great recommendation the boat and Captain were fantastic. Diving was pretty good, if a little cold. We saw Orcas from the surface and a few sea otters too all very exciting for a tourist.

 

Thanks again, I will try and post a couple of images for critique.

 

Cheers,

I thought to you hardy Brits, this is warm water.

It probably won't be warmer next time, but the vis usually improves later in the fall.

I think that was the problem! The sunshine had lulled me into a false sense of security so I didn't use all my thermals !

Lesson learned !