Rebreather diving in California

chrismc

Well it looks like I'll be coming over to california on buisness for a week or so.

So the obvious thing is to add a couple of weeks of holiday allowance and go diving. Would appreciate advice from anyone around there, as I have never dived in the US before.

1) rebreather friendly shop / Where to get sofnolime. I am also assuming I can hire cylidners over there?

2) Dive charters / sites that are worth visiting.

I'm guessing it might be easier for me to get a liveaboard, as it will make daily travel easier.

Any help / advice would be much appreciated

caveseeker7

CA is a big state with quite a lot of milage along the coast. Where in CA will you be?

In the greater L.A. area SSA Montclair is your best bet. Rusty is the owner and guy to talk to about CCR diving. He can supply tanks, O2 and sorb. They also have a second store closer to the ocean in Woodland Hills, if you arrange it they'll have the supplies there. Mike 'h2ophotopro' runs his operation out of that shop. They also organize Rebreather trips on local boats, from 6-packs during the week to multiday liveaboard trips to the Channel Islands.


Matt Addison can also supply sorb and O2, you'll have to check regarding tanks. I know he uses 3 ltr alu tanks, if those fit your unit he should be able to supply some.

On Catalina Island Scuba LUV supports rebreather diving, tanks, O2 and sorb available.

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Cheers
Stefan



"Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority,
and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media,
which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.!"

chrismc

Cheers for the reply.

I will be working out of San Diego, for the week. Depending on whats on offer I could dive at the w/e either side or add another week on. Depending on cost I'm quite happy to travel accross California if its worth doing.

I'm on an inspiration, and would be more intrested in the wrecks and sharks if I could get it.

caveseeker7

Quite a bit of diving out of San Diego, but I'm not sure how much of it is on rebreathers, and what the supply situation is. They have a bunch of wrecks down there, and there are fairly regurlar trips to Guadaloupe Island in Mexico for Great White Shark diving. In a cage, of course, and not likely on Rebreather, but it should make for cool vacation pics. 'h2ophotopro' has done the trip afaik and probably can tell you who organizes it and how much it costs.

If that's to boring for you, a PRISM diving friend of mine, Scott Cassell, dives with Humboldt Squids in the Sea of Cortez, MX. He has several hundred dives with them, filming and being filmed with this rather large species (150 lbs+). He and his friend Dale now organize trips for other divers to experience it. Not cheap, but you'll be hanging on a steel rope (to prevent them from dragging you deep) amongst them during feeding/fishing time.

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__________________
Cheers
Stefan



"Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority,
and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media,
which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.!"

caveseeker7

Oh yeah, SSA Montclair has a website with trip schedule and contact info.
They are the largest APD/SDS retailer in the US.

Scuba Schools of America

So does Mike, with Great White shots: H2O Photo Pros
He dives an Evo.

ANDI's VP and West Cost rep Charlie Johnson is north of San Diego, he's a CCR diver and instructor and may be able to help with S.D. logistics. ANDI

__________________
Cheers
Stefan



"Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority,
and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media,
which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.!"

chrismc

cheers, I'll have a think about the options.

Quite tempted by the white shark diving. Squids would be intresting but out of my prce range.

Chris

h2ophotopro

Chris:

When are you coming out to Cali??? I just saw your post. Id love to go diving with you and show you around the great sites in Cali. I dive all over southern cali and know the San Diego wrecks quite well as I used to go down there once a month.

Let me know how I can be of help. As I work for both SSA stores as well, I can get it all set for you (sorb, O2, etc).

Let me know how I can help you.

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Mike Luzansky
H2O Photo Pros Underwater Photo & Video
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