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| Our
Instruction and Local Diving Philosophy |
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Our Staff and Instructors are
divers that regularly dive and
primarily dive the Channel Islands.
We love diving and love sharing
that experience with others. But
we do take training very seriously.
We offer programs that are very
comprehensive and appropriate
for our local diving. California
diving can be one of the most
challenging, but with proper training
and experience California diving
can be easily mastered and California
offers some of the most beautiful
diving in the world.
Here we dive in water temperatures
that range from 48-70 degree Fahrenheit.
This means that appropriate wetsuits
are required. You will need at
least a 7mm fullsuit, you might
need to layer more wetsuits pieces
for warmth, or you might want
to try a drysuit. We can help
you decide what exposure protection
works best for you for the type
of diving that you are planning
on doing. Should you decide that
a drysuit is for you, we can also
provide you with instruction on
how to effectively dive in a drysuit.
We also have drysuit rentals,
so that you can try a drysuit
before you purchase one.
Visibility (how far you can see
underwater) can vary in our waters.
Beach dives off of the shore can
range from 5'-40'+ and dives at
the Channel Islands are usually
20'-100'+. To dive effectively in our waters, you will need some
navigation skills. We teach basic
navigation in our beginning classes
and we offer navigation specialties
to help you develop that skill.
It is very important to practice
navigation, so that you can minimize
swimming on the surface.
Scuba diving is not necessarily
a very physically demanding sport.
Scuba diving is like hiking. You
can go at your own pace. But a
reasonable amount of physical
health is necessary for diving
our California waters.
The equipment that we wear is
quite heavy, it usually weighs
around 75lbs, with the tank, weight
and the other equipment. Beach
diving requires a fair amount
of physical endurance to get you
and your equipment from your car
into the water and back after
the dive. Diving from a boat is
much easier, but still requires
some effort to get out of the
water and back on the boat.
A Scuba dive is usually around
30 minutes long underwater, where
additional demand can occur is
on the surface, you might encounter
some surface current and have
to swim against it back to the
boat or shore. The boats have
different skill ratings for their
trips and strive to minimize the
possibility of diving in current
on the beginning boats. But each
diver should have the physical
ability to swim on the surface
comfortably for a reasonable distance.
Like we said, California diving
can be one of the most challenging.
By making sure that you have effective
training and the skills necessary,
diving in California is some of
the most enjoyable and rewarding
diving in the world. | | |
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California's Channel Islands Scuba Diving |
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