San Diego Shops and Locations

Can anyone recommend a good shop in the San Diego area? I will be travelling
there for work in May and would like to get a few dives in. I have read lots
of sites about the great diving in the area, but would like somehonest
opinions on the shops.

Also, I haven't seen any information on water temperatures in the area for
May. Anyone have any rough ideas? Trying to decide what suit to bring.

Thanks,
Chris

"Chris London" <cklondon@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:ntpYb.98458$IF6.2823633@ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca...

> Also, I haven't seen any information on water temperatures in the
> area for May. Anyone have any rough ideas? Trying to decide
> what suit to bring.

Expect temperature at depth (wrecks, underwater canyon) between 55 and 58
degrees F and surface temperature between 59 and 62 degrees F. A 7 mm
one-piece wetsuit with hooded vest works well for many. A drysuit is nice
but not required.

More info on San Diego diving, including dive reports, at www.divebums.com

On Tue, 17 Feb 2004 14:23:15 GMT, "Chris London"
<cklondon@hotmail.com> wrote:

>Can anyone recommend a good shop in the San Diego area? I will be travelling
>there for work in May and would like to get a few dives in. I have read lots
>of sites about the great diving in the area, but would like somehonest
>opinions on the shops.
>
>Also, I haven't seen any information on water temperatures in the area for
>May. Anyone have any rough ideas? Trying to decide what suit to bring.
>


e-shark's suggestion for the divebums website is the best single
source of diving information about San Diego.

As for shops, I'm not sure what you're asking about. For shore diving,
you're on your own except for renting gear, and I can't think of any
shop I'd suggest avoiding for that purpose. As much as I hate them,
Sports Chalet is probably a reasonable place to rent just because
they're big, they've got lots of rental inventory, and they're open
late.

Boat diving is especially popular in San Diego because of the very
short travel times between the dock and the dive sites (almost all are
less than 30 minutes, except for the Coronado Islands). Most of the
charter fleets are running a weekend only schedule through Memorial
Day, so getting out during the week can be a challenge. Call ahead and
see what's available. My favorite boat is the Lois Ann, followed by
Blue Escape/Blue Explorer. However, all the boats do a good job of
helping the out of town diver get the most out of the dive trip. All
of them also have rental gear.

Alan