Scuba Diving in San Francisco?

Question

I am going out to San Francisco for a week. I am a certified open water diver. I am looking for a place to dive. Does not matter if it is off a boat or from shore. It just has to be close to San Francisco or in San Francisco. I don't want the dive to cost to much, since I will have to rent tanks, BCD, and a wet suite. Phone numbers or web sites will help. Thanks

Answer 1

Go dive in Monterey. About a 2.5 hr drive from SF. The bay is extremely murky.

Answer 2

I live in S.F.I don't scuba dive but I have heard from people in the construction trade that the bay is a dirty dive.

A guy told me how poor the visibility was when he dived to check  something out.

Man! Tahoe is about as close as I can think of.But maybe someone who knows about those things will give you a better idea.

(Hey! When you get here,cross the GG Bridge and head up highway one.Take 101 down the hill.Don't I repeat do not go through Sausilito! head down to the Mill Valley exist,you will see a bunch of houseboats to your right.ease over to the extreme right hand lane and get off the freeway,go under the overpass and turn right follow the road around until you come to a fork in the road.There will be a surf shop to the right so you might want to stop in and ask some questions about the waters.If not bear to the left and follow the road.At a certain point you will be able to either go to Mt.Tam or down to Muir Beach.Either way you can't loose.It might make up for not being able to go diving!

Answer 3

Lookout!...the water is usually murky and it's "great white" country.

Answer 4

I would say you have to go either North or South.  

To the South, you've got Santa Cruz and Monterey.  Monterey is well known for its kelp diving.  You shouldn't have much trouble finding a dive shop there.  Plus, you can do a shore dive right there in town.  This is some distance to the South - 60 miles or so.  

To the North, you could head up to Sonoma county.  I really can't speak to diving there, having only done lifesaving training there.  But,  people do tend to do a lot of abalone diving in that area.  True, that is generally done by breath holding, but scuba should be possible.