recommend a local DIVE SHOP for OWC certification

Hey man. You probably won't get too much of a reply here as this is a freediving site. You'd probably get more feedback from a site like spearfishing planet.

Good luck

Around the spearfishing community, Beach Cities doesn't have too great of a reputation. Around the SCUBA guys, it has a better rep I am sure. Sport Chalet guys have always been super cool and helpful to me, so I'd recommend there, albeit I'm not SCUBA certified and don't know the extent of their knowledge in the SCUBA circle. I'm getting my SCUBA cert this summer, since my buddy will be a certified instructor, so I don't plan on spending any money at either store.

This place has the best chicks out in front.:D;)

Cheers, Don

[QUOTE=deadmanh; is the OWC only for scuba? Won't it help with freediving at all?

Hey, if there's a class for freediving let me know, and I'll go for that.[/QUOTE]

Do you surf or swim ? How old are you ?

Cheers, Don

Quote from deadmanh

28 years, can't surf, can swim (prolly not as good as you guys)

I just didn't want to give freedive advice to a 12 year old.:D and have his dad want to kick my ass.

I would become a skindiver for a year before I thought of tanks, the OC speros has guys at all different levels
of diving.

Cheers, Don

That's why it's called free diving

i hope you understood my answer was not trying to insult or discourage you, just pointing you t owhere you'd get a better answer.

to my knowledge OWC is a level of scuba training. there is no certification for freediving but there are instructional classes.

to learn the ocean i would say go snorkelling with some buddies and bring a camera...try to get as close to fish as you can for good shots and then you can learn the fish ID and sizing while in the water...as a plus , hunting with a camera translates directly to hunting with a gun or spear.

I can't recommend a particular shop down in So Cal since I'm from the Sacramento area. I did however get my open water cert back in 2002 before I started hunting and freediving. I also took the Nitrox class a couple years later, but open water is about all you really need if you think you'll enjoy blowing bubbles. The rest of the classes like advanced o.w. and u.w. hunting are kind of b.s., and those things will come naturally with more experience (and for free). If you just want to be in the ocean for the seafood bonus, I'd recommend getting a good open-cell wetsuit, a low voulme mask and j-snorkel, some decent longblade fins, and just skipping the scuba certification all together (unless you just like spending money).

I haven't had a tank on my back in over 3 years, and I don't really miss it. It tends to be more restrictive with all the equipment you have to wear, and the anual maintainance gets to be a bit spendy once you own all that gear. I went to my shop last year to have the wife's and my regulator and b.c. inflator serviced and they wanted almost $400. Screw that, I'd rather get a nice new speargun for that price. Also, some fish tend to be a little spooky around all that bubble noise that scuba makes in the water, so getting close enough to shoot them can be next to impossible. Shore access in California can also be a bit more difficult with all that scuba shit. Up in Nor Cal we often times have to scramble down sketchy little trails or rapell down ropes to get to the good hunting grounds, and full scuba gear makes that absolutely impossible. Once you get down the cliff and swim around in the ocean for a couple hours, you still have to drag all that gear AND your dead fish back up the hill to the car, and you're usually pretty cold and exhausted by then.

Freediving is just better for hunting and you'll learn better form and technique by starting there, than by flopping around in the water with a tank on your back.

Freediving course: http://www.freedivinginstructors.com

If you wanna learn about species of fish, regulations, spearfishing techniques, gear rigging, etc... your best bet is to use the search function in the various spearfishing forums and google. There's a ton of great info out there. Read it all. Most importantly, learn the take and size limits for the species of fish you will be hunting.

Not really any good spearfishing specific shops around OC. All the good ones are in SD or LA County. If you really want to get your gear dialed in and have someone show you whats up, visit Harry at "Freedive N Spear" in Hermosa Beach. He will get you setup with everything you need. It's worth the trip.

Freedive N Spear
950 Aviation Blvd., #B
Hermosa Beach, CA
90254
(310)374-7333
http://www.freedivenspear.com

Quote from deadmanh

Anyhow, I need an OWC, and then I'm thinking about Night Diving classes and "Underwater Hunter and Collector" PLUS I'm going to need gear: custom sized wetsuit (Short and Stubby), fins, speargun a bit later.
PS OWC is for SCUBA or Freediving or both??? (I'm interested in both)

SO.... I live in Huntington Beach, but am willing to travel a bit (prolly 45 mins) to get a cheaper/ better class and dive shop. Sport Chalet costs $550 including boat to Catalina, Beach City Scuba has classes for $400 with beach dives, (which I'm ok with I think, unless you say otherwise.).... There are so many options and I need some options but I need to get an idea of where the experienced divers and spearos are pointing me to go.

Like was mentioned earlier you don't need any bs classes after the OWC, you'll pick that stuff up later from dive buddies. What you want for OWC is a dive shop that does local trips since a Catalina scuba cattleboat for a class sucks ass. You're basically on a boat for 4+ hours of riding time and you get to do nothing, imagine having spend 4 hours of driving to get chaperoned at a kiddie pool. All it does is raise the price tag. Your best bet is to hit up an OC Divers meeting and get some buddies to start freediving, you can find used gear online or through dive clubs for pretty cheap too.

That said, if you're getting OWC for anything even remotely related to spearfishing you're wasting your time, you're going to get zero decent local fish on scuba so ti's just money down the drain. Bug diving's a different story, but that season's almost over.

I would put the SCUBA on the back burner. Get comfortable snorkeling in the ocean, learn some spots and meet some people. If you still want to scuba after a year or so then make the investment.

Mike

Also,
Go check out the Dive n Surf Yardsale in Redondo Beach. Tons of gear and people to BS with.

Mike