[BatRay]

Hey Sara you are quite welcome! Let me know and we can meet up. I too am considering DEMA. Freshwater diving is a different type of experience.

There are GWS in California waters. Many attacks are north of Catalina, in an area called the Blood Triangle, which goes from about Santa Cruz to Bodega Bay to the Farallon Islands. I once saw a seal washed up on a beach that had had its head bitten off, and the neat crescent looked like a shark attack. That was at Marina Beach, where a shark attack happened relatively recently. I've been diving several times off a beach just a few miles south of there.