April 2025 General Meeting Presentation: Forecasting Dive Conditions with Randall Spangler
David Sheh | Published on 2/13/2025
Curious to know what the visibility will be like or amount of swell to expect? Randall Spangler will be joining us for a discussion on using wave models, buoy readings, webcams and other techniques to assess conditions in Monterey and Carmel prior to heading out on a dive. Randall regularly leads guided dives in the area and has functioned as an admin for the Monterey County Dive Reports group for a number of years, sparing many futile hours in traffic to the peninsula when the ocean's mood shifts against us.
Randall Spangler
Hi! My name is Randall Spangler, and I've discovered my mid-life crisis career: scuba diving. I dive almost every weekend, whether I'm teaching a class, leading a guided dive, or just for fun.
I've been diving since 2012. Or more than 1100 dives, depending on how you want to count it. I live in San Jose, California, and do most of my diving in Monterey. I also take several dives trips a year to places like Hawaii, Roatan, Thailand, and the Channel Islands off of southern California.
I've been a photographer for more than 30 years, so when I started diving, it was natural to do underwater photography too. And then I had a problem: I needed to know what I'd been taking pictures of. So I bought some books. And I found some scuba websites. After I'd taken my first 10,000 pictures underwater, I realized I'd identified hundreds of species, and it would be easier to keep track of them if I just built my own website.
Me teaching scubaI became a PADI Open Water Instructor so that I could share my love of diving with friends and family (who, otherwise, would simply have to listen to me talking endlessly about scuba and marine life without getting to experience it for themselves). In the years since then, I've added over a dozen specialty certifications to the classes I can teach. I'm now a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer and IDC Staff Instructor (#344766).
I also teach first aid and safety courses, since I believe the best way to avoid problems while scuba diving is to be prepared for them. In addition to teaching, I enjoy leading guided dives to show others about the phenomenal marine ecosystem we have in Monterey.
Contact me at scuba@spanglers.com. Or follow me on Facebook or Instagram; I post scuba pictures almost every day.
Special thanks to Derek for setting us up with Randall!