Posted by brianc on March 23, 2001 at 08:56:16:
In Reply to: pay more for a dive boat? posted by mdfixitman on March 23, 2001 at 07:59:36:
In S. Florida, the average two tank dive costs $40-45. Divers are provided with water (not always) and sometimes a jar of pretzels or hard candy is available. It's common for captains to strictly limit dive times to 45 min. even though its easier to go longer on shallow warm water dives. During the summer, a local really needs to know the boats and captains to find a ride that's not geared towards the needs of an OW class or a cattle boat full of once a year dive tourists who the crew wants you to buddy with (babysit).
Boats cost more here as we all know. Fuel also costs more though. The level of service, crew skill, and amenities is worlds above the typical warm-water tourist boat. I'm more than willing to pay the extra fee. Into that equation though needs to be added the fact that there are far fewer dive boats here and for those of us not in Monterey or on the SoCal coast the time and expense of hours-long travel, motels, etc. have to be added to the cost of dive trips. In Florida, I drove 15 min. to the boat and rode another 15-20 min to the dive site. I dove every Wednesday night, Saturday and Sunday weather allowing. In CA it costs me about the same or more to do one two-tank boat trip.
I'm just a biologist helping to make our environment and food safer (with very significant reductions and increases in yields in over 50 countries to date). I don't earn the big bucks that people who do things our society really values, like helping rich folk get richer. So, I am very thankful for things like "blue-collar" $400 multi-day trips and day trips kept as reasonable as possible. I honestly fear that the addition of high-priced luxery trips will come at the cost of less trips geared towards a reasonable price range.
Wow...
That unexpectedly turned into a rant. Guess it's been a tougher week than I thought...
Oh well, cooperators/clients at UC, Chile, Canada, Florida, Australia, Austria, and Italy all expect to hear back by today, so I guess this break is over.