In Reply to: Why the high costs of dive boats? posted by Mark on May 22, 2008 at 19:10:20:

If all the divers of Southern California flocked to open boats, there would be no place for the shops with their premium rates.

However, the boats by and large can't fill their schedules with open boats. They're happy to work with shops because the shops bring in their clienteles who otherwise wouldn't be on the boats.

The situation probably reflects the fact that many divers form bonds with the shops they trained with, and continue to dive with them.

I almost always find the crowd on open boats more to my taste than shop trips -- fewer students (at least usually), less of an in-clique among the shop's regulars, etc, etc.