In Reply to: Re: Why the high costs of dive boats? posted by Mark on May 23, 2008 at 09:27:51:

Both the boats and the shops are trying to make a profit, so of course if a shop is involved the cost is going to be higher. Some shops charge more than others for the exact same trip because they think they can get the customers. If they are wrong, they lose. The exact same trip on the Bottom Scratcher to Catalina costs $119 from Pacific Wilderness and $149 from Beach Cities. I don’t know why anyone would choose to pay the higher price unless they can’t make the Pac Wild dates or they just know and like the people on Beach Cities charters better. Maybe because of the higher price the Beach Cities charters are less crowded, although they are not advertised as limited load trips.