Your most expensive dive

[OceanEyes]

we were run out of FLL by Hurricane Wilma, and over a week, spent one day in the pool.

After a period of time, 8 of us (the 6 students, instructor, and instructor girlfriend) flew to Cozumel to complete the dives. This required flying with a booster which was left in Coz, and buying helium in Cozumel in 2002, an extremely expensive proposition.

Maybe you purchased old or discounted helium. You paid the 2002 price, but didn't Hurricane Wilma pay her visit in 2005? I can't recall the price difference between those two years, but felt like nit-picking. In any event, a bummer of a story that grows only marginally more amusing as the years pass. In any case, your tale and 100 days a year's rank any of mine as far as finance goes. I have however lost a pair of friends and they are priceless.

 

[Wookie]

Maybe you purchased old or discounted helium. You paid the 2002 price, but didn't Hurricane Wilma pay her visit in 2005? I can't recall the price difference between those two years, but felt like nit-picking. In any event, a bummer of a story that grows only marginally more amusing as the years pass. In any case, your tale and 100 days a year's rank any of mine as far as finance goes. I have however lost a pair of friends and they are priceless.

Good call on the year. I guess I could have looked at that expensive card, but the story was the thing. But you are 100%, it was 2005, the Cozumel part happened in 2006.

 

[Belzelbub]

My most expensive dive ended up being over $10K. While the majority of the costs were incurred after the dive, they were all related to the dive.

It started as a relatively mild couple of spearfishing dives off of my boat. The dives were problem free, and fairly shallow. I came back with a few fish for dinner. Nothing spectacular, but enough for dinner.

Returning to the ramp was the first trouble. I was within a couple hundred yards of the ramp when my starboard engine died. No worries, I just continued to the ramp with one engine. At home, I still couldn’t get the engine started, so it went to the mechanic. Turns out, it was a broken piston and damaged cylinder. Needed a new power head. That was about $5K.

After cleaning the boat, my wife was filleting the fish. Flies were starting to come in. I shooed one away with my hand. At the same time, my wife also shooed the same fly, though I think she wanted to make sure it never came back as she used the filet knife. That knife was kept razor sharp. I am confident it would have bisected the fly had my hand not been in the way. A millimeter away from cutting my tendon, but it did get an artery. Insurance covered most of it, but the total bill was over $5K.

 

[Doc Harry]

10-day luxury liveaboard on the Great Barrier Reef (USD $5,500), plus airfare, hotels, dining, etc.

$9,000 total expenses for 25 dives = $360 per dive

 

[Jay Adams]

Lost dive weights on a dive, a gopro on another... that was costly. Diving is expensive so is gear.

 

[RyanT]

@Belzelbub, yikes! Lots of people subscribe to the mantra that "a bad day diving is better than a good day at the office." I think you can firmly put that myth to rest!

 

[emoreira]

Lost dive weights on a dive, a gopro on another... that was costly. Diving is expensive so is gear.

I've flooded an INTOVA Sport HD camera in a deep wreck dive. I'm not sure why it flooded as I closed it with the o-ring correctly installed, but the sea water fried it instantly. Also that dive was expensive, not only because I lost that camera, but also because it was a wonderful dive and the dive guide (we were diving only the guide and I) was busy taking photos, many of me, so I decided to buy the whole set of pics, which was also expensive, but it deserved the expense !

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

we were ran over by a freighter losing the boat, all gear and a business

Did you get the license plate number, at least?

 

[David Novo]

Princess Alice Bank (45 nautical miles from the nearest island in the Azores), this Summer: 275 euros for one dive (after which i got terribly sea sick as the sea was rough, so skipped the second), plus a flooded Olympus TG-5. North of 600 USD in total.

At least there was a Whale Shark, as well as several chilean devil rays, schools of barracuda, grey triggerfish and great amberjack.

 

[GameChanger]

If it involves cocaine and hookers, does it count??