I should have said three tank dives, like going to Little Cayman or the Bluff with three tanks.
3-tankers to LC used to be done many years ago, but with the advent of more resorts on Little Cayman in the mid-1990s, the increased competition for moorings on Little Cayman resulted in utilization rules that resulted in the effective abolishment of the opportunity. Technically, it could still be done during the off season, but then customers would want the same thing during the peak season.
(gas & wear = $) makes sense, but this is a diving vacation....as in pre-paid diving and I didn't like it that we wasted 2 dives at the dive site Atlantis...I guess if you went with a group big enough to fill one boat then you might easily attain the request of the other divers to make another trip to Little Cayman or the Bluff, but when you go with just two people and there are newbies on board that have little expeience with diving, they aren't going to want to spend a few extra bucks.
The essence of the problem is effectively of how to keep everything "fair" when one person can veto a second trip, and this issue becomes accentuated during the slow season when there's just a few boats running, so the person who doesn't want to go can't easily jump ship.
In similar situations (eg: Divi), if they had but a "single" not interested, they would sometimes waive the payment of the upgrade free for that individual. While this can be abused, it is a fair deal particularly when the accomodation allows the Dive Op from running two boats (local & LC) because of they're able to combine to just one (LC). Unfortunately, with the higher fuel costs, it has become much more common to have one full boat rather than two half-full ones.
Personally, having been to the Brac & LC a lot, I generally "accept" additional LC trips when the other customers on the boat are interested in going...I don't want to ruin them from having a good time. However, I would appreciate it if I didn't get charged full freight for every single time that I concede.
I asked for particular dive sites like "Son of Rock Monster", "East Chute", "School Bus wall" and "Strawberry Wall"....we visited exactly "0" of those! So "just asking" isn't how we were treated.
Hmm. Its hard to say for sure without knowing more, but I can see a few possible explanations. One is that all (except East Chute) can be considered more Advanced dives, so if there were a few weak customers onboard during your particular week, these may have gotten quietly passed by...particularly since you also mentioned going to Atlantis twice in one week. Or, all (except Rock Monster) are Northside, and the weather for this time of year tends to shift to allow southside walls, which have been unavailable all summer, so it could be weather, or simply that the staff was interested in seeing the southside for a change of pace. Finally, Rock Monster is far enough up-island that it is a traditional area for a Bluff Run, so it could have been nixed either on cost or weather. As I said, its hard to pin down exactly why certain things occur.
I love the Brac and am dissapointed that there are only a couple ops to choose from and only one dive resort.
Unfortunately, the situation's unlikely to change until airlift is improved, because it is strangling the island's tourism development opportunities.
-hh
