Dive masters work for TIPS!

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I always tip unless the DM goes out of there way to piss me off. $5 a dive is normal, and isn't gonna hurt even my meager wallet in comparison to charter pricing. Another $10, what the hell?

I don't want them turning my air on, carrying my tanks, or whatever. If they are there to take my fins? Cool, it keeps me from having to chunk them over the gunwall myself. If they cook me hotdogs in between dives, God bless em, I'm a hungry mofo and they get paid if I eat.

I've never had a DM fiddle with my **** if I make it clear that I don't want it fiddled with... and they get paid for that. Sue me

 

[paulwall]

That's great if we are saying the same thing, but I am more interested in trying to understand this whole business. How did this all get started? How did dive operators get DMs to work for only tips? What are DMs getting out of the deal (other the possibility of a tip)? Are they really willing to do all that work just for a 'free' boat ride?

I don't know for certain, but here's a guess.

Between fuel, storage, maintenance, insurance, certification, safety fees, etc., a charter boat is a big money-sucking vortex. The captain has cut his charter fees to the bone in order to not scare off potential clients. Add in the "haircut" the dive shop may or may not take off for booking clients on the boat, and the captain may not find it very profitable (it is a business, after all) to run certain trips, much less pay someone to do all of the miscellaneous chores required to undock, moor, retrieve, track all the divers, assist in retrieving divers, etc.

Not to mention, if the deckhand gets paid by the captain, then he becomes an "employee", albeit part-time, of the business, subject to the accounting, tax, insurance and liability of the company. I've been on charters where the dive shop sent one of their DM's on the DS's dime to ride the boat (the boat was an independent).

So, the "solution" may be for the captain to raise charter fees 50% or more to pay all of those additional costs associated with the employee:shakehead . Or, a diver can shell out $5/tank and make it worthwhile for someone to come help the captain out. After all, if it's only the captain and a boat full of 6-10 divers of varied experience, I'd venture to say that trip would be cancelled, I wouldn't want the headache.:no

I was just checking charter fees in So. Padre Island. Minimum $125 for a day of diving:11: .Makes those $55-$65 Florida charters look really promising.

 

[Reefraff2]

Thanks Walter, I thought that was the law and standard practice.

 

[Cacia]

How did dive operators get DMs to work for only tips?

Oh...and there are always scuba groupies that just flew in from fly over country who are happy to do the job for free, for a while, and then they move on and somebody else shows up. The operators don't need to pay. Enough people think it is great for a time and are willing to do it, and don't have families, or have a "real job" and just want to dive.