Dive travel without booking a charter

[Ishan Saxena]

Hey guys,

I am a vacation diver and have been to several destinations around the North American continent. I've always wondered if there was an alternate way to go boat diving aside from a dive company/charter. I do know that in Hawaii for instance you can rent a dive boat yourself (Kona Hawaii Boat Rentals - Rent Your Own Boat and Snorkel and Scuba Dive. is one of them), and so the question is how do you find dive buddies. Is there an active community or forum where you find divers like yourself who are either locals or visiting the area and want to buddy up and dive without the cost of charter? Say you just rent your equipment and share the cost of boat, and then plan/prep/execute your dive yourself without a divemaster.

I would also like to understand the safety concerns in doing so and what would be the responsible way to handle them (higher training/experience requirement, personal liability waivers). Also are there any US laws prohibiting people from diving without certified divemaster?

I must say I have nothing against dive charters, and infact I have had nothing short of great experiences with each and every one of them so far. The only setback is the cost that can stack up pretty high for multiple days of diving, although it is worth it for the comfort of having someone do everything for me.

 

[runsongas]

if you are worried about cost, go where you can shore dive

boat diving will always cost more and you have to deal with the problem of who stays on the boat and doesn't go diving

 

[Damselfish]

There is no law in the US about diving without a divemaster. Are you looking strictly in the US, or other places? What destinations have you been to? Do you already know how to operate and navigate a boat?

It seems unlikely to me splitting the expenses of renting your own boat between 2 divers is going to come out cheaper than buying a spot on a charter? Or at least not enough to compensate for the downside. On a charter you usually don't have to worry about fuel/tanks/weights. And besides finding a buddy who wants to do this with you, you need to find a person to stay on the boat who knows how to operate the boat and what to do if there's a problem. (If you find a buddy willing to do this without someone on the boat, I'd have concerns with them...)

Looking for places with shore diving might be your answer, though you still have to deal with the buddy issue. You might be able to do that by asking about specific areas on here for locals who are up for it, or look for local clubs in the area you want to go and ask through those. You might get the benefit on someone who knows the local sites. There are usually people looking for buddies, though lining up buddies for a bunch of dives over multiple days in a row might be harder. (If it's local to them, they're likely diving on the weekends only or squeezing something in during the week.

If you are still renting gear, that is adding to the costs of your diving. It's possible to shop smart for used gear and put everything together for way less than new.

 

[Barnaby'sDad]

if you are worried about cost, go where you can shore dive

boat diving will always cost more and you have to deal with the problem of who stays on the boat and doesn't go diving

This. Availability of shore diving was a determining factor in deciding where I'm going for the second half of my trip to Florida next month.

Not only is it going to be cheaper to shore dive than boat dive...it's going to be MUCH easier to find a buddy for a shore dive than to find someone that wants to be a dive buddy AND split the cost of a boat rental.

 

[Johnoly]

... The only setback is the cost that can stack up pretty high for multiple days of diving...

Can be more expensive or cheaper if you have the support items. Like you already own dive flag, reel, VHF radio, GPS, cooler and then you bring waters, snacks and stuff. Since someone has to stay up top, you can dive 2 down, 2 up but both captains need to know how to drive, read the GPS, tell you bearing and distance from a waypoint, determine current so you know where lost divers will be, work the radio for emergency help and strong enough to pull gear out of the water (all times 2 captains). If you already have local knowledge to get out the inlet so you don't hit the sandbar, and sites picked out for drift or tie in's.

It can absolutely be cheaper with 4 divers splitting costs doing 4 drops a day and extremely productive if you are harvesting. We do it every week. Or it can be deadly and you'll be listed in Scubaboard's accident's section above to answer.