Gilboa Quarry in January...Invitation!

[cornfed]

What is this crap? $50 is not peanuts. Especially if I have to drive five hours to get there.

Fifty bucks is a steal for an off shore trip but it's insane for a quarry. Would someone please tell me what is so special about Gilboa? Maybe I'm spoiled because I can get to Nags Head, NC in about five hours but why do people travel so long to go to Gilboa?

I don't understand why we have to rag on each other.

We are on-line, aren't we?

 

[diverbrian]

If it was $50.00 for a day, I would say that it is insane. I am now paid up until May. Figure $10.00/ day and I will be ahead of where I was last year for the winter.

Let me re-iterate... divers from where I live travel a minimum of three hours to do charters. Gilboa is roughly three and half hours from where I live. It also has a significant part of the quarry that is 120 ft. and cold. That is good practice for the wrecks that I dive. Most of the charters up here will not run after September because the weather on the Great Lakes is quite unpredictable this time of year. As well, many of the other quarries close in the winter due to the same problems that Mike experienced over the last couple of years. Also, that quarry is about the maximum distance that I will travel just to do a day's diving, so scratch most anything south of there for me.

I don't typically dive that quarry (or any quarry) in the summer. I am too busy shipwreck diving then and our LDS uses a lake about 2 hrs North of here for OW training in the summer. That lake is frozen over (like most local lakes) in the winter or just plain too cold for what little is in the lake.

But I don't want my first coldwater deep dive of the wreck season to be a wreck at ninety ft. (or deeper) in 46 degree water out in the middle of Thunder Bay with my equipment having set for three or four months and my deep, cold-water skills rusty.

BTW, as soon as I recover, I will have some pics posted. The weather was great and the people that showed up had a great time. We did three dives and the water was about 38-42 degrees. I hope to do it again soon.

 

[MikeFerrara]

If it was $50.00 for a day, I would say that it is insane. I am now paid up until May. Figure $10.00/ day and I will be ahead of where I was last year for the winter.

That's exactly what it may have been for me is $50 for one day of diving. Only it would have cost me $150 for a day because there are three of us. Next month is Tenesee and in March it's Florida so at most I would have been back once more but probably not. Certainly not all three of us would be diving though because my son is in a wet suit and only dives in the winter if we get some really nice weather (like today). If you're going to dive there a lot it wouldn't be a big deal but I wouldn't be.

Until this year when things got really bad with the shop I took almost all my classes there even though there are much closer places that are more economical to use. One winter my crew practically lived in the bunk house on the week ends. Make no mistake, those people were there because I chose Gilboa. They were there because I was there. Now we're not welcome unless we can pay for a pass that I won't be able to take advantage of.

Well ok then, It's nice to be appreciated.

 

[coldwaterdiver9]

From responses by Diverbrian and Mike F, it appears GIlboa will be losing money on this proposition. If there were no winter pass, Brian could be predicted to spend at least $60 for 5 days of diving instead of $50. Mike F. would be spending $36 assuming just one trip for his family. He may have had plans to bring a class at some point as well, but we won't count that. Gilboa just lost $46 on only 4 divers, and we haven't added in any fills.

Add in my group of at least 8 who will not be going next weekend ($96) and then the approximately 12-15 divers who will be making the St. Paddys Day dive elsewhere ($144+) and the rescue class I need to do in April for the local fire department (8 firemen, $96.)

This adds up to 4 trips for myself and probably my husband, so the $50 might look worthwhile to me. However - I don't pay the 2 days I have the rescue class, and if none of the others are diving at Gilboa on the other two days, I won't be, either. I will use the Indiana quarries for this training.

Total lost income just on my group, $382. In the big scheme of things, I have no idea if this is worth it to Mike Williams or not. I'm just sorry we may be losing an excellent winter dive site.

 

[diverbrian]

Only one small correction. Mike offered the season pass last year. He just didn't make people buy one to dive there.

The two instructors that I frequently dive with both had season passes as they were the ones that got me into deeper diving involving deco stops. This is one of the few places that they have to practice in the winter that involved a day trip so they practically live there in the winter as well. I am sure that they are thrilled that the price of the season pass decreased from what it was last year so that Mike could sell a few more of them.

Once June starts, I will be a stranger to the quarry until fall anyways. There are closer places to dive in the summer.

 

[snuggle]

glad you had a good time divebrian..sorry i couldnt make it..hey mike you say that people were there because you were there and that there were other places you could go to that were more economocal and closer..why didnt you?i dont think this has anything to do with being unwelcomed...as a(correct me if im wrong here)previous shop owner you would understand it has to do with making or losing money..the insurance he has to pay must be killing him...you have made your point why not just leave it alone ..you have made more post to this thread then anyone else about the pass..WE ALL KNOW YOU DONT LIKE IT AND WONT PAY IT..and thats ok..

 

[MikeFerrara]

glad you had a good time divebrian..sorry i couldnt make it..hey mike you say that people were there because you were there and that there were other places you could go to that were more economocal and closer..why didnt you?

Because I was voting with my business. In the past Mike has worked to meet the needs of divers and I attempted to reward that behavior with my business.

i dont think this has anything to do with being unwelcomed...

It has everything to do with being welcome. I and my students are no longer welcome unless we either dive there often or pay for diving that we don't do.

as a(correct me if im wrong here)previous shop owner you would understand it has to do with making or losing money..the insurance he has to pay must be killing him...

As a former shop owner I understand that diver would not put up with paying for things they didn't get. This is like telling people that to get an air fill they need to buy 50 fills up front so I could afford to keep a compressor or refusing to let a diver in a class unless they baught three classes or asking divers to pay X for equipment whether they needed it yet or not so I could meet my anual minimum orders. The fact is that only a small portion of the population dives. A smaller portion dive locally and a really small portion dive locally in the winter. Many people work in seasonal businesses.

Mike seems to be punishing the divers who want to dive in the winter rather than charging every one what he needs to in order to make it profitable given his yearly costs.

you have made your point why not just leave it alone ..you have made more post to this thread then anyone else about the pass..WE ALL KNOW YOU DONT LIKE IT AND WONT PAY IT..and thats ok..

Clearly I don't leave it alone because the situation is of interst to me. As far as I know there aren't any rules here restricting the number of posts a member can make to a thread. Within the TOS, I'll post or respond to posts as I see fit or entertaining or just cuz I feel like it. You, of course, are free to read or not read my posts.

 

[snuggle]

you sure make a lot of fuss over 50 dollars..like i said earlier if you dont want to dive during the winter then this doesnt apply to you..but for some who do want to and will dive there over the winter 50 is cheap.you sound pretty bitter that you lost your business and im sorry that you did..but dont take it out on someone else who is trying to keep his going..he cant please everyone thats for sure..no one can..how this will effect his business time will tell..im not knocking you for not wanting to pay but dont tell others that will pay it that its wrong either..it everyones choice as to what they want to do..get over it mike and move on..enough said already..

 

[diverbrian]

Mike seems to be punishing the divers who want to dive in the winter rather than charging every one what he needs to in order to make it profitable given his yearly costs.

I agree that Mike may be in a seasonal business. That is what a lot of this is about. The point was with the business that he was doing in the winter the last couple of years, I got the impression that he would have been further ahead to shut down the quarry over the winter and just operate in the summer when he is busy. Mike is trying something different to avoid doing that. If he were to shut down in the winter, he wouldn't have to pay the heating costs or staff for a time of year when he likely has a couple of divers at the quarry at any given time. That may be his solution to the issue next year.

Another option that came up was to shut down the quarry during the week over the winter. The thing is that some people (like me) prefer to take a day off occassionally on a Friday and beat the crowd. The group that I dive with winds up assisting with/conducting pool classes during the weekends in the winter months.

Whatever happens, I feel assured that Mike is trying to do what is fair to everyone.

 

[MikeFerrara]

you sure make a lot of fuss over 50 dollars..like i said earlier if you dont want to dive during the winter then this doesnt apply to you..but for some who do want to and will dive there over the winter 50 is cheap.you sound pretty bitter that you lost your business and im sorry that you did..but dont take it out on someone else who is trying to keep his going..he cant please everyone thats for sure..no one can..how this will effect his business time will tell..im not knocking you for not wanting to pay but dont tell others that will pay it that its wrong either..it everyones choice as to what they want to do..get over it mike and move on..enough said already..

Listen up. I'll try to go slow for you.

It has nothing to do with my business. My business wasn't lost. I'm not taking anything out on any one. Again for the denser among us...I only mentioned my business to illustrate my understanding of his problem and that I have been a loyal customer of his from the moment he showed up.

I do dive in the winter. In fact I dive more in the winter than I do in the summer.

Where do you get this crap that I don't want to pay? I've always paid him for everything. I just don't want to pay for thing I'm not going to get.

I didn't tell any one else what to do. Why do you keep making up things and claiming that I said them?

Who do you think you are to tell me to get over it or to do anything else?

And please, PM some one else with your BS