Mo2vation Boat dives for 2006

[headhunter]

I heard back from The Great Escape.

They are also referring us to the dive shops that have already chartered the boat.

This inability to work with some boats directly may narrow our choices, which is not all together a bad thing, in my opinion.

If we come up with an area in which none of the boats will work with us directly, then I'll approach the diveshops for that area. Hopefully, this will not be the case and we'll be able to come up with a complete 2006 schedule by the end of this year.

Christian

edit: In re-reading my post, I see that I may have mistakenly given the impression that The Great Escape was not willing to work with us directly. Actually, all of the dates for 2006 are already taken which means that we would be working with the dive shops that have chartered the boat for those dates instead of directly with the boat.

 

[Rickster]

You would think the boats would let us reserve a day. The board is going to generate a conciderable amount of divers for the day.

You should be ok with Peace here in Ventura, as they have the boat and a dive store.

Rick

 

[headhunter]

I got a very nice reply from the Pacific Star.

The good news is that they are willing to work with us and I'm in the process of working through the numbers with them.

The bad news is that they are already booked for most of the 2006 calendar year, so the only date we have to work with is March 25th. I'll be getting more info from each of the boats that we want to work with on when we should consider making arrangements for the 2007 calendar year.

On a related note, I've come up with what might be an optimal rotating schedule for a year. This stems from a previous discussion here and also on discussions that I've had with many of you in person. It is based on the number of members in each area as reflected on the SoCal Roll Call and how close they are to either San Diego, Los Angeles or Ventura. We may have to change this dramatically for 2006 based on the available dates for boats in each area. However, I'm also thinking about 2007 here. Also, keep in mind that if the balance of numbers in each area changed dramatically in the future that this rotating schedule would change to reflect that for the following year.

January - Los Angeles
February - San Diego
March - Los Angeles
April - Ventura
May - Los Angeles
June - San Diego
July - Los Angeles
August - Ventura
September - Los Angeles
October - San Diego

As always, all of this is up to all of you and I'm just trying to help the process along by suggesting logical choices.

If you think this would be a good idea or you have any ideas on something that you feel would work better, then share those thoughts with us in this thread.

Thanks.

Christian

 

[wetrat]

Christian - that schedule looks great to me. Thank you for all your hard work!!

John

 

[headhunter]

On Mar 25th the boat is going for a 3 dive day to locations on the front side of Catalina. Air fills, food and beverages are included and Nitrox is extra at $12 per fill.

We could designate this as the boat for our March Los Angeles area Mo2vation Dive.

Here is the pricing:

$105 ea. = 0 - 9 people
$95 ea. = 10 - 14 people
$90 ea. = 15 - 19 people
$85 ea. = 20 - 24 people
$80 ea. = 25 - 28 people

In my opinion, this is a very fair and generous deal.

Since this is the only date on which we'll be able to use this boat in 2006 and because most of the people that I've heard from in person have said that they would like to try the Pacific Star in 2006 for a Mo2vation Boat Dive, I propose that we take this deal and confirm this with the Pacific Star while we are waiting for other boats to respond to my inquiries.

Please let me know what you think about that in this thread. I don't see the need for a poll to make a decision, but let me know if you would rather use a poll.

Christian

 

[TeqP]

I like the idea and would be up for going out on the Pacific Star. The boat and crew were great the last time I went out with them. Put me down for a spot on the boat. Thanks for the work, Christian.

 

[headhunter]

I'm trying to come up with a way of making this easier given that I am not getting replies from some of the boats.

I've gone through the online calendars for each boat and tried to determine which boats are available on each date.

I think we are too late to use the rotating schedule that I proposed for 2006. So, for 2006 we're probably going to need to mix the locations up a bit based on the boats that are available. In some cases this may appear strange, because we won't be rotating through the geographic regions in a logical order. However, the end result for a year should be the same.

I'll find out when each boat starts to book for the 2007 calendar year so our schedule can more sense that year.

Please keep in mind that this is all contingent on establishing contact with those people who run the boats.

I've listed all of the boats that seem to be available on each date and then used green to designate the boat that seems to make the most sense to use for that date. Obviously, I'm choosing these in a unilateral fashion, but I want to hear from all of you about any changes you might want to make.

On the following dates these boats appear to be available.

January 28 - Ventura - Peace (Anacapa), Spectre (Anacapa), Cee Ray, Sundiver (Local Wreck Dive), Dn'DII (7am-Ruby E & Kelp; 1pm-Yukon)

February 25 - Ventura - Spectre (Anacapa), Cee Ray, Sundiver (1/2 boat to Catalina), Lois Ann, Dn'DII (7am-Yukon; 1pm-Kelp)

March 25 - Los Angeles - Pacific Star, Sundiver, Lois Ann, Dn'DII (7am-Kelp; 1pm-Ruby E & Kelp)

April 22 - Los Angeles - Cee Ray, Sundiver, Dn'DII (7am-Kelp; 1pm-Ruby E & Kelp)

May 27 - San Diego - Sundiver, Dn'DII (7am-Kelp; 1pm-Ruby E & Kelp)

June 24 - Los Angeles - Sundiver, Lois Ann, Dn'DII (7am-Kelp; 1pm-Ruby E & Kelp)

July 22 - San Diego - Sundiver, Lois Ann, Dn'DII (7am-Kelp; 1pm-Ruby E & Kelp)

August 26 - Los Angeles - Sundiver, Dn'DII (7am-Kelp; 1pm-Ruby E & Kelp)

September 23 - San Diego - Sundiver, Lois Ann, Dn'DII (7am-Kelp; 1pm-Ruby E & Kelp)

October 28 - Los Angeles - Sundiver, Dn'DII (7am-Kelp; 1pm-Ruby E & Kelp)

NOTES:

• The Spectre's calendar was not visible beyond March 2006
• The Magician's calendar says "closed" as of October 2005 and I have heard that Jerry Lewis is selling the boat.
• The Sundiver is just now starting to book the 2006 Calendar year, however, other boats booked the year in October.
• There was no visible calendar online to determine availability for Dive Bliss.
• There was no visible calendar online to determine availability for Ocean Express (DCI to the Coronados)

Please share your ideas on this.

Christian

 

[Taxgeek]

This looks great Christian! I would put in a vote for maybe one trip on one of the Truth boats - the chance to get to San Miguel would be great.

 

[Frank O]

Looks like some good research there, Christian! If any Coronados trips come through, that'd sweeten the pot for me. Santa Barbara Island would also be a very fun trip if that worked for any boat.

 

[HBDiveGirl]

This sounds really good, Christian, and I'd like to go.

Thanks for aligning all the open boat schedules for monthly boat dives. Great idea, and the boat rotation looks like fun. Maybe we could get more, like, actual "diving" happening rather than standing forlornly on shore looking out into horrid winter conditions. (...not being in the PHD league of last year's tsunami divers, I remember lots of standing and looking forlorn. Amused, but forlorn....)

Boat sched looks good. Thanks!
Claudette