Occidental Pier Fee

[DandyDon]

For my profiles and dive times my computer is screaming mid way through the second dive on air (and an AL80).

I suspect that you are diving one of the extra conservative brands that gives less time than Padi tables?

 

[cicopo]

My comment about diving your air or a schedule relates more to whether an op makes everyone go up when the first diver hits the magic number dictated by policy (700 or 500 PSI or so) or allowing the other divers to keep exploring until they get low. One op I dove with many years ago used that policy plus an overly deep first dive so that a 2 tank trip ended at about the same time many ops end their first dive. This allowed the same boat & crew to make more dive trips per day.

 

[Manatee Diver]

When I was in Cancun I did two dives on Cozumel with Pro Dive. With three boats they were able to distribute the load quite well, if I remember correctly there were 10 divers on my boat, with 2 guides. We splashed first on both dives. But they weren't too far behind in fact we picked two of them up. It didn't feel crowded to me.

Dive times were 33 minutes with a maximum depth of 89 feet and an average depth of 50ft. Followed by 1 hour surface interval on the boat. With a second dive time of 45 minutes with a maximum depth of 62ft, and an average depth of 41ft. Since Nitrox was included everyone was diving EAN32.

I felt that I got my money's worth enough that for my trip in March I booked with them at the Allegro.

 

[Christi]

Glad the nitrox was "included" for those dives because really not needed for those profiles.

 

[flyboy08]

Glad the nitrox was "included" for those dives because really not needed for those profiles.

3-4 dives a day for 6-7 days and a possible night dive and you say Nitrox is not needed? OK.

My shortest dive with Pro looking back at the past 64 dives with them was 53 minutes.

 

[Dave Dillehay]

When looking at costs, do you just consider the cost per tank, or the cost per hour of diving and dive site location? There is a big difference.

Dave Dillehay

 

[Manatee Diver]

Glad the nitrox was "included" for those dives because really not needed for those profiles.

I disagree, it wouldn't take much depth to push the second dive beyond no stop limits. I did a similar dives to those except the first was on EAN32 and the second was on air, and I ended up fighting against my no stop limit before being pushed into deco because I didn't ascend fast enough. And as mentioned by Flyboy extend that out to 4 dives a day plus the occasional night dive over a week of diving.

Now if it wasn't included, yeah I would probably weigh the cost to benefit ratio, which is something I do all the time at home. But since I want to do 4 dives a day, I would probably select nitrox even if it was an extra cost. And the availability of nitrox is one of the criteria for dive shops for my Okinawa trip, even if I can only see myself using it on one of the dive trips.

 

[Christi]

3-4 dives a day for 6-7 days and a possible night dive and you say Nitrox is not needed? OK.

My shortest dive with Pro looking back at the past 64 dives with them was 53 minutes.

Flyboy - I was referring to this post - based on the TWO dives given - not yours

When I was in Cancun I did two dives on Cozumel with Pro Dive. With three boats they were able to distribute the load quite well, if I remember correctly there were 10 divers on my boat, with 2 guides. We splashed first on both dives. But they weren't too far behind in fact we picked two of them up. It didn't feel crowded to me.

Dive times were 33 minutes with a maximum depth of 89 feet and an average depth of 50ft. Followed by 1 hour surface interval on the boat. With a second dive time of 45 minutes with a maximum depth of 62ft, and an average depth of 41ft. Since Nitrox was included everyone was diving EAN32.

I felt that I got my money's worth enough that for my trip in March I booked with them at the Allegro.

 

[Manatee Diver]

Flyboy - I was referring to this post - based on the TWO dives given - not yours

I was mostly just reporting the fact that it didn't feel like a cattle boat to me. Nitrox was mentioned more in passing.

Personally I don't get involved in most of the debates online anymore, I just report my experiences, and ask questions.

 

[Charles2]

Glad the nitrox was "included" for those dives because really not needed for those profiles.

When looking at costs, do you just consider the cost per tank, or the cost per hour of diving and dive site location? There is a big difference.

Dave Dillehay

Beginning to sound a little like "Sour Grapes" to me.

Let's face it, fees are being charged at Secrets, Iberostar, Allegro, and now Occidental and maybe others. You don't like it. I don’t like it either. Whether it is the extra effort that you must go through to pay or the amount of the fees themselves, I understand. It can negatively impact your ability to serve your customers in a fashion to which you have become accustom. I can only hope that you, Dave, and all the others can work through this without resorting to all the negative insinuations that have cropped up in this thread and others.

Most folks on ScubaBoard already recognize the high quality of your operations – the ability to customize every dive, to independently select dive sites, to have fruits available during surface intervals, to provide small boats, to have the diver’s gear set up and installed each day, to properly rinse and store their gear between dives, and the list goes on and on. It is true ‘valet’ service and is probably worth more than the price you charge. I only hope to be able to take advantage of it one day.

On the other hand, what makes it proper for someone to provide the capital, build the dock, maintain that dock, pay taxes on that dock, and then allow anyone and everyone to use it absolutely gratis? Just figure it out and get back to us on what changes these fees will make in your operations. Let us make up our own minds about who we dive with, whether we use nitrox or not, and our own definition of ‘cattle boat’.