Opinions needed please

[scratchmyback]

I don't know if this is the right forum for this post but I can't really find any other place for it.

Let's say you and your group chartered a dive boat for a weekend. You were going to do four different wrecks. The captain told you which wrecks they were taking you to, but one of the wrecks had no mooring on it, and they told you this. When you got there, the captain dropped an anchor line and a shot line. One team descended the anchor line, didn't see the wreck, viz was 3 feet and depth was 88 feet (wreck sits in 90-105 feet of water). That team started their ascent and met two other teams on the way down, thumbed the dive and all teams surfaced. The remaining team, benefitting from this information and still having all the air in their tanks, descended on the shot line and eventually found the wreck about 100 feet away by using a reel.

My question - do you think you should pay the entire cost of the charter even though you had no choice on that dive. The mooring used to be there, but a few bad storms recently and it was toast. FWIW they were planning on returning later that day to fix the mooring. It's not like we were given the option of going to a different wreck, either. I honestly don't know what to think and would appreciate some sincere responses.

 

[jefffalcone]

My reaction is **** happens. It doesn't seem like this was the dive op's fault. They got you close enough to the wreck that if conditions were better, you probably would have found it. You apparently got to 3 other wrecks w/o any problems. The cost of opperating the boat is the same. I'd just accept that not every dive goes as planned. If I had a good time on the other dives, I'd use the same charter again.

 

[Hemlon]

You could always ask the charter company for either part of your money back or a discount on a future trip.

The worst that they could say is no.

 

[jbd]

I agree with jeffaclone.

While I understand the point Hemlon is making, I disagree with asking for a discount or partial refund. This tends to create an adversarial relationship that might not prove beneficial in the future.

 

[Hemlon]

I don't think the charter company SHOULD give a refund or future discount but it doesn't hurt to ask.

 

[scratchmyback]

I appreciate your responses - helps me to understand better, thank you. If that is the norm...ie "you pays your money and you takes your chances", then that's what I needed to know.

 

[jeckyll]

I'm confused by the fact that the first group would have thumbed the dive for all groups, as you stated. I don't think that I would let someone else thumb a dive for my team...

If the captain had been way off that's one thing, but from the sounds you were close. Was there any indication of which way to go to search for the wreck? Certainly sounds unfortunate for the first group

 

[jefffalcone]

That'such the pretty much the norm. The dive op doesn't really have any way of knowing what the vis will be like. Since one group was able to find the wreck in 3 feet of vis, I'm sure with 15 or 20 feet, all of you would have found it. Another thing to consider is that if you can tell from the surface that conditions are bad, and all divers on board agree, most boats will be willing to go elsewhere. In the future you might want to try asking the captain and the other divers if you find yourself in a similar situation. If you jump in and come right back up with a full tank, and everyone else on the boat agrees that judging from your experience they'd like to try another site, most boats will accomodate. In this case, since the last couple completed their dive, it's not much different from your group just sitting out one dive. It's not uncommon for divers to skip dives for various reasons. On the other hand, if all of the divers had agreed that they would prefer to relocate, and the captain refused, I probably wouldn't use that boat again, unless there was a legitimate reason for the refusal.

 

[DeepSeaDan]

....should this kind of situation ever arise again, would you do things differently?

I feel bad for you mostly because you missed a good opportunity to practice some skills & maybe luck out like the third party in. They, it appears, altered their original plan & found the wreck; with a little forethought, the first of your teams could have prepared for such an eventuality en route & might have had similar luck.

Who knows, you just might stumble upon other objects of interest while searching ( sunken treaure! ) - now that would be a dive!

Regards,
DSD

 

[Mako Mark]

I once saw an argument between an irate Israeli backpacker and a stubborn Australian dive shop owner.

Israeli dude: I only used half my air, I should get half my money back

Shop owner: It doesnt work like that.

Israeli dude: Rant rant rant, hissy fit, rant.

THe shop owner put up with this for about five minutes then walks out the back. There is a loud hissing sound then he returns with a huge black bin liner that he had filled up with air frim a tank.

He wrapped some tape around the end to hold the air in, handed it to the speechless Schnackpacker and said:

Heres yer frikken air, now piss off.

The Israeli left the shop holding his bin liner of air without a word.

I think it was probably one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Right up there with seeing a German and a Mexican argue about punctuality.