Snorkel Bob's and the Consolidation of Kona Dive Shops

[Al Mialkovsky]

Hmmm, discounted rates and no tips.

Yep I'd jump all over that account

 

[LioKai]

Hey Steve. last night was 6 mantas on both the night and the afternoon dives. Mike was the Captain and Martina was the DM for the two tank on the Moana Olapa for Jason and his friends. I had a one tank on the Moana Luu and Greg was the DM with Ryan shooting video. 3 boats... 2 from Big Island Divers and 1 from Rainbow Divers. Tonight was 5 mantas on the night dive. 3 boats... I had the Moana Olapa for Big Island Divers, Jacks with the Napali Kai, and the Kona Aggressor II. The swell is down from last night. See you tomorrow night.

Jason, I'm glad you and your friends had a good time. Your boat had a lot of happy faces on it.

 

[LioKai]

This morning I checked with Bob our shop manager at "Big Island Divers" about the "discount" offered to Jason and his university friends. What Jason did was organize a "group rate" price for the boat. In other words he bought out the boat for the night. That price includes the boat, captain and crew (DM), lights, and all of the ammenities normally available to a charter. Jason's group didn't get any special pricing for being a student, they got the standard "Big Island Divers" deal for being a group.
Matthew

 

[friscuba]

Hmmm, discounted rates and no tips.

Yep I'd jump all over that account

Frankly, yes, I'd jump all over that.

As Matthew mentioned, there are group rates available on several of the boats here, Kamaaina rates may also apply, so the discounted rate is not such an issue. Tips are not such an issue either... a job's a job, tips are nice. Now if they have a bad attitude, demand discounts and expect you to do lots of special things for them, the tendancy for many people is to not go out of the way to be helpful.

I think the key on this one is 10 passengers. That's a significant amout of seats for most of the operators here. It's potentially a decent amount of profit (at least extra $$$ to help cover fixed costs for the month) for one evening's work. If everyone on the boat knows each other it often makes it a bit easier for the crew too.

later,

Steve

 

[ryt]

Well I was not the one who organized the group, so I wasn't aware if it was a student discount or just a group thing, either way, good deal for a great dive. I do know that it was an identical rate that we used to get from Kona Coast, that they no longer offer. Kona Coast was a great dive operation when we did go with them, I was upset to hear that they would not extend the same rate after changing ownership.

The dive was pretty good, 5 mantas sounds about right, the swell was more than I was used to, had to get a big rock to sit under. It was still managable though