Wrinkles Boat

[SoCalAngel]

Keep me posted on boat trips out of Ventura or Santa Barbara.

I like The Spectre and The Peace.

It would be a little further for most of you, but Truth Aquatics has three really nice boats. No hot tubs, but very roamy and nice bunk facilities.

I'd imagine you'd have to charter the boat quite a bit in advance.

OK, I'm going on the Peace on Thursday, March 31st. Anybody else in?
It's their midweek special.

 

[headhunter]

With the less than stellar conditions we've been having on most of the beaches for so long now, I've been hearing a lot of interest in having a monthly SoCal Mo2vation boat dive in addition to our beach dive.

Who would actually be interested? We could work our way up to getting together enough people to charter a boat.

Since we do the Wrinkles Dive every 2nd Saturday of the month, we could do the 4th Saturday of every month for a Mo2vation boat dive.

Depending on how many people are interested, we could start with a smaller boat and work our way up to a larger boat as interest and commitment grows over time.

We could use our buying power to get better deals once we know we can count on more people. I know Captain Ray on the Sundiver will start to offer discounts when you get a group of 8 or more people, so that might be a great way to start. This way, we don't need to fill a whole boat. Eventually, we could work out way up to filling a whole boat.

I'm just throwing some ideas out there.

What do you all think?

Christian

 

[SoCalAngel]

With the less than stellar conditions we've been having on most of the beaches for so long now, I've been hearing a lot of interest in having a monthly SoCal Mo2vation boat dive in addition to our beach dive.

Who would actually be interested? We could work our way up to getting together enough people to charter a boat.

Since we do the Wrinkles Dive every 2nd Saturday of the month, we could do the 4th Saturday of every month for a Mo2vation boat dive.

Depending on how many people are interested, we could start with a smaller boat and work our way up to a larger boat as interest and commitment grows over time.

We could use our buying power to get better deals once we know we can count on more people. I know Captain Ray on the Sundiver will start to offer discounts when you get a group of 8 or more people, so that might be a great way to start. This way, we don't need to fill a whole boat. Eventually, we could work out way up to filling a whole boat.

I'm just throwing some ideas out there.

What do you all think?

Christian

I am SOOOOOOO IN!!!

Love the boat dives...

 

[dazedone]

I am definetly in. Prefer saturdays. I think the Sundiver (maybe we can convince Ray to take us to one of his secret spots) is a good option if we have a group of 15 or less, otherwise the Pac Star.

 

[Frank O]

We could use our buying power to get better deals once we know we can count on more people. I know Captain Ray on the Sundiver will start to offer discounts when you get a group of 8 or more people, so that might be a great way to start. This way, we don't need to fill a whole boat. Eventually, we could work out way up to filling a whole boat.

Sounds like fun. Some random responses --

-- You probably don't need to fill the whole boat to make it work financially if you do the charter. When a shop charters a boat, the break-even point on the charter fee is some fraction of the maximum diver load -- the exact amount will depend on the boat, how much the shop is charging divers, etc. After the shop reach the break-even point, every space they sell beyond that goes toward their profit.

-- Also, if you do decide to charter the whole boat, you can probably sell spaces to non-scubaboarders. Once last year I chartered the Sundiver and had people calling me wanting to get on the boat.

-- On the other hand, lining up boats on weekends during prime diving season (summer to early fall) will pose some challenges -- most weekend dates are taken by shops. I booked with Ray six months in advance when I set up that one trip (on a summer weekend) last year. Also, if you want to negotiate a volume discount for a group but don't have enough to charter the whole boat, it may be tougher to do with a shop than with one of the boats on their open-boat dates (which will be less frequent on weekends this time of year).

-- Committing to a monthly dive from the get-go might be ambitious -- you could try it as a one-shot event, and see how it goes, what the turnout's like, etc. I'd be interested in trying to go, for example, but doing a boat trip for me always involves nine-dimensional chess of what's going on with the household schedule, buddy availability, etc, etc.

 

[TeqP]

Count me in for a Saturday boat dive!

 

[Robert Phillips]

I think we should force Ken to take a ride on his beloved Bottom Scratcher! :11:

 

[Kayak Diver]

You can count me in for a boat dive. I'm sure I could talk debdiver into going as well...so you could count us in for two spots.

If you chartered a larger boat, I would vote for paying a little extra so that it's not jam packed. I'm fine with a full boat, but it's nice to have a little elbow room.

It would also be great to go to advanced dive spots, if that is OK with the group. But I can go just about anywhere underwater and have fun.

 

[ICY ICE]

I was on "Mr C" out of 22nd Landing....$48.00/$5 fills/$6 BBQ lunch, 3 dives @ Catalina

Not to mention I heard the Aquatica droped their prices from $129.00 to $70.00, food/air inclusive, "no students".

With prices like these, everyone can afford to come.

 

[alaity47]

Oooh, boat dive! Definitely count me in; I'm still working on my surf entries and haven't felt like embarrassing myself in front of all you hardcore beach divers just yet. But boat diving? I've got that totally down.

I like boats with decent spots to put big camera rigs. Other than that, no preference whatsoever as far as boat or dive site goes!