[Crisspy Fiver]

I normally dive with just one of my mates. Towards the end of last year there was a group of us together and it looked as though we would be booking whole boats but due to some of these being friends of friends and those friends of mine now diving for a few months on the other side of the world its back down to the two of us.

I find it really difficult trying to secure spaces on dive charters for a small number of people at short notice. Well when i say short notice i mean about 1 month in advance. I suppose that is short considering some weekends are booked two+ years in advance. But with other commitments its the best we can do. I had the same problem about the middle of last year trying to get groups of between 2 - 5 on boats. In fact when ever I have tried to book small groups onto boats its been a nightmare for weekend bookings. By weekends I mean either one or both days.

Charters like Swanage diver are not normally a problem but Swanage is not always close enough to travel to and the wrecks and drifts would soon get boring if I dived the same ones every trip.

Breakwater is also great and I wish that more dive charters had nice simple to follow web sites like this one. Appreciated that not every ones business is as big and they may not have the time but Dive Eclipse has a nice site and with no offence meant towards Skipper would not consider this charter operation as big in employee power as Breakwater dive centre. Both these sites mentioned show how many spaces are available and you can either book there and then online as with Dive Eclipse or call Breakwater and book. The sites show the dives the divers will be doing are display depths and time of departure. Simple and easy for us divers to book. I like it thumbs up.

I find it frustrating having to either email skippers the usual "Please can yo confirm Dives and availability on the following" I consider calling even worse. You firstly have to find your buddies preferred dates, then call the skipper. Then call back the buddy. Then call back the skipper. I personally like to email my requests. That then means I can print of the emails and have everything in plain English in front of me to work out whats going to be the best option. My buddy will either be there as well to look over the dives or at the end of an email.

The other week to be able to book two days of consecutive diving we had to book one boat in Brighton then one in Eastbourne. Does any one ever have to do that at weekends from here? maybe on the Saturday the wrecks listed are within your qualifications but maybe the Sunday is to deep or fully booked. There normally the reasons we have to book two separate charter for two consecutive days.

Is this just something that I simply have to put up with. Its part of diving just like the weather is. Or do you have a simple method of booking small groups of people onto dive boats that I have not thought about? What resources do you use to look for these dive boats. I appreciate that the business cant afford to advertise on every web site or publication but its often hard to find these charters in the first place. Today I found a really good new site that has listed lots of boats I never before even new existed. So what steps do you take to book those odd days or weekend here and there at short notice with a fussy attitude as t what you will be diving and from what. ?


Maybe of interest to some is the link of the web site I found.

Jamie