What makes a Good Dive-charter Operation? The User Speaks.

[Angleseyskipper]

was having a beer with terry the other night and were talking about what divers are looking for these days in a dive charter boat operation?
is it size of boat,location,cost,wrecks,harbour access,sensible sailing times,skipper,quality of tea,cheap B&B,parking etc etc the list is endless lets have your views on what "floats ya boat" and sends ya home smiling.
all the best elfyn

[Narked@50]

Without seeming patronising, your list has just about got it licked!

One of the issues I have with Anglesey is the viz, or lack of it. This, to me, makes or breakes a dive, as if you cannot see - what's the point. I don't mean to seem unkind to the area, but I have been diving for seven years and tried Anglesey at least two or three times every year and never had more than a couple of meteres at best. I know this has got to get better at times, I'm no fool, but it is a hell of a long drive from Wigan to bin it half way down a shot.

So other than the viz, a whole package is a bonus. By that I mean boat, accomodation, air etc. It saves hunting around and if I can book a boat for 10 or 12 with one phone call that's good to me.

Keep up the good work, I have heard good things about your operation but not used you as yet, maybe this year?

James

[Steve S]

Ey up mate

1:size of boat- not to fussed as long as I can kit up without standing on anyone
2:location- Derbyshire born so everywhere coastal is a hike
3:cost- don't mind paying for good service
4:wrecks- yes please
5:harbour access - as long as I can avoid vertical ladders it's all good
6:sensible sailing times - my earliest leave time was 1.30am
7:skipper- can make or break a dive trip
8:quality of tea- ex firefighter so I can drink anything
9:cheap B&B : nice not essential
10: parking - not fussed as long as the car is still there on my return
11: when the YD jonah is booked to dive at the opposite end of the country

When are you next out midweek mate as question 11 needs a UK wet?

Safe diving,
Steve

[Andy the Coastie]

Originally Posted by Yellow Butty Box

was having a beer with terry the other night and were talking about what divers are looking for these days in a dive charter boat operation?
is it size of boat,location,cost,wrecks,harbour access,sensible sailing times,skipper,quality of tea,cheap B&B,parking etc etc the list is endless lets have your views on what "floats ya boat" and sends ya home smiling.
all the best elfyn

Shame you didn't make this a multipoll option thinghy .......

[Janos]

So many things are important. And of course it's always the negatives that get talked about! However for me a boat with plenty of space and a good skipper (ie one who know his stuff and is happy to give you advice, but in a good way) is the most important thing. Other things are nice to have, but not crucial.

Laters,
Janos

PS - Having said that - most of my hardboat trips tend to be organised on distance from my house!

[angleseydiver]

When are you next out midweek mate as question 11 needs a UK wet?

Its obvious No.11 is ready for uk wet... have you seen forecast for next 5 days?
Actually, we've a few sites diveable in S or SW hoolie but we've had loads of rain so the vis is shite- as soon as vis gets to 3-4m we'll be doing a bit.

ATB,
Terry

PS let's have your Charter-boat Horror-stories. Heard tales of boats with builders ladders and rat-arsed skippers ... do tell!

[Andy the Coastie]

Originally Posted by angleseydiver

PS let's have your Charter-boat Horror-stories. Heard tales of boats with builders ladders and rat-arsed skippers ... do tell!

PMSL... if i can find some ,,, i'll send you some piccies.

Joys of being a commie diver ......

[TerryH]

Originally Posted by Yellow Butty Box

was having a beer with terry the other night and were talking about what divers are looking for these days in a dive charter boat operation?
is it size of boat,location,cost,wrecks,harbour access,sensible sailing times,skipper,quality of tea,cheap B&B,parking etc etc the list is endless lets have your views on what "floats ya boat" and sends ya home smiling.
all the best elfyn

Within reason the boat doesnt matter. Nor the parking or what the tea
is like. In my book it all comes down to the skipper.

They can be as cantankerous or as nice as pie, but bottom line is that if they
know what they are doing, then your day out (and safety) is assured.

And my top three in alphabetical order are .........

Phil Corben
Pete Street
Dave Wendes

TerryH

PS: I do have two that I will never use again though!

[Scuby]

Originally Posted by Yellow Butty Box

is it size of boat,location,cost,wrecks,harbour access,sensible sailing times,skipper,quality of tea,cheap B&B,parking etc etc

Frequently organising things for a University club, we may have slightly different priorities to others. Cheap is good! Cheaper the better really! Don't mind if its a bit scruffy or whatever, as long as it floats, moves around, and drops us on the right wreck and is there when we surface that's just fine :O)
Size obviously useful, but I don't see the point in paying extra for something bigger than you need - as long as there's room without standing on each other that'll do nicely.
Location - obviously if we want to dive the Kyarra then we probably wouldn't use you if you were based in the Farne Islands. We tend to travel around, although places most accessible from the Midlands tend to get visited most.
Wrecks - obviously goes with the location. We tend to book based on what we want to dive, look at whether we can get there easily, and *then* look for a boat that'll do it.
Harbour Access - as long as we can get parked somewhere close and not pay £10/hour for parking then that'll do.
Sailing times - tend to be related to location and dive sites - if I want to dive something on slack and the slack is 7am then obviously i'm going to have to get up early or have to dive something different.
Skipper - always useful to have one. As long as they take us where we want to (reasonably) go, and are fairly nice kind of people then thats fine. If they won't, then there's no point going out with them. Wouldn't want to be on a boat all day with one who really doesn't want to be there, and makes that fact obvious to the divers!
Don't drink tea, doesn't bother me much... don't drink hot chocolate or coffee either :O(
Cheap B&B - again, cheap is good, as long as it has something resembling a bed, a toilet and a shower that'll do nicely. In fact, we could probably do without the bed too.
Parking obviously very useful, but I don't expect to be able to park within 3 seconds walk of the boat. I've dived places where we have to drag kit quite a long way, and although parking close would be good, its really not all that important - we can cope without.

Personally i'd say that as long as we can get on the boat, and it takes us where we want to go and gets us on the site with minimal fuss then that's fine. Everything else is a bonus - nice to have, but we can cope without.

Ultimately, it depends on where we're doing and what we want to do. If we're doing a trip for the club, then it'll usually be organised just about as cheap as possible (while not sacrificing what we can do). When we tend to dive over the summer where we're diving as a group of friends rather than as a club, and so doing slightly more interesting diving, then we'll probably pay a bit more and have a bit more space on the boat, but generally i've found that theres not a lot of difference in price between a nice boat and a crap boat anyway.

David

[Rob Evans]

Most important things for me are roomy boat, decent kitting up space (cos of all the crap I have to strap to my back just to get a splosh) and a GOOD SKIPPER who knows his shit and is a good laugh.

Steve Johnson out of Brighton fulfils all the above. Has the lot - tea & biccies after the dive, a good lift, skip's a serious diver who knows the best wrecks, doesn't bullshit you about the vis and crucially doesn't take you out when the weather's iffy just to get your dollar. There's a boat moored at Brighton that I'll never dive off cos even though it's well equipped, the skip's a miserable bastard.



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