Scuba diving is a sport that yields relationships that are unlike any I have experienced. If you take away the aspects of discussion boards in general, one is still left with an unusual level of committment from divers to their LDS's and the ops used on CZM. I am not sure how it pans out with other destinations but my guess would be that there is nowhere else that has as many choices of ops servicing one place as CZM.
I have personally experienced situations where several dive instructors and also dive shop owners enjoy being fed by the adoration of their clientele, and it seems that the clientele enjoy the feeding just as much. There is probably a better word than feeding but it is early yet. I think the unusual loyalty may come from students that at least in their minds, surrender control of their lives and safety to an individual they usually have known for a very short time and with the completion of the journey of certification comes a life long bond between student and instructor. This does not apply to everyone, of course... But, while I may not be getting it exactly right, I think I may be touching on something close that would explain the loyalty we see here to one op or another.
MMM has it right when she says there are an infinite amount of "different strokes for different folks" and what is great for one is a disaster for another. While I have visited the island about 10 times over the past 4 years (certified in '05) I have personally only dove with two ops on the island, one of the largest with no personal service and one of the smallest with the highest level of service. They are both really good, but very different.
I believe that instructors, divemasters and op owners should work really hard to not lose sight of the loyalties we feel towards them and strive to continue to earn that loyalty by realizing we are giving them our very hard earned money and turning at least some of our safety over to them. It is not a given that a customer will be one for life.
I also believe that we get caught up in who dives with whom, but the real reason for our trips are the reefs... our loyalty is to them both literally and spiritually. I mean, who among us does not achieve a sense of total calm and relaxation and peace while drifting along totally motionless while the magic of the reefs wash over us. (Whoa, I almost put myself to sleep there ! )
One last note is that those of us that are divers, friends, students and customers plan our trips to CZM sometimes almost a year in advance or as soon as the airlines will let us book a flight. We then get to spend the next several months looking forward to the trip, seeing old friends, diving, eating, drinking, etc. So when we drop an owner an email asking about scheduling, costs, procedures, well, anything at all, what we are really saying is hey, I have a long time before I get there to dive, but throw me a bone and tell me about something that happened or something that will keep my looking forward to the trip alive... it makes a difference.
Thanks for listening. See you on the reefs.