Standard Tips for Florida Keys?

[manni-yunk]

Last week our mate helped us a decent amount. He filled our tanks in between dives. We did 4 dives per day. He helped keep gear organized, but didnt touch anything unless we asked him to (which is what we expect). He helped us with spot on reef descriptions, and told us exactly where to go for what we were looking for. He cleaned our fish, captain cooked - and the mate ate and hung out a little with us. We gave 25/diver/day. 4 divers....3 days.

 

[Wookie]

I heard the MVP Spree is considering eucalyptus oiled cooled washcloths and pedicures between dives. Not confirmed though


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Howzabout a hot shower, hot meal, and I have a Makita with an aluminum grinder disk for any of your pediatary needs....

 

[bilsant]

I've never done "boutique" diving (not saying I wouldn't LIKE to), but I'm a pretty basic guy. Get me there and in the water, don't unreasonably crowd my dive time, grab my camera and fins on the way up the ladder, and a drink of water between dives and I'm happy camper...and I tip basically $10 to $15 per two tank dive.

Educate me or tell me a new joke, and it goes up.

The op who met me by my car to schlep my 3 tanks onto the boat and back to the car probably got my biggest tip.

 

[oddible]

'K, got me with the eucalyptus washcloths. I've not been on a keys day boat that didn't have a guide, that didn't have drinks (although, water was the drink), and didn't have fresh fruit. I'm not trying to explain away poor service, although the boats in the keys I dive from (aside from mine) tend to be the higher priced ones. I'm not too keen on the $79 2 tanker, the level of service just isn't high enough. Thanks for the reply.

Oddly this was with one of the most expensive dive ops in the keys, and THE most recommended dive op on Scubaboard in the keys.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Depends on the divers level of skill and comfort. I've been out with It's a Dive, Amy Slate's, and Conch Republic. All of them gave what I considered to be great service. No guide in the water herding people around, kept their hands off my gear, gave detailed and accurate briefings, water or juice and fruit between dives, and did not rush. Dive times of 1 hour and it was expected you knew how to plan your dive accordingly. And all gave a little leeway if you knew how to work it.

For example on the It's a Dive trip we had maybe 12 divers on board. And it can take 10 -15 minutes to get everyone in the water and another 10 or so to get them all out. I did FILO diving. First In, Last Out. So easily ended up with as much as 70-75 minutes for the shallow dives. Spent the last 10 near the boat on the bottom so I could see when the last couple people were getting close and made my way to the line.

And on the last trip there after the first day they were nice about not enforcing the have to dive with a buddy thing. As I was a single diver since my wife did not dive, I would have been forced to pair up with an insta buddy. That would have been either great or a nightmare in my experience. Glad it didn't even come up.

All the ops at different times did have guides but you were not required to follow them or they were being paid to dive with a specific person or team.

---------- Post added December 10th, 2012 at 06:12 PM ----------

I was diving in the Caymans this past summer. Most of the days were fine but one morning we moored on a dive site & the boat...........she was a rollin'. I'm an old lady who doesn't have very good knees. I wasn't concerned about getting in & I wasn't concerned about the dive but, I was concerned about trying to get out, climbing a pitching ladder w a tank on my back. I was going to sit the dive out & was the last one left on the boat when the DM said "no sweat"..........he put my gear on the swim platform & I donned it while seated & rolled in. When I came up, they had a tag line out. I pulled myself to the boat, handed up my weights & then he unhooked my bc & pulled it in & I was able to climb the ladder. To me, that's high class service & he got a good tip!

You sound like a person who would do well with single sidemount diving. Something I am looking at for this season along with double SM. Just jump in with a harness, clip tank on and go. End of dive unclip, hand tank up, and climb out.

 

[oddible]

Maybe the service issue is because it is off season and there are only 3-4 people per trip.

 

[fncrow]

As a diver i tip $5/tank unless i dont think they deserve it. Sometimes more if i get discounted trip prices due to being an instructor so i'll pass the savings on to the crew cause i know how little they are making.

As someone who works on a FL Keys boat ive seen everything. From days of having 20 people on the boat and not making a single dollar to days of having only 8 people on the boat and making over a 100 in tips. There is no rhyme or reason to it either. Cause there have been days where i've helped people out of gear in water, gone out to tow people back in, gone down to get dropped cameras or fins and not make a single tip and then other days where everyone is self sufficient and all i do is pretty much give a boat brief and make good tips.

As for what services we provide. The shop i work at pays DM $45 for a two tank boat trip. We get their 30min to an hour before check in to gauge and load all the tanks. Fill all the camera buckets, mask buckets, drinking water, ice cooler, rinse hose, rinse bins. Make sure no trash is on the boat, make sure the head is clean and empty then issue everyone who needs it their rental gear.

Once on the boat we require people set up their gear initially as we use it as a gauge to see who may or may not be a trouble diver though we will help if asked. I help people get weights if they need them make sure everyone has all their gear set up and bungee in. Give a boat brief on where everything is and then give a quick dive brief. We dont give an actual site brief till we get there just because we dont always know where we are going due to visibility or lack of mooring space.

On the way out i make small talk with anyone who wants to. Sometimes people want to be left alone sometimes they want to tell me everything and anything. Give people the 10 minute warning to start getting geared up. Help people into their BCDs, make sure their air is on do any last minute o-ring changes then go moor the boat up.

Give a site briefing to include a little history or story on the site. Where you want to go where you dont want to go. Which way to go if their are currents and so on. Then we help everyone up and to the back on the boat. Do the last air check remind people to inflate bcd, reg in mouth, look to the horizon giant step out. Hand down camera gear if needed even carry gear for people to set up on the platform and roll in if need be. Then while people are out diving we make sure the deck is clear and push any gear back under the seats. We watch bubbles as much as we can to keep an eye on where people are going and if needed will go out to do rescues. When people come back to the boat we help them up the ladder and into their seats. Put cameras back in the buckets and switch over gear if they want us to and go do it all over again on the second dive.

On the way back to docks again make small talk about the days dives, where good places to eat and all the normal questions we get. Give a debrief reminding them what sites they visited, where our rinse tanks and showers are and if they have rental equipment they leave it on the boat as the DM will take it all off, wash it and put it away. Along with taking all the tanks off, refilling them, taking the trash off cleaning the head and so on.

We only have two crew on boat. Captain and DM/Mate. They split the tips right down the middle.

 

[Md Spear]

'K, got me with the eucalyptus washcloths. ]

Brass Anchor from Frederick Md ia scheduled to do a Spree trip this summer . Thats an exciting upgrade......well , we're are Frednecks, we dont need no plant tissue wipes!!!